Blow Out (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

This flick is hands down my favorite De Palma film. I love everything about it. It grabs you almost right away and doesn't let up the whole time. It's suspenseful, the editing is brilliant, it's just darn near perfect.

Blow OutDirected by Brian De PalmaStarring John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow and Dennis FranzCriterion | 1981 | 108 min | Rated R | Released Apr 26, 2011Video:Video codec: MPEG-4 AVCVideo resolution: 1080pAspect ratio: 2.40:1Audio:English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0Subtitles:English SDHDisc:Single 50GB Blu-ray DiscJack Terry (Travolta) is a sound-effects man who works on B-movies for a Philadelphia-based studio. One night, he decides to go out to record some new effects. He captures the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, a frog croaking, an owl hooting and a couple's conversation. They mention that someone is watching them from a nearby bridge.Jack inadvertently records a car accident and a gunshot heard before it veers off the road into a creek. He runs over and leaps into the water, pulling a woman from the car, but too late to save the man she is with. The woman, Sally (Allen), survives the accident with no apparent injuries. The dead man turns out to be Governor McRyan, a potential presidential candidate.The police write the crash off as an accident, but Jack knows what he heard and reconstructs the scene in his mind by listening to his recording. We find out that someone caught the crash on film and sold it to various publications. Jack matches the images to the sounds and is certain the crash was caused by a bullet hitting a tire. None of the authorities seem interested so he seeks Sally's help to prove his theory.De Palma builds suspense throughout and a plot to discredit the Governor is gradually revealed. Sally was working for Manny (Franz), a private eye, and they have a history of using her to ruin people's public images with the help of a henchman known as Burke (Lithgow). Burke has an agenda of his own and exceeds his authority.Nobody wants to admit that McRyan had a woman in the car and a full cover-up is set in motion. Burke is out to tie up any loose ends and silence the potential threat from Jack and Sally.De Palma brings to mind Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow Up as well as a number of Alfred Hitchcock's movies. He confirms in the special features that the film was inspired by the JFK shooting and subsequent events.The resulting mix is an intriguing mystery, filled with suspense and a little action. Will Jack be able to prove his theory and make it public, or will it be buried? The final shot is a memorable one and the film doesn't have a traditional Hollywood ending. It works for me.Video Quality 4/5It's difficult to grade Criterion's newly-restored presentation because the quality varies. In brightly-lit scenes, detail is exceptional considering the age of the film. Some of the scenes are dark and filled with heavy grain. I didn't notice any dirt or debris, but did see vertical lines on the screen a couple of times. Overall, I was pleased. Criterion does everything possible with its transfers and didn't let me down here.Sound Quality 5/5Sound understandably plays an important part in the film and the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track delivers. Some scenes are made up of a multitude of different sounds, presumably to draw our attention to what we are hearing. It's particularly evident when Jack is recording his sound-effects tape and captures the car's crash. Dialogue is clear throughout and it's hard to imagine a better quality track than this one.Special Features 5/5A 58-minute interview with De Palma conducted by Noah Baumback (1080p). De Palma talks about many technical aspects of the film including the split diopter and Steadicam, as well as some of the difficulties faced during filming. He also mentions Alfred Hitchcock and some of the things that influenced the story.De Palma's 1967 film, Murder a la Mod, appears here in full (81 minutes, 1080p).Interview with Nancy Allen (26 minutes, 1080p).Interview with Garrett Brown, inventor of the Steadicam (16 minutes, 1080p).Louis Goldman photographs showing stills from Blow Out.Trailer (2 minutes, 1080p)34-page bookletCriterion's recent release does justice to an important film and is thoroughly worth the upgrade to Blu-ray. You're actually getting two De Palma films in this package and Blow Out is one of Travolta's best films. I wonder how influential his performance here was in convincing Quentin Tarantino (a huge De Palma fan) to cast him in Pulp Fiction?At the time of writing, Amazon has the Blu-ray on sale for $18.99.Overall score 4.5/5

