Blow Out (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Blow Out was a pleasant surprise. After watching Carrie and Scarface, I really enjoyed De Palma's style and blind buy this film. The reviews were positive and worth of mouth was enthusiastic. After watching it, I have to say that Blow Out has become my favorite De Palma film (so far) and one of the best thrillers ever made. When a B-movie sound recorder is requested to record new sounds, he goes out and start recording. While he is there, a car is going through a bridge and suddenly its tire explodes and the car goes down to the river. The sound recorder goes to the river and rescues a girl. When they go to the hospital, he discovers that she was with an important candidate to the presidency. He died in the accident and the police advises him to forget the girl and forget about this whole thing. When he is hearing the recordings he hears a gun and is convinced that this was no accident. He contacts the girl and together they tried to uncover the mystery while avoiding a killer who is behind all this complot. Blow Out is a very well constructed film that elevates the tension in every scene. John Travolta and Nancy Allen are great in the lead roles and John Lithgow is superb as the murderous conspirator. The movie is also fascinating as it uses the mechanics of filmmaking to uncover the complot. Many scenes are memorable especially the 4th of July scene which is amazingly well staged. The final scene is unexpected and shocking at the same time, you'll never guess what happens. Blow Out is a great movie that will maintain you at the edge of your seat all the time. Video & Audio Blow Out comes to BD courtesy of Criterion and the results are amazing. Detail is strong, contrast is sharp and color reproduction is well done. I didn't notice any signs of print damage, aliasing, edge enhacement or any other anomaly. Even better, a fine layer of grain has been maintained and there are no signs of DNR. A spectacular transfer. The 2.0 DTS-HD MA is also great with astounding clarity and no signs of hiss. Dialogue is always clear as are the effects and the music. Bonus Features There is plenty of bonus material in this set that is sure to delight all fans: The best one is an hour long interview with Brian De Palma by Noah Baumbach. It deals with the production of Blow Out and De Palma shares some light about some decisions in certain scenes, casting choices and more. It's a must see feature. Then you have newly recorded interviews with cameraman and steady cam creator Garret Brown and actress Nancy Allen. Both are very enlightening. Then you have a still photographs gallery by Louis Goldman. One of the best features is De Palma's experimental second film Murder a la Mod, it is presented in full HD and deserves at least one viewing. Last you have the original theatrical trailer. A booklet is also included that features a new essay by critic Michael Sragow and the great original interview by Pauline Kael. Closing Thoughts Blow Out was a very pleasant susprise and one of the best thrillers I've seen. It keeps you interested and has a likeable cast that you care about. This Criterion BD set is amazing as well with terrific picture and sound and lots of great bonus material. Highly Recommended for lovers of suspense and good movies in general.

Blow Out Directed by Brian De Palma Starring John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow and Dennis Franz Criterion | 1981 | 108 min | Rated R | Released Apr 26, 2011 Video: Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video resolution: 1080p Aspect ratio: 2.40:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Subtitles: English SDH Disc: Single 50GB Blu-ray Disc Jack 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 4/5 It'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 5/5 Sound 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 5/5 A 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 booklet Criterion'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

I love, love, LOVE this movie. It's an example of perfect filmmaking on every level from creative to technical. This is the first Brian DePalma film where the director put more of his personality inside his technique, and it's the best he's ever done it as well. This blu ray is insane with greatness. Firstly, the transfer is pristine. This probably looks and sounds better than it ever did when this film came out back in the 80's. More importanly, the special features are just what the doctor ordered. First, and best of all, we get an hour long interview with director Brian DePalma by current filmmaker Noah Baumbach(The Squid and the Whal-if you haven't seen this or his other films, see them IMMEDIATELY). DePalma not only goes into the making of this film but his views on filmmaking in general. "I don't know what the hell a two shot or coverage is", DePalma says as he is referring to his shots and angles. Further establishing what so many modern director's don't do, they just cover a scene from every angle and cobble it all together. Like all of DePalma's films, especially this one, he chooses shots to tell the story, and they have to work because there's no other way to tell the story. There's also a great anecdote regarding how reels of film were stolen and never found. They were the scenes from the big parade chase scene, that had to be reshot. It's great and very informative and if any of you out there are aspiring filmmakers this interview is a must. We also get a cool interview with Nancy Allen and the cinematographer. There's also a booklet reflecting on the film that also includes an old Pauline Kael review of the film. Anyone who loves or likes films should at least have seen this film, but should definitely own it, and only this restored blu ray edition. Travolta made is evolution to adulthood with this film. This was the first 'grown up' character he played in his early career. Unfortunately this was the last good film he made until the brilliant Pulp Fiction(on a side note Tarantino is a huge DePalma fan). He is really good complex, and very believable as a man obsessed with solving a mystery. Nancy Allen(Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Robocop trilogy), one of the screen's truly talented and underappreciated screen beauties shines as well. I think this is her best performance as well. She manages the impossible by playing a ditzy hooker who never comes off obnoxious or too stupid to sympathize with. Hers and Travolta's virgining romance is truly sweet and very effective. John Lithgow shows up too playing one of his early psychopath roles, long before Raising Caine, Cliffhanger and now the immortal season 4 villain of Dexter. The characters drive the plot foward, and the plot is dense. It's a mix of Blow Up and The Conversation with some new twists thrown in for good measure. It's political, mysterious, scary, horrific and blackly funny all in one master storke. The culmination of all of DePalma's earlier efforts shoved into one film and totally effective. This is my favorite DePalma film. I am so happy Criterion picked this one up, and if you own the crappy MGM bare bones edition, then you know what I mean. I would've settled for a great transfer of the film, but getting these new and truly great special features is just icing. Everyone should see this, and help make up for its ignored and slightly forgotten status that it received on its initial release.

