Much less successful than it could and should have been.
Blow Out (1981)
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Reviews Counted:36
Fresh:32
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
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Reviews for Blow Out
There are some neat performances, particularly Travolta's convincing bid to be taken seriously after years of being dismissed as frivolous beefcake.
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.
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.
In the amazingly hyperbolic finale, DePalma conflates patriotism, dirty tricks, violence against women, and slasher movies into a single sick joke.
Of all De Palma's movies, Blow Out is the one I most like to see over and over.
the filmmakers seem more concerned with their art or their in-jokes than with satisfying an audience
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.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 14% 14% | The Ugly Truth |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 67% 67% | Public Enemies |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 95% 95% | The Cove |
| 85% 85% | World's Greatest Dad |
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