Blow [Blu-ray]

Director: Ted Demme Ted Demme

Overview

Following the life of cocaine-trafficking pioneer George Jung in a way that recalls Martin Scorsese's Casino, Blow recounts the man's days from his 1950s childhood in Boston to his downfall in the 1980s. George (played by Johnny Depp) begins his life as the son of Fred (Ray Liotta), an earnest breadwinner, and Ermine (Rachel Griffiths), who frequently walks out on them in pursuit of a more fulfilling life. When George moves west to California in the late '60s, accompanied by best pal Tuna (Ethan Suplee), he becomes an entrepreneur in the marijuana business, which soon spreads to the East Coast as well, with girlfriend Barbara (Franka Potente) smuggling the product during her stewardess shifts. George is arrested in 1972 -- at which time Barbara dies of cancer -- but George finds a new ally in Diego (Jordi Molla), who proposes the idea that he become the American conduit for Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar (Cliff Curtis). George flourishes in the heyday of the disco era, and falls for Mirtha (Penelope Cruz), a self-serving bombshell who eventually has a daughter with him. Trouble escalates as the FBI threatens to bring George and his crew down, while he desperately tries to be a stable parent to his young offspring. Blow also features Paul Reubens and Max Perlich in featured roles.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/23/2008
UPC:	0794043123443
Original Release:	2001
Rating:	R
Source:	New Line Home Video
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:03:00
Sales rank:	12,483

Special Features

Relive the turbulent era of George Jung's rise and fall through remarkable vintage footage accessible while you watch the movie!; Commentary by director Ted Demme and George Jung; Deleted scenes; Character outtakes; Ted Demme's production diary; Nikki Costa Push and Pull music video; George Jung interviews by director Ted Demme; Lost Paradise: Cocaine's Impact on Colombia; Addiction: Body and Soul; Fact Track: Trivia subtitle track with direct access to additional features; Theatrical trailers

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Johnny Depp	George Jung
Franka Potente	Barbara
Rachel Griffiths	Ermine Jung
Ray Liotta	Fred Jung
Ethan Suplee	Tuna
Paul Reubens	Derek Foreal
Max Perlich	Kevin Dulli
Cliff Curtis	Escobar
Miguel Sandoval	Augusto Oliveras
Kevin Gage	Leon Minghella
Bob Goldthwait	Mr. T
Miguel Perez	Alessandro
Dan Ferro	Cesar Toban
Tony Amendola	Sanchez
Michael Tucci	Doctor Bay
Monet Mazur	Maria
Lola Glaudini	Rada
Jennifer Gimenez	Inez
James King	Kristina Jung
Emma Roberts	Young Kristina Jung
Penélope Cruz	Mirtha
Jesse James	Young George
Jordi Mollà	Diego Delgado
Miguel Sandovar	Augusto Oliveras
Charles Noland	Jack Stevens
Pamela Abdy	Beach Woman #3
John Harrington Bland	FBI Waiter #1
Brantley Bush	FBI Waiter #3
Kevin Chapman	DEA Eastham
Brian Goodman	Guard Gus
Graeme Revell	Composer
Allan Byer	Composer

Technical Credits

Nick Cassavetes

David McKenna

Bruce Porter

Ted Demme	Producer,Director
Georgia Kacandes	Producer,Executive Producer
Avy Kaufman	Casting
Denis Leary	Producer
Joel Stillerman	Producer
Nick Cassavetes	Screenwriter
David McKenna	Screenwriter
Bruce Porter	Screenwriter
Brian Basham	Sound Effects
Ron Bedrosian	Sound Effects
Bill Odenkirk	Producer
Michael De Luca	Producer
Tracy Falco	Producer
Susan McNamara	Producer
Hillary Sherman	Producer
Michael DeLuca	Executive Producer
Allan Byer	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Based on Bruce Porter's biography of the same name, Blow tells the story of real-life drug kingpin George Jung (Johnny Depp), a working-class kid from New England who turned America on to the magic powder that made disco come alive. Echoing the trajectory of a cocaine high, the sunny euphoria of Jung's early days in the 1960s selling pot on Southern California beaches gives way to the manic, teeth-grinding frenzy of his big-scale coke smuggling during the 1970s, when he hooked up with Columbian Pablo Escobar's powerful Medellin cartel. By the mid-'80s, as arrests and betrayals send Jung's billion-dollar empire crashing down, his life becomes one long cocaine hangover. Breezily told, Blow dispenses with major chunks of story through rapid-fire, Goodfellas-like montages as Jung narrates in voice-over; much of the fun comes from checking out Depp's ever-changing array of period costumes and hairdos as the movie hurtles through the decades. Director Ted Demme slows the action down for Jung's periodic visits with his loving but ineffectual father (Ray Liotta) and his shrewish mother (Rachel Griffiths), who salivates over her son's ill-gotten gains, then later turns him in to the police. These scenes with the parents are meant to provide the key to Jung's character: In his marriage to Mirtha -- a Columbian bombshell (Penelope Cruz) who quickly goes from fantasy babe to coke-snorting, money-grubbing harridan -- we witness the reenactment of his family history. But it's never clear how Jung, who seems neither ruthless nor particularly smart, rises so high in a trade dominated by vicious, machine gun-toting drug lords. It's a testimony to Depp's immense appeal as a performer -- his ability to undercut his breathtaking good looks with a self-effacing sweetness -- that he manages to make us care about a character that we never really get a handle on. Blow hammers home its point that crime doesn't pay, but by the end we have so much sympathy for Depp that we almost wish that it did.