Blow Out
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| Blow Out | |
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| Directed by | Brian De Palma |
| Produced by | George Litto |
| Written by | Brian De Palma |
| Starring | John Travolta Nancy Allen John Lithgow Dennis Franz |
| Music by | Pino Donaggio |
| Cinematography | Vilmos Zsigmond |
| Distributed by | Filmways |
| Release date(s) | July 21, 1981 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 108 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Blow Out is a 1981 thriller film, written and directed by Brian De Palma. The title and themes derive from and are an homage to Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film Blowup. The film stars John Travolta as Jack Terry, a movie sound effects technician from Philadelphia who, while recording sounds for a low-budget horror film, accidentally captures audio evidence of the possible assassination of the Pennsylvania governor who was planning to run for President. The supporting cast included Nancy Allen (in the role of Sally, a prostitute who was riding in the governor's limousine when he was killed), Dennis Franz as sleazy private investigator Manny Karp, a Zapruderesque figure, and John Lithgow as the coldblooded assassin Burke aka 'The Liberty Bell Strangler'
The movie ends tragically. Jack races through Philadelphia's "Liberty Day" parade in an attempt to keep Sally from being killed by Burke, but he is unsuccessful, and kills Burke in turn for revenge. Because he has wired Sally for sound, he immortalizes her by using her scream on the soundtrack of a movie he has been editing.
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[edit] Critical reaction
Initial reaction to Blow Out was mixed. Some critics, such as Pauline Kael, thought the film was a masterpiece. In her review in The New Yorker, Kael noted, "It's a great movie." She elaborated, "I think De Palma has sprung to the place that Robert Altman achieved with films such as McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Nashville and that Francis Ford Coppola reached with the two Godfather films -- that is, to the place where genre is transcended and what we're moved by is an artist's vision." Roger Ebert gave it four stars, and in his review in the Chicago Sun-Times stated, "Best of all, this movie is inhabited by a real cinematic intelligence. The audience isn't condescended to...We share the excitement of figuring out how things develop and unfold, when so often the movies only need us as passive witnesses." At the same time, Andrew Sarris despised the film, denouncing it as "misogynistic". And Harlan Ellison famously walked out of a Writers Guild Film Society screening, stating that DePalma's movie "consciously and gratuitously debased the human spirit."
Over the years, the general critical response to the film has become much more favorable, and many critics now agree that Blow Out is one of De Palma's best movies. Quentin Tarantino has consistently praised the movie, and listed it as one of his favorite three films, along with Rio Bravo and Taxi Driver (although Tarantino had apparently changed his mind in 2002, when he left it out of his top-ten list for the Sight & Sound poll of the best films of all time).
[edit] Trivia
- In the French version, John Travolta's voice was dubbed by actor Gérard Depardieu.
- This was the last movie for husband and wife team, Nancy Allen and Brian DePalma. The two divorced around 2 years after this film's initial release.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
The Wedding Party • Murder a la Mod • Greetings • Hi, Mom! • Get to Know Your Rabbit • Sisters • Phantom of the Paradise • Obsession • Carrie • The Fury • Home Movies • Dressed to Kill • Blow Out • Scarface • Body Double • Wise Guys • The Untouchables • Casualties of War • The Bonfire of the Vanities • Raising Cain • Carlito's Way • Mission: Impossible • Snake Eyes • Mission to Mars • Femme Fatale • The Black Dahlia • Capone Rising