Just like in 1980, when Brian De Palma, Master Of The Macabre, invited you to see the latest showing in fashion...in murder with "Dressed To Kill", in 1981 he invited you to listen to the sound of murder, conspiracy, paranoia, mistaken identity, a psychotic serial killer, and political corruption...in "Blow Out", written & directed by De Palma, and produced by George Litto.Starting the film out with a B-grade slasher flick, brilliantly satirizing the heavily trafficked god-awful sleazy marketing of a school bus full of gonzo slasher films, De Palma establishes from the outset that all is not as it appears to be (plus, he shows just how easy he could just as well do a cheap-a** slasher flick if he so chose, but would rather expose them for the low-brow form of film that they are).De Palma makes great use of MANY of his brilliant techniques in this, ranging from split screen, split dioptor, to spinning and whirling, crane tracking shots, to slow motion, making everything work to his advantage.The story is quite a mix of "Blow Up" (but, where in "Blow Up", Antonioni's themes were how things lost meaning and/or relevance once out of context, De Palma shows just how important each and every little piece of a puzzle is important, whether in/out of context or not), "The Conversation" (where as Coppolla had a character 'think' he heard the sound of a murder, De Palma lets you know his character DID hear the sound of a murder), "Vertigo" (the hero has an incident from the past that is 'crippling' to him now, plus the whole 'saving the lady' theme), and the real life Chappaquiddick Incident (but, here we are shown that it WAS a cover up!). Showing (and exposing) just how corrupt and manipulating the film industry, the media, and politics are, this film will leave you utterly breathless, and cold, and in utter bewilderment to see how a Human life can be condensed to nothing more than a mere scream in a low budget horror film.De Palma discovered/rediscovered a LOT of talent during his tenure as director, and is continuing to do so. The list reads like a novel of who's who. He's been a diving board for a LOT of careers!Ironically, De Palma started Travolta's film career with "Carrie", and 'killed' his career with this film, which features his best performance ever.As for Nancy Allen's character, Sally, I'll admit that I didn't 'get' her, and/or really enjoy her in this until just a few years ago; and when I did, I have loved her performance ever since, maybe over anything else she's ever done. She's supposed to come across a bit ditzy and 'disconnected' on the surface, but underneath, she is highly intelligent, has a heart of gold, and is tough as nails when push comes to shove; and is a very 'inconvenient woman', as in she is in the way and needs to be 'erased'.As a fan of Nancy Allen's, I recommend people check out all 4 De Palma films she's in ("Carrie", "Home Movies", "Dressed To Kill", "Blow Out"), as well as "Strange Invaders", "Poltergeist III", and all 3 "Robocop" films. I LOVE Nancy, in my opinion, the TRUE 'scream queen' of horror!Don't compare De Palma with other De Palma, but with the film(s) that get released at the same period as his, and/or competing with his. I say that because I love every film the man has made, each one in a different unique way, for, in my opinion, I have yet to see one that just didn't floor me, and/or impress the h*ll out of me. This is considered by many to be De Palma's finest hour. Fortunately, a lot of important people have discovered this masterpiece over the years, but it is a shame that it didn't get the right amount of acclaim upon its initial release.And as for the Criterion release: The transfer is magnificent! And the bonus interviews are definitely worthwhile viewing, and the inclusion of De Palma's early film "Murder A La Mod" (even though I already have that on a separate DVD) makes this a MUST HAVE for that film alone!HIGHLY recommended!! Thank you! ;-)

good film travolta does good job. cristal clear on 4k tv.

Love these paranoid thrillers, like The Parallax View, and this a really good one

This is a film that shouldn't work. But it does.It's corny, hammed out acting, preposterous and untenable plotDe Palma uses a lifetimes artistic licence.So why is this film so good?Brian De Palma weaves his colossal talent like a magic wand.The end result is a captivating film.The 4k bluray looks superb.Another other director wouid have made a terrible film.Brian De Palma somehow makes a modern classic.Unmissable. Just don't analyse the plot.Turn a blind eye and you'll love the film

Homage an Hitchkock

en la caratula no se aprecia que es en realidad un disco BD-R ! lastima...

Film da collezione.Nulla da recriminare ,Sappiate linguaggio francese