I had never seen BLOW OUT until just the other day. I'm on a path (although a slow-going one) to try to watch the Criterion Blu-Rays. I was attracted to this one on this particular night because I wasn't in the mood for a sub-titled brain teaser. It sounded like it would be more conventional (it's directed by Brian DePalma, after all). And it was in many ways a very conventional thriller. But it had enough fun moments to elevate it, and I understood why Criterion felt it was worthwhile to dust off this 1981 nugget. The core of the plot involves a movie sound effects recordist and editor (John Travolta) who inadvertently picks up the sounds of what he thinks is a car accident that may actually be a political assassination. A car plunges into a lake, and Travolta is able to save a passenger (Karen Allen), who may be just a "dumb blonde" (pardon the cliché, but it seems apt) or a far more involved member of a rather insidious conspiracy. The two develop a fairly complicated and interesting relationship that is the emotional heart of the story...while at the same time, some pretty nifty plot twists develop. Travolta also grows more and more paranoid about the investigation he feels compelled to conduct (when the forces around him tell him to drop it). He's not some obsessive weirdo...he's a fairly normal guy who thinks he's made a great and useful discovery and his shocked to find that there are powerful forces that really would rather he just drop the whole thing. He can't believe his life is turning into a movie. This is all well-done but still fairly conventional. But De Palma has spiced it up. Perhaps the most fun of all is to be had right at the beginning. We have an extended scene from the latest cheapie slasher flick that Travolta is working on. It's well shot with a very long single-take tracking shot from the point of view of the villain, as he peeks in through various windows in a girls' dormitory. We see all the sex, drugs and rock `n' roll going on. It's hilarious but when it abruptly ends, we're left feeling a bit complicit in being in a society for which topless girls being slashed to death works as casual entertainment. The movie could certainly have been made without this scene...but the entertainment value would have been very much diminished AND the ironic twist of the very last scene of the movie would not have worked. Also, throughout the film, De Palma and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond have a simple fantastic time. They play around with framing, with deep focus, with lighting and so on. De Palma plays more technical games than he ought to be able to get away with, but rather than just seeming needlessly showy, they enhance Travolta's growing feelings of paranoia. (In fact, there are a couple of times when the film feels like a knock-off of THE CONVERSATION...but Travolta's character doesn't go quite so completely off the deep end.) Travolta gives an excellent performance, one of the best from his early career. He's smart, funny, a little charming and yet a little goofy. He keeps the performance mostly well-rooted in reality. A very young John Lithgow is in a critical villain's role...and here he' s setting the stage effectively for later turns in movies such as CLIFFHANGER. Nancy Allen is the weak link. A mediocre actor at the best of times, she doesn't quite make this character believable. When she's playing "ditzy" there is no subtlety at all. Her voice strays dangerously close to Betty Boop territory. The climatic scenes are less exciting today than they doubtless were in 1981. We've seen so many thrillers that a scene involving a simple chase on foot through a crowd hardly measures up to Jason Bourne's exploits. But they are nonetheless directed and edited with skill and care. The Blu-Ray itself is the usual excellent quality from Criterion. Many of the scenes are dark and murky...Blu Ray doesn't exist to "clean up" or "brighten" stuff like that, so even in Hi-Def you may struggle with a few scenes. It's perfectly fine and in accordance with De Palma's plans. The extras on the disc are very nice as well, including a recently done, lengthy interview with De Palma. That is very much worth watching, particularly right after the film is concluded so that the scenes referenced are fresh in your mind. Other extras include a very early De Palma film called MURDER A LA MODE from 1968. It's a dreadful film, but may provide brief amusement. I couldn't get through it, but I appreciated it being here...because there are parallels in themes with BLOW OUT, and you can see how De Palma grew as a storyteller...learning to balance "artsiness" with the need to tell a coherent story. All-in-all, this was time well spent with a solid, inventive thriller.

