There are some neat performances, particularly Travolta's convincing bid to be taken seriously after years of being dismissed as frivolous beefcake.
Blow Out (1981)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted: 35
Fresh: 31
Rotten:4
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Consensus: With a story inspired by Antonioni's Blow Up and a style informed by the high-gloss suspense of Hitchcock, DePalma's Blow Out is raw, politically informed, and littered with film references.
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: While outdoors recording sound effects for a movie, audio technician Jack Terri hears a tire blowout and a car crash. Before the car sinks into the river, he manages to save the female passenger... While outdoors recording sound effects for a movie, audio technician Jack Terri hears a tire blowout and a car crash. Before the car sinks into the river, he manages to save the female passenger from drowning. Because the other passenger was a presidential candidate, Jack suspects that the "accident" was a political murder. Afterwards, Jack falls in love with Sally, the woman he rescued, and learns that she's been in cahoots with Manny, a sleazy photographer who's operating a blackmail scheme. As part of their scam, Manny photographs Sally with important men in what appear to be compromising situations. Jack starts to wonder whether he's being paranoid or whether things are not quite what they seem. Then the assassin turns his attention to Jack and Sally, and Jack has to use every special effects trick in the book to keep them both alive. [More]
Starring: John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz
Starring: John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz, Peter Boyden, John McMartin
Director: Brian De Palma
Director: Brian De Palma
Producer: George Litto
Composer: Pino Donaggio
Get This Movie
Reviews for Blow Out
An homage to Blow Up that far outstrips the original in emotional immediacy, political sophistication, and visual style.
This 1981 release is one of Brian De Palma's more interesting and better-made thrillers, though it's even more abjectly derivative than his Hitchcock imitations.
With attractive leads and a stylish flair for suspense, De Palma misses sustaining involvement by his distracting allusions to prior films.
Original for sure story of Travolta's movie sound effects guy recording a real murder.
Blow Out is not known as one of Brian De Palma's horror movies, but of all his films, it's the one that feels most like a nightmare.
the filmmakers seem more concerned with their art or their in-jokes than with satisfying an audience
Where Antonioni's images made you think, De Palma's merely make you blink, and the baroque plot confuses as often as it frightens.
A well-crafted Hitchcockian-style thriller with De Palma again in top form. It's a mystery why this fizzled at the box office in the summer of 1981.
A movie which continues [De Palma] practice of making cross-references to other movies, other directors, and actual historical events, and which nevertheless is his best and most original work.
Of all De Palma's movies, Blow Out is the one I most like to see over and over.
Blow Out is the work of a high-spirited, irrepressible director who takes the effects movies can produce far more seriously than he takes the characters they seem to be about.
Related Forums for Blow Out
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
79% 79% |
Gran Torino |
30% 30% |
12 Rounds |
23% 23% |
Confessions of a Shopa… |
|
The Code |
39% 39% |
Inkheart |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
22% 22% |
Push |
12% 12% |
The Unborn |
29% 29% |
The Little Red Truck |
|
Five Fingers |
|
Night Train |
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Sponsored Links
Around The Network
- Blow Out at Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh Links
Featured

MSN's David Fear and Frank Paiva go head to head discussing the pros and cons of Bruno star Sacha Baron Cohen.

The AV Club's Scott Tobias takes a second look at David Lynch's cult classic, Lost Highway.

TIME takes us on a 25-year long journey into the superstar's career, giving us a look at his 10 best roles.

BuzzSugar reports on Paramount's plans to rebirth the iconic TV show as a comedy film.



Top Critic


