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Brian De Palma's 1981 thriller is something of a homage to Michelangelo Antonioni's masterful Blowup, though there are hints of Francis Ford Coppola's paranoia-inducing Conversation sprinkled throughout. John Travolta plays a sound-effects man who witnesses what appears to be a tragic car accident killing a presidential candidate. The audio tape he happened to be recording at that moment (adding to his collection of natural sounds), however, suggests but doesn't prove that a murderous conspiracy is afoot. Trying to tease a shred of evidence from murky doubt, Travolta's character turns to a hooker (Nancy Allen) for help and stumbles into a web of evil spun by a right-wing kook (John Lithgow). De Palma's fetishistic fascination with obscured truth in a universe ruled by chance makes Blow Out one of his most operatic films. It's also perhaps one of his most revealing about the inherent decadence of creating verisimilitude for art. Sometimes knocked for its outrageous camera technique, Blow Out contains several exciting sequences that underscore De Palma's amped-up admiration for many of Hitchcock's best moves. --Tom Keogh
Product Description
In the enthralling Blow Out, brilliantly crafted by Brian De Palma (Sisters, Carrie, Scarface), John Travolta (Saturday Night Fever, Pulp Fiction) gives one of his greatest performances, as Jack, a movie sound-effects man who believes he has accidentally recorded a political assassination. He enlists the help of Sally (played by Carrie’s Nancy Allen), a possible eyewitness to the crime who may be in danger herself, to uncover the truth. With its jolting stylistic flourishes, intricate plot, profoundly felt characterizations, and gritty evocation of early-1980s Philadelphia, Blow Out is an American paranoia thriller unlike any other, as well as a devilish reflection on the act of moviemaking.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • New, restored digital transfer, supervised by director Brian De Palma • New hour-long interview with De Palma, conducted by filmmaker Noah Baumbach • New interview with star Nancy Allen • Cameraman Garrett Brown on the Steadicam shots featured in the film within the film • Select on-set photos from photographer Louis Goldman • Original theatrical trailer • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Sragow and Pauline Kael’s original New Yorker review
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By Steven Aldersley
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Blu-ray
Blow Out
Directed by Brian De Palma
Starring John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow and Dennis Franz
Criterion | 1981 | 108 min | Rated R | Released Apr 26, 2011
Video:
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Subtitles:
English SDH
Disc:
Single 50GB Blu-ray Disc
Jack Terry (Travolta) is a sound-effects man who works on B-movies for a Philadelphia-based studio. One night, he decides to go out to record some new effects. He captures the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, a frog croaking, an owl hooting and a couple's conversation. They mention that someone is watching them from a nearby bridge.
Jack inadvertently records a car accident and a gunshot heard before it veers off the road into a creek. He runs over and leaps into the water, pulling a woman from the car, but too late to save the man she is with. The woman, Sally (Allen), survives the accident with no apparent injuries. The dead man turns out to be Governor McRyan, a potential presidential candidate.
The police write the crash off as an accident, but Jack knows what he heard and reconstructs the scene in his mind by listening to his recording. We find out that someone caught the crash on film and sold it to various publications. Jack matches the images to the sounds and is certain the crash was caused by a bullet hitting a tire. None of the authorities seem interested so he seeks Sally's help to prove his theory.
De Palma builds suspense throughout and a plot to discredit the Governor is gradually revealed. Sally was working for Manny (Franz), a private eye, and they have a history of using her to ruin people's public images with the help of a henchman known as Burke (Lithgow). Burke has an agenda of his own and exceeds his authority.
Nobody wants to admit that McRyan had a woman in the car and a full cover-up is set in motion. Burke is out to tie up any loose ends and silence the potential threat from Jack and Sally.
De Palma brings to mind Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow Up as well as a number of Alfred Hitchcock's movies. He confirms in the special features that the film was inspired by the JFK shooting and subsequent events.
The resulting mix is an intriguing mystery, filled with suspense and a little action. Will Jack be able to prove his theory and make it public, or will it be buried? The final shot is a memorable one and the film doesn't have a traditional Hollywood ending. It works for me.
