Blow Out (1981)

Blow Out
Directed by Brian De Palma
Written by Brian De Palma
1981/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Jack Terry: I’m a sound man. And – the bang was before the blowout.

This movie steals its plot from Blow-Up and The Conversation.  The best part about it is John Lithgow as an assassin/serial killer.

Jack Terry (John Travolta) is a sound recordist for low-budget horror movies.  He and his boss are having a hard time finding a plausible scream for “Co-Ed Frenzy”.  One night as he is out recording sounds for future use, he witnesses a car go off a cliff in a ball of flames. Sally (Nancy Allen) was a passenger in the car.  Jack rescues her and develops feeling for her right away.

The passenger was a candidate for the Presidency.  Jack gives his tapes a special listen when he gets home and becomes convinced that the crash was no accident.  This knowledge puts him, his tape, and Sally in danger.  Lithgow plays a hired assassin who likes his work way too much.

Blow-Out is more of a thriller than the Antonioni or Coppola films and is much more simplistic.  It is effective visually but less so in its storytelling.  Not a bad film.  It is perhaps unfair to compare.

 

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