John Travolta, Nancy Allen and John Lithgow in the Brian De Palma movie ‘Blow Out’

Advertisements including this trailer for the Brian De Palma directed and written Blow Out (1981) included the phrase “Now you hear it; now you don’t”. The neo-noir movie offers thrilling bits of mystery as a sound recordist for movies captures evidence for what might actually be murder.

(John Travolta as Jack Terry in the Brian De Palma movie Blow Out).

Blow Out begins during the post-production of a low budget movie where producer Sam instructs Jack Terry to get better sound effects for the film. The response of heading to a park to record the wind for Terry results in his witnessing a car lose control and plunge into a nearby creek. John Travolta and Peter Boyden portrayed Jack Terry and Sam, respectively.

(From left, John Lithgow as Burke and Nancy Allen as Sally Bedina in the Brian De Palma movie Blow Out).

The male driver in the accident, Governor George McRyan, died in the accident. Jack Terry saved passenger Sally Bedina, a female escort. Aids of McRyan convince Terry to help smuggle Bedina, portrayed by Nancy Allen, out of the hospital as a means for keeping the relationship between Bedina and the governor quiet. The governor had been a presidential candidate at the point that the movie begins.

(From left, Dennis Franz as Manny Karp and Nancy Allen as Sally Bedina in the Brian De Palma movie Blow Out).

That two forms of recording were taking place at the park the evening of the apparent accident was not immediately known by Jack Terry. In addition to his audio recording, Manny Karp’s presence becomes known when images from the video Karp had taken were published in the tabloids. Karp, as portrayed by Dennis Franz, is linked to Bedina as well as a man named Burke, with Burke being portrayed by John Lithgow. The layering of these connections combined with a compelling string of mysteries with on-going turmoil from here delivers a story that offers an unexpected depth the ultimately works.

(From left, actor John Travolta, director and writer Brian De Palma, and actress Nancy Allen in support of the Brian De Palma movie Blow Out).

As a fan of the work of Alfred Hitchcock, I appreciated the influence taken by De Palma with this movie. Graphic elements for this film depicted some of the shifting social mores of how explicit movies could be, which were less pronounced during much of Hitchcock‘s career. The overall outcome was better than I anticipated, leading me to give Blow Out as directed and co-written by Brian De Palma 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, March 15, 2023