Video Quality 4/5
It's difficult to grade Criterion's newly-restored presentation because the quality varies. In brightly-lit scenes, detail is exceptional considering the age of the film. Some of the scenes are dark and filled with heavy grain. I didn't notice any dirt or debris, but did see vertical lines on the screen a couple of times. Overall, I was pleased. Criterion does everything possible with its transfers and didn't let me down here.
Sound Quality 5/5
Sound understandably plays an important part in the film and the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track delivers. Some scenes are made up of a multitude of different sounds, presumably to draw our attention to what we are hearing. It's particularly evident when Jack is recording his sound-effects tape and captures the car's crash. Dialogue is clear throughout and it's hard to imagine a better quality track than this one.
Special Features 5/5
A 58-minute interview with De Palma conducted by Noah Baumback (1080p). De Palma talks about many technical aspects of the film including the split diopter and Steadicam, as well as some of the difficulties faced during filming. He also mentions Alfred Hitchcock and some of the things that influenced the story.
De Palma's 1967 film, Murder a la Mod, appears here in full (81 minutes, 1080p).
Interview with Nancy Allen (26 minutes, 1080p).
Interview with Garrett Brown, inventor of the Steadicam (16 minutes, 1080p).
Louis Goldman photographs showing stills from Blow Out.
Trailer (2 minutes, 1080p)
34-page booklet
Criterion's recent release does justice to an important film and is thoroughly worth the upgrade to Blu-ray. You're actually getting two De Palma films in this package and Blow Out is one of Travolta's best films. I wonder how influential his performance here was in convincing Quentin Tarantino (a huge De Palma fan) to cast him in Pulp Fiction?
Overall score 4.5/5
Directed by Brian De Palma
Starring John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow and Dennis Franz
Criterion | 1981 | 108 min | Rated R | Released Apr 26, 2011
Video:
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Subtitles:
English SDH
Disc:
Single 50GB Blu-ray Disc
Jack Terry (Travolta) is a sound-effects man who works on B-movies for a Philadelphia-based studio. One night, he decides to go out to record some new effects. He captures the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, a frog croaking, an owl hooting and a couple's conversation. They mention that someone is watching them from a nearby bridge.
Jack inadvertently records a car accident and a gunshot heard before it veers off the road into a creek. He runs over and leaps into the water, pulling a woman from the car, but too late to save the man she is with. The woman, Sally (Allen), survives the accident with no apparent injuries. The dead man turns out to be Governor McRyan, a potential presidential candidate.
The police write the crash off as an accident, but Jack knows what he heard and reconstructs the scene in his mind by listening to his recording. We find out that someone caught the crash on film and sold it to various publications. Jack matches the images to the sounds and is certain the crash was caused by a bullet hitting a tire. None of the authorities seem interested so he seeks Sally's help to prove his theory.
De Palma builds suspense throughout and a plot to discredit the Governor is gradually revealed. Sally was working for Manny (Franz), a private eye, and they have a history of using her to ruin people's public images with the help of a henchman known as Burke (Lithgow). Burke has an agenda of his own and exceeds his authority.
Nobody wants to admit that McRyan had a woman in the car and a full cover-up is set in motion. Burke is out to tie up any loose ends and silence the potential threat from Jack and Sally.
De Palma brings to mind Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow Up as well as a number of Alfred Hitchcock's movies. He confirms in the special features that the film was inspired by the JFK shooting and subsequent events.
The resulting mix is an intriguing mystery, filled with suspense and a little action. Will Jack be able to prove his theory and make it public, or will it be buried? The final shot is a memorable one and the film doesn't have a traditional Hollywood ending. It works for me.
Video Quality 4/5
It's difficult to grade Criterion's newly-restored presentation because the quality varies. In brightly-lit scenes, detail is exceptional considering the age of the film. Some of the scenes are dark and filled with heavy grain. I didn't notice any dirt or debris, but did see vertical lines on the screen a couple of times. Overall, I was pleased. Criterion does everything possible with its transfers and didn't let me down here.
