Blackout: L'obsession d'un flic

A grisly murder occurs in Ohio in which a woman and her three children are murdered. It has occurred during the youngest child's birthday celebration, and the murderer has posed the children, with their mother's arms around them, and birthday celebration hats on the kids' heads. Seasoned detective Joe Steiner (Richard Widmark) is the homicide detective on the case, obviously shaken by the murder scene. The husband of the family, Ed Vincent, is missing and is the prime suspect in the case.

Meanwhile, in Washington state, there is a car accident resulting in a fiery crash. One passenger is killed and burned beyond recognition. The other (Keith Carridine) is thrown clear of the wreckage and survives, but is badly burned and will need extensive facial reconstructive surgery. He has completely lost his memory and no ID is found at the accident site. The police do some tracing and figure that one of the occupants is named "Alan Devlin". That is the name that the survivor takes, although he can find nobody in the town or surrounding area who knows him or why he is there. He spends a year in the hospital, falls in love with his nurse, Chris (Kathleen Quinlan), and they marry. They have a child of their own plus her two kids from a previous marriage. Alan becomes a very successful realtor and seven years pass.

Back in Ohio, Steiner was forcibly retired from his job, but he continues to work on the murder case from seven years before. Then one day he gets an anonymous letter saying that Devlin may be his man. Accompanying the note is an article from the local paper showing Devlin and family - Alan won realtor of the year in his town. The age is right, the height and general appearance are right, but of course he can't be exactly physically identified because of the extensive plastic surgery. So Steiner is off to Washington to see if Devlin is in fact Ed Vincent, the suspect in the Ohio murder case. Realize that the ability to analyze DNA evidence did not exist in 1985 or else this would have been a very short movie. Lots of complications and twists and turns ensue.

I loved Richard Widmark's character (who said all the things the audience was probably thinking.) Keith Carradine is always good at playing affable family men, and his role here is no exception. This was an early HBO effort at filmmaking and I'd say they did well.

Several people pick on different aspects of this one, but I had only one major sticking point that really has no impact on the plot. When in the hospital, Alan Devlin has no ID, no name, no memory, and thus no health insurance that can be identified. And the first thing out of the doctors' mouths is all about the extensive plastic surgery they'll be doing with obviously no insurance to pay for it? Not now and certainly not in 1985 if we are talking about any hospital in the United States. Any hospital in America would leave you on the curb looking like Frankenstein's monster if you have no means of payment. But then we'd have no movie.

Well here's another fine example to state why you shouldn't always judge movies on their appearance and production values. I almost deliberately missed out on this "gem" of the 1980's because it's a made-for-TV movie, and those usually stand for no blood, politically correct story lines, derivative plots and an annoying overload of sentimentality. "Blackout" immediately bursts through this clichéd image of the TV-movie with an exceptionally tense and atmospheric opening sequence. The story opens with the disturbing discovery of 3 dead bodies, a mother and her two children, nightmarishly exhibited as if they were celebrating the youngest one's birthday. The elderly cop Steiner promptly becomes obsessed with finding the killer, which undoubtedly is the husband and father. Almost at the same time of the discovery and a couple of States further, a man survives a horrible car accident, albeit with a total loss of memory and in desperate need for plastic surgery. His memory doesn't return, but he starts a new life under the name Allen Devlin and marries the nurse who treated him. Six years later, the meanwhile retired Steiner is still looking for the killer and receives an anonymous letter with a picture of Devlin and his new family. Is he the vanished killer who doesn't remember his past? Or is someone trying to sabotage his newly found happiness? "Blackout" is a truly effective and suspenseful thriller. There are very few possibilities of whom the killer may be, yet the intelligently written script keeps you guessing and doubting till the very last twist. Even with the quite large number familiar themes, like amnesia and love-triangles, the plot feels original and the suspense feels genuine. As expected, there aren't any vile murders shown on screen and the use of blood and make-up effects is kept to a minimum. Hey, it's a TV-movie, remember, and the emphasis lies on tension. Naturally a lot of credit must go to director Douglas Hickox, who's clearly one class above the average TV-movie director. Hickox previously directed the Vincent Price horror classic "Theater of Blood" and the historical drama "Zulu Down", so he definitely knows how build up an ambiance and how to guide his cast in the required direction. Speaking of which, the cast is excellent with Richard Widmark, Keith Carradine and Michael Beck. "Blackout" comes with my highest possible recommendation and, for once, one the IMDb's recommendations is spot-on as well. The site encourages you to watch "The Pledge" (starring Jack Nicholson), which also revolves on a retired copper continuing to obsessively hunt down the culprit of a long-forgotten crime.

