Blow Out

 

 

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Having heard before hand, that Brian DePalma's "Blow Out" was like a tribute to Antonioni's "Blow Up", i was definately intreagued. "Blow Up" is one of the greatest art films I've ever seen, and knowing that tributes are never as good as the original, i knew not to expect too much.

Basically, "Blow Out" involves a sound man (Travolta) recording sounds in a park at night, when a speeding car has what seems to be a blow out, crashes through a fence and into a lake. Travolta is able to rescue the woman, but the man behind the wheel was dead before he could be helped. Upon listening to the tape he'd made that night, Travolta recovers what he believes to be two sounds. Naturally, he can't help but get involved, and try to solve the case.

I Enjoyed Blow Out for the obvious reasons; good acting, complex script, lots of well-drawn suspense. And, if you've never seen or liked Antonioni's "Blow Up", the review can end here for you. You'll probably enjoy this version. Despite my complaints in the next paragraph, i really liked this movie.

However having seen and enjoyed "Blow Up", it looked to me like Brian De Palma did what everyone was tempted to do, but that no one should have done. Made "Blow Up" a Hollywood movie. "Blow Up" actually has a lot a great suspense and intreague, but the end is sure do disappoint those who need a clean-cut ending, which is to say, most theatre goers. Basically, they smushed the plot of "Blow Up" down about 30 minutes, added some more murders and people skulking around shadowy rooms, and then gave it a conclusive ending.

Needless to say, it's frusterating to see a great piece of art turned into a decent Hollywood movie. But hey, if you like a good suspense thriller, this works.

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.
I saw «The Conversation» for the first time when I was 25. Couldn't forget it.

The reason these movies stay in your mind is simple. See the three of them and you'll understand.

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

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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

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

4.0 out of 5 stars The DePalma film to see
Even with its plot contrivances and often amateurish performances (Lithgow and Franz overplay it to the hilt), Blow Out is utterly engrossing from beginning to end. Read more

Published on Nov 1 2001 by John Borrelli

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for any Travolta or De Palma's fans
Finally it is out on DVD. While the picture quality is good, it is not much better than the excellent Wide Screen LD that was released some time ago. Read more

Published on Oct 16 2001 by Mian Sukiman

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