Blow Out [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Brian De Palma Brian De Palma

Overview

Brian De Palma's homage to Michelangelo Antonioni's classic art movie Blow-Up (1966) blends suspense and political paranoia when a Philadelphia soundman inadvertently records a murder. Former police technician Jack Terri (John Travolta) makes his living doing sound for slasher flicks. While recording new outdoor effects one night, Jack witnesses a couple's car careen off a bridge into a river, but he can save only the female occupant, Sally (Nancy Allen). Jack begins to suspect something when he learns that her dead companion was a Presidential hopeful. Re-playing his tape over and over, Jack thinks that he hears a gun shot before the crash-causing tire blow-out. When sleazy photographer Manny Karp (Dennis Franz) comes forward with photos of the accident, Jack discovers the real reason that the naïve Sally was in the car -- and also a way to prove his auditory suspicions through motion pictures. Even with all his surveillance talent, however, Jack cannot see (or hear) how dangerous the big picture really is until it's too late. Taking a break from horror films, De Palma turned his interests in technology and voyeurism toward more politically loaded subject matter at the dawn of the Reagan era; the film's red, white and blue mise-en-scène, "Liberty Day" celebration climax, and conspiracy surrounding political "dirty tricks" suggest that American politics are still rotten, seven years after Watergate. Although Blow Out earned some favorable notice, particularly for Travolta's first "adult" performance, De Palma's downbeat film did not go over well with 1981 summer audiences. Rather than blockbuster escapism, Blow Out instead harks back to 1970s political thrillers like The Parallax View (1974), using cinematic fireworks to tell an unsettling story about one man's struggle against unstoppable corruption.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/26/2011
UPC:	0715515080019
Original Release:	1981
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:48:00
Sales rank:	1,438

Special Features

New, restored digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Brian De Palma, with dts-hd master audio soundtrack; New hour-long video interview with De Palma, conducted by filmmaker Noah Baumbach; New video interview with star Nancy Allen; De Palma's 1967 feature Murder à la Mod ; New video interview with cameraman Garrett Brown on the Steadicam shots featured in the film within the film ; On-set photos by photographer Louis Goldman ; Original theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

John Travolta	Jack
Nancy Allen	Sally
John Lithgow	Burke
Dennis Franz	Karp
Peter Boyden	Sam
Curt May	Frank
Ernest McClure	Jim
Dave Roberts	Anchorman,Anchorman
Maurice Copeland	Jack
Claire Carter	Anchorwoman
John Aquino	Detective
John Hoffmeister	McRyan
Pat McNamara	Nelson,Nelson
Terrence Currier	Lawrence Henry
Tom McCarthy	Policeman
Dean Bennett	Campus Guard
Deborah Everton	Hooker
John McMartin	Lawrence Henry
Missy Cleveland	Actor,Coed Lover
Roger Wilson	Coed Lover
Lori-Nan Engler	Sue
Cindy Manion	Dancing Coed
Missy Crutchfield	Actor
Archie Lang	Mixer
Dick McGarvin	TV Newscaster
James Jeter	Film Lab Man
Bud Seese	Corrupt Captain
Maureen Sullivan	First Murder Victim
Brian Corrigan	Cop at Karp's Office
Robin Sherwood	Screamer
Tim Choate	Sailor
Tony Devon	Sailor's Friend
Pino Donaggio	Composer

Technical Credits

Brian De Palma

Brian De Palma	Director,Screenwriter
Frank Caruso	Executive Producer,Executive Producer
George Litto	Producer
Jim Tannenbaum	Sound Mixer

Editorial Reviews

Blow Out is Brian DePalma's glossy send-up of Michelangelo Antonioni's 1960s art-house classic Blow-Up. In Blow-Up, a London fashion photographer unwittingly shoots footage of a murder plot; in Blow Out, a movie sound technician records a killing that's part of a wide-ranging political conspiracy. The intricate plot is typical of DePalma and has unmistakable parallels with Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974), also a version of Blow-Up. The cast includes John Travolta in his first serious major role, as well as DePalma favorites John Lithgow and Nancy Allen, in her last memorable part. Blow Out has all of DePalma's flashy camera techniques but keeps the director's customary gratuitous violence under some control. Most critics thought it was one of his most successful and intriguing films, though it didn't do well at the box office.

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