This is an early HBO production and has a rather impressive cast-- Richard Widmark and Keith Carradine in the leads.

When the story begins, a maniac named Ed Vincent has butchered his family and compulsively arranged the bodies about the home---and even left a birthday hat on his murdered 5 year-old! Considered he not only killed his wife but his three kids, this is a case that really weighs heavily on Detective Joe Steiner (Widmark). However, despite looking for seven years, the case remains unsolved and Steiner retires from the police force.

In the meantime, some man is involved in a horrible auto accident where they are completely disfigured. After being in the hospital many months, he's rebuilt by doctors and is ready for discharge. However, during this time, no one has been able to determine who he is...and the guy appears to have no idea who he is as well. He names himself Allen Devlin and eventually he gets married and has some kids...and appears to be leading a rather normal life.

Steiner has refused to let the old case die and follows a lead taking him to the guy in the accident. Perhaps this was Ed Vincent...though after all the plastic surgery, it doesn't look like Vincent. So Steiner digs a bit deeper and even approaches Devlin to tell him his suspicions. At this point, Devlin is willing to listen...and wonders if perhaps he IS Ed Vincent. So, Devlin begins to investigate on his own...to see if anything can link him to the monster, Ed Vincent. What's next in this suspense film? Well, a weird masked man begins assaulting women...and it looks a lot like a case that coincided with the disappearance of Ed Vincent.

As far as suspense films go, this one provides a lot of suspense. It also keeps you guessing and has a lot of misdirection to keep confusing the audience (in a good way). Excellent acting and a film worth seeing.

I saw Blackout for the first time when I was a kid and it SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME FOR A LONG TIME! I had trouble sleeping because of Blackout for a long time. I could not walk down a hall by myself at night because of Blackout. Blackout is the only movie that REALLY SCARED ME. Blackout is LOADED with suspense and has some frightening scenes. The killer wears a zipper-face black mask and that, to me, is scary looking. Watching Blackout now, of course, I don't get afraid like I did when I was a kid. This film, in my opinion, is wonderful! Blackout has GOT TO BE one of Richard Widmark's greatest performances as Detective Joe Steiner. Keith Carradine is excellent as always. Kathleen Quinlen is great as Keith's wife. Michael Beck from The Warriors gives a very good supporting role. The script is top-notch stuff. The music score could not fit the film any better. KUDOS to ALL of the cast and crew of Blackout. I'm not going to give the outstanding plot because you can find that out for yourself. I just wanted to get my thoughts out on this wonderful murder mystery. I believe Blackout is now out of print so it may be hard to find for some. I found a copy on E-bay. If you want to look for Blackout, you may come across a copy/copies on E-bay/Amazon. I really don't see how anyone could not enjoy, in my mind, A TRUE GEM!---Blackout from director Douglas Hickox. Thank you for reading my thoughts and have a nice day/night.

Blackout is an HBO TV film that stars Richard Widmark as a dedicated cop who catches a grisly case of a family massacre along the lines of the infamous John List case. A wife and two children are slaughtered and the husband has skipped. Widmark pursues the case even into his retirement. I'm guessing seeing something like that will give you a twisted dedication.

The latest lead takes him to another town a few hundred miles away where Keith Carradine was an amnesia patient and no memory of his after surviving a fiery car crash and needing much plastic surgery. He marries his nurse Kathleen Quinlan and now they have three children seven years after the other incident.

Could he be Widmark's quarry? No evidence, no forensic evidence to go either way. There's another complicating factor, a serial rapist starts operating in the area whom the cops suspect is Carradine. At least one cop is pursuing that. Michael Beck has not forgotten that Carradine snatched Quinlan from him. He'd love to get him out of the way.

Widmark as the veteran cop dominates this film. Only at the beginning and the end does this film merit being called a slasher flick. Otherwise it's a good nail biting mystery.