Blow Out

1981 "Murder has a sound all of its own."
7.4| 1h48m| R| en| More Info
Released: 24 July 1981 Released
Producted By: Filmways Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Jack Terry is a master sound recordist who works on grade-B horror movies. Late one evening, he is recording sounds for use in his movies when he hears something unexpected through his sound equipment and records it. Curiosity gets the better of him when the media become involved, and he begins to unravel the pieces of a nefarious conspiracy. As he struggles to survive against his shadowy enemies and expose the truth, he does not know whom he can trust.

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Reviews

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic
Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.
Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
ypandalove At first I thought this film was just the rule of right hero story, because Jack tries to rescue Sally from invisible evil and the screen and story is brighter than other movies which we watched already. However, after watching this movie I feel this film has something in common with films which we has watched till now. In concrete there are two points. The first point is Hitchcock's film("Vertigo", "Psycho", "Conversation" and "Blow out" ) have one of the theme of beauty of women's death. Every film has scene which a woman is killed or depiction of murder. I think it is transiency of beautiful woman's life. Also, it shows the idea of women as possession. That reason is that sometimes women are considered that their position or status is lower than men. This is so strange for me. The second point is the guilty that main character feels in each film. In "Vertigo" and "Conversation" it is connected to religious thinking. This is thinkable that the director Hitchcock has been Christian and he has been affected. In everyday life there is a possibility people get guilty, so I think Hitchcock and other director who was influenced by him wanted to show that.
stonedraim **** May contain strong spoilers ****This is a review made by StoneDraim... and that means that if you want to read a probably different kind of review, keep reading....This is my personal experience, my personal point of view/perspective and my personal opinion... and my opinion is just one of like 7 billions in this world.Wow. This movie is from 1981, and kicks off in a really scary and psychological way. You are in the seat of a murder going from window to window. The breathing from the killer is on edge and a dark thump is going through the screen in a rhythmic way... at the same time the sounds and music from the night life is breaking through. A couple is having sex, two girls are dancing, one girl is masturbating and there is movement in the hall way... and the breathing keeps on coming closer, just to end in a scene ripped off from the classic of "Psycho". Cut; to Jack Terry (John Travolta) sitting in a movie theater commenting what he just saw. Follows does the discussion between Jack and the movie director, talking about sound effects. And when the conclusion is made, cut to black background, wind is whining out with a wind shield wiper showing that this production is made by Brian De Palma. Solid performed and solid production to kick things forward. Being a movie from 1981, this is made with pure horror and fine production, starting this motion picture off like a silent rocket just waiting to explode. The bar is set high.... really high.It keeps on; about 7 minutes into this one there is class act camera production and class act camera angels squaring off into a divided screen showing news on one side, the movements of the sound editor Jack Terry working on new sound effects. I loooove this kind of movie magic. The first movie I knowingly and consciously saw by Brian De Palma was "Snake Eyes" with amongst others Nicholas Cage and Gary Sinise. Brian De Palmas way grabbed me and I have always looked forward seeing more movies from and by him. His cinematography and flicks of details is just jaw dropping. So, I dived into "Blow out" with high expectations.... no...as TOTO puts it on their album XIV from 2016; Great expectations.Even in this one Brian De Palma stays within a time frame and shows the events from different angles. It is very interesting how he and the production team has put together the accident and the events during night time several times here. "Snake Eyes" really comes to mind.Nice little touch of a recording and production detail; at one moment the sound is being recorded from outside (or so it should give the impression of). The visual is recorded through a window. The scene and lines is carried out indoor and the sound is from outside; just to cut and the sound is being up close with Sally (Nancy Allen) indoor. Brian De Palmas interest of movie productions is shining through in "Blow Out". Jack (Mr. Travolta) is making sound effects and also cuts out pictures in a magazine just to photograph them and make a little picture-to-picture type of clarification of the "car accident". Mr. De Palmas show off of in and out focus and in and out zoomings in the same cut and scene (see time 18:20) is top notch. He even delivers two twists in the end that both gives the movie a sad depth and also a clever twist for Jack to wrap his work up to. Well... do you like how different types of styles blend together speaking of sound- and movie production, and at the same time getting a full "blow(n) out" (pun intended...?) thriller, turn this 1981 classic on.Over to the movie as a product: - The production : Magnificent! Astonishing! Visuals that is excellent, camera angles and recording at its peak, sound editing within the sound editing... I could go on and on. Considered this production is made 1981, its shining! - The actors : John Travolta and John Lithgow is almost spot on. Nancy Allen... either is she plain and simple bad or is Mr. De Palma playing around with her, 'cause her acting in this one is way off; her delivery of the lines, her accent of words and her awful facial expressions during... well, during all the time. - The story : A man recording a killing, and then dwells into a detectives work to put out the true story. In the alley, a dark killer is on a hunt. The political twist is that they hire an already known serial killer... really good story! - Entertainment : All the way through.... as written earlier; I love this kind of recording, screen writing, cinematography and production. - Age : 157,8 out of 10. (The final rate is based most on my own entertainment of the movie. Short elucidation of the rating: 8 Excellent movie and a solid production 7 Well made movie. Proper entertainment.)
gridoon2018 Although "Blow Out" is more highly regarded critically than Brian De Palma's subsequent "Body Double", a recent re-viewing of both films leads me to the opinion that the latter is the more entertaining film of the two. Or, to be more specific, "Body Double" has the better first two acts, and "Blow Out" the better third act. The problem with "Blow Out"'s first two acts is that the script keeps pounding you over the head with the fact that "the tire was shot, it was not a blow out" long after even the last audience member has understood that. And as if that's not enough, there is even a scene in the middle that spells out everything about the assassination, including who the killer was! The final third and the climax are suspenseful and excitingly staged by De Palma, but you cannot overlook that Travolta makes an unforgivable error of judgment when he lets Nancy Allen go and meet the "reporter" alone. On the positive side, there is genuine emotion in the relationship between Travolta and Allen, John Lithgow is terrifying as the psychopathic killer, and the ending is undeniably powerful. **1/2 out of 4.
grantss Between making brilliant movies like Scarface and Carlito's Way and some fairly decent movies like The Untouchables, Casualties of War and Carrie, Brian De Palma makes mostly derivative, unoriginal stuff like this. His previous movie, Dressed to Kill, was clearly a Hitchcock ripoff, and more style than substance. This is a ripoff of Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up, with a bit of Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation thrown in. What is different to these is quite clichéd - pretty much standard murder-thriller fare. There is more substance to this than Dressed to Kill though.Performances are fine though. John Travolta is solid in the lead role and Nancy Allen makes for a decent damsel-in-distress. John Lithgow is chillingly good as the villain.