Blow Out

UPC: 715515080019

Studio: Criterion

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language]

Summary: Brian De Palma's homage to Michelangelo Antonioni's classic art movie Blow-Up (1966) blends suspense and political paranoia when a Philadelphia soundman inadvertently records a murder. Former police technician Jack Terri (John Travolta) makes his living doing sound for slasher flicks. While recording new outdoor effects one night, Jack witnesses a couple's car careen off a bridge into a river, but he can save only the female occupant, Sally (Nancy Allen). Jack begins to suspect something when he learns that her dead companion was a Presidential hopeful. Re-playing his tape over and over, Jack thinks that he hears a gun shot before the crash-causing tire blow-out. When sleazy photographer Manny Karp (Dennis Franz) comes forward with photos of the accident, Jack discovers the real reason that the na?ve Sally was in the car -- and also a way to prove his auditory suspicions through motion pictures. Even with all his surveillance talent, however, Jack cannot see (or hear) how dangerous the big picture really is until it's too late. Taking a break from horror films, De Palma turned his interests in technology and voyeurism toward more politically loaded subject matter at the dawn of the Reagan era; the film's red, white and blue mise-en-sc?ne, "Liberty Day" celebration climax, and conspiracy surrounding political "dirty tricks" suggest that American politics are still rotten, seven years after Watergate. Although Blow Out earned some favorable notice, particularly for Travolta's first "adult" performance, De Palma's downbeat film did not go over well with 1981 summer audiences. Rather than blockbuster escapism, Blow Out instead harks back to 1970s political thrillers like The Parallax View (1974), using cinematic fireworks to tell an unsettling story about one man's struggle against unstoppable corruption. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Category: Thriller

Features: New, restored digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Brian De Palma, with DTS-HD master audio soundtrack
New hour-long video interview with De Palma, conducted by filmmaker Noah Baumbach
New video interview with star Nancy Allen
De Palma's 1967 feature Murder ? la Mod
New video interview with cameraman Garrett Brown on the Steadicam shots featured in the film within the film
On-set photos by photographer Louis Goldman
Original theatrical trailer

Blow Out

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 04/26/2011

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 2.40:1

Audio: DS Dolby Surround (4.0)

Runtime: 108 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Region: Blu-ray region A (North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia)

Michael Betzold

Blow Out is Brian DePalma's glossy send-up of Michelangelo Antonioni's 1960s art-house classic Blow-Up. In Blow-Up, a London fashion photographer unwittingly shoots footage of a murder plot; in Blow Out, a movie sound technician records a killing that's part of a wide-ranging political conspiracy. The intricate plot is typical of DePalma and has unmistakable parallels with Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974), also a version of Blow-Up. The cast includes John Travolta in his first serious major role, as well as DePalma favorites John Lithgow and Nancy Allen, in her last memorable part. Blow Out has all of DePalma's flashy camera techniques but keeps the director's customary gratuitous violence under some control. Most critics thought it was one of his most successful and intriguing films, though it didn't do well at the box office. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Dean Bennett  Actor 
Tony Devon  Actor 
Brian Corrigan  Actor 
Robin Sherwood  Actor 
Claire Carter  Actor 
John Hoffmeister  Actor 
John McMartin  Actor 
Deborah Everton  Actor 
Amanda Cleveland  Actor 
David Roberts  Actor 
Archie Lang  Actor 
Terrence Currier  Actor 
Tom McCarthy  Actor 
Maureen Sullivan  Actor 
Dick McGarvin  Actor 
Roger Wilson  Actor 
Tim Choate  Actor 
James Jeter  Actor 
J. Patrick McNamara  Actor 
Lori-Nan Engler  Actor 
Maurice Copeland  Actor 
Cindy Manion  Actor 
Bud Seese  Actor 
Brian De Palma  Director 
Brian De Palma  Screenwriter 
Fred Caruso  Executive Producer 
Pino Donaggio  Composer (Music Score) 
George Litto  Producer 
John Travolta  Actor 
Nancy Allen  Actor 
John Lithgow  Actor 
Dennis Franz  Actor 
Peter Boyden  Actor 
Curt May  Actor 
John Aquino  Actor 
Ernest McClure  Actor 

Country: USA