Review of Blow Out (1981) by Chris W — 04 May 2012

Many hardcore moviegoers consider "Blow-Out" to be Brian DePalma's masterpiece, and if it's not, it's certainly right up there. The plot is reminiscent of Coppola's "The Conversation" or the Antonioni classic "Blow-Up" in that it's the story of an average guy who gets caught up in a murder plot.

A sound effects artist for a low-budget film studio (played perfectly by John Travolta) is out recording sound effects for a project and coincidentally captures the sound of a car wreck. He obsesses over the recording and eventually believes it was a murder conspiracy.

Everyone who is into filmmaking ends up loving this movie because it goes into some of the technical work behind the scenes. However, if you're not into a "how-to" class, it's still a very tense, fast-paced, and well-acted piece of 80's cinema. John Lithgow plays one of the most frightening men you'll ever see in film, with a James Bond gadget watch from Hell and Nancy Allen is adorable as the hooker with a heart of gold.

My only knock against "Blow-Out" is that the original score hasn't aged well and is just flat distracting at times when setting the mood (don't use comedic strings when an innocent woman is being rolled down a hill and killed).