Sound Quality 5/5
Sound understandably plays an important part in the film and the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track delivers. Some scenes are made up of a multitude of different sounds, presumably to draw our attention to what we are hearing. It's particularly evident when Jack is recording his sound-effects tape and captures the car's crash. Dialogue is clear throughout and it's hard to imagine a better quality track than this one.
Special Features 5/5
A 58-minute interview with De Palma conducted by Noah Baumback (1080p). De Palma talks about many technical aspects of the film including the split diopter and Steadicam, as well as some of the difficulties faced during filming. He also mentions Alfred Hitchcock and some of the things that influenced the story.
De Palma's 1967 film, Murder a la Mod, appears here in full (81 minutes, 1080p).
Interview with Nancy Allen (26 minutes, 1080p).
Interview with Garrett Brown, inventor of the Steadicam (16 minutes, 1080p).
Louis Goldman photographs showing stills from Blow Out.
Trailer (2 minutes, 1080p)
34-page booklet
Criterion's recent release does justice to an important film and is thoroughly worth the upgrade to Blu-ray. You're actually getting two De Palma films in this package and Blow Out is one of Travolta's best films. I wonder how influential his performance here was in convincing Quentin Tarantino (a huge De Palma fan) to cast him in Pulp Fiction?
Overall score 4.5/5
By Ben Mears
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
Cet excellent suspense de Brian de Palma vaut le détour si vous ne l`avez pas encore vu.John Travolta est parfait dans le role d`un preneur de son témoin d`un accident un soir.Le reste je vous laisse le découvrir.Intense!
By Ricky_D
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
A rare and hard to find movie. I'm so greatful that it's still available. Service was fantastic, couldn't ask for anything better.
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4.2 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great, but Annoying at the Same Time
Having heard before hand, that Brian DePalma's "Blow Out" was like a tribute to Antonioni's "Blow Up", i was definately intreagued. Read more
Published on Jun 8 2004 by K. A D. Veer
4.0 out of 5 stars
nice paranoia thriller
John Travolta plays this sound effects guy and then something happens..he is then abyssed into a web of thrills and paranoia.... Read more
Published on Dec 9 2003 by Michael Bolts
5.0 out of 5 stars
Couldn't forget it
I saw «Blow Out» for the first time when I was 8. Couldn't forget it.
I saw «Blow Up» for the first time when I was 10. Couldn't forget it. Read more
I saw «Blow Up» for the first time when I was 10. Couldn't forget it. Read more
Published on Nov 16 2003 by Jonathan Paré
4.0 out of 5 stars
ONE OF DE PALMA'S FINEST
'Blow Out' is one of my favourite De Palma films, right after 'Dressed To Kill'. John travolta and Nancy Allen are perfect. Read more
Published on April 10 2003 by Vanessa Ryan
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of DePalma's best
Brian De Palma rips off Michaelangelo Antonioni's Blow Up and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation and comes up with a decent thriller about a film sound engineer (John... Read more
Published on Feb 6 2003 by Craig Clarke
4.0 out of 5 stars
Technically Proficient Tale
What Brian De Palma and Vilmos Zsigmond did with the Panavision landscape in this film was incredibly innovative and years ahead of its time. Read more
Published on Mar 4 2002 by hille2000
5.0 out of 5 stars
BLOW OUT-- another De Palma masterpiece!!
While it may be deriative of other films (Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW and even De Palma's own BODY DOUBLE and DRESSED TO KILL), this still stands as one of his best. Read more
Published on Jan 14 2002 by Ryan Clark
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great movie about movie-making and more
Yeah, yeah-- more extras would have been nice, but this DVD DOES give you a sharp, sparkling print of a great Brian De Palma movie, one of his best, in fact. Read more
Published on Jan 2 2002 by Joseph P. Menta, Jr.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing
Interesting but derivative thriller concerning a sound-effects guy (John Travolta) who becomes involved in a murder mystery when he accidentally records a car crash killing a... Read more
Published on Dec 24 2001 by The Groove
5.0 out of 5 stars
My favorite DePalma film
While it's true BLOW OUT's story cribs from other films, I think this is Brian DePalma's best movie (why is he making garbage now like MISSION TO MARS?! Read more
Published on Dec 17 2001 by Brendon M. Macaraeg
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