One of the best 4k transfers that Criterion has ever released. The high style and brilliant cinematography will blow you away. Just gorgeous. This is peak Brian De Palma and an exhilarating classic.

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! ;-)

Brian De Palma's BLOW OUT CRITERION EDITION BLU-RAY gets the star makeover treatment, why Criterion hasn't done the same with Carrie (Special Edition) I don't know. The film itself stars John Travolta and Nancy Allen and is a fantastic thriller about a sound-man who accidentally records the murder of a politician. With shades of the JFK assassination and the famous Zapruder film, BLOW OUT will have viewers at the edge of their seat as the main characters delve further and further into the cover-up, culminating in additional murders, and finally dissipating without any resolution. Along the same lines as David Fincher's Zodiac: The Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition) , viewers get taken along with the main character's obsession with getting to the bottom of the mystery. Travolta and Allen give top notch performances, and John Lithgow really plays his deranged killer part to the hilt! Image quality on the Blu-Ray is razor sharp and it's loaded with lots of cool extras: ***** SPECIAL FEATURES ***** "Brian De Palma Interview" - 57:48-minutes - 2010 Filmmaker Noah Baumbach interviews De Palma and it's more like a discussion of filming techniques used in the movie, with clips from various scenes illustrating the point. "Nancy Allen Interview" - 25:25-minutes - 2011 Allen talks about meeting and working with Travolta and character development on BLOW OUT. "Garrett Brown Interview" - 15:03-minutes Inventor of the Steadicam, which is a camera rig that attaches to a cameraman's body so that moving shots are fluid, demonstrates how the Steadicam works and how he did the shots for the opening scene. "Still Photos By Louis Goldman" "Murder à la Mod" - 01-hour:20:23-minutes 1967 De Palma thriller that also takes place within the film-making world. Although it started off slow, the movie picked up and was really interesting to watch. It's in black & white and has shades of a snuff film. But what's riveting about this movie is the cinematography, presenting angles and reverse angles -- showing the point-of-view from one character as the scene plays out, and then showing the other point-of-view from a different character of the same scene. The storyline is really good, too, as it parallels a "fake" radio show that gets played out in the movie's reality. "Trailer" Booklet including color photos, essay by Michael Sragow, critic Pauline Kael's original review, reproduction of the prop magazine article that was used in the movie that includes the frame-by-frame pictures, color photos of real "b" horror movie posters (like "The Food Of The Gods," "Empire Of The Ants," "Squirm," and others) that were featured in the background of the movie, and information about the new Blu-Ray transfer. Although the film was not a commercial success at the time of release, BLOW OUT has since become a cult favorite. If you enjoy suspenseful type movies that have a strong conspiracy theme in them, I would definitely recommend BLOW OUT CRITERION BLU-RAY.

Blow Out is considered by many critics as the best film from director Brian Depalma. I am a great admirer of his best films. His best films are his murder mystery thrillers. In his prime he developed his own style that included using split screen scenes. He was heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock. Blow Out is his best mystery suspense thriller. It stars John Travolta in the best performance he's ever given in any film. He plays someone who records sounds for cheap low budget horror movies. One night he's out recording sounds with his tape recorder by a bridge. Then he records a speeding car that flys off the bridge because of a blow out. He rescues a woman out of the car but cannot save the man she was with. Back at the hospital he finds out the man who was killed in the crash was a presidential candidate. His advisors tell travolta to forget about the woman he saved. They do not want the public to know he was having an affair with another woman because it would cause a scandal. But travolta is troubled by this cover up. He makes friends with the woman he saved but he becomes obsessed with the recording he recorded of the blow out. He believes it wasn't an actual blow out of a tire but actually it was shot out by gun fire. As the film goes on it becomes an intricate mystery as travolta tries to find out the truth. Nancy Allen plays Sally, the woman travolta saves and falls in love with. Dennis Franz plays a sleazy photographer who took pictures of the car accident because he was told to. John Lithgow plays Burke, the man who shot the tire out with his rifle and has to cover up all evidence. The movie has surprises and tragedy. It also contains a great musical score by Depalma regular Pino Donaggio particularly the tragic love theme. If you are a fan of Depalma, Travolta, and classic murder mystery suspense thrillers, i highly reccomend this movie.

Perfect transfer from 35mm to 4k of a Brian de Palma masterpiece. Perhaps the most sensationally diferent 4k/HD from all of de Palma's movies. The previous blu-ray is a pale comparison to this must watch restoration. Laser transfer from the original camera negative is an awesome 'Wow' with the combo HDR and Dolby vision. De Palma deserves It: this de Palma's movie above all the others.

ITS A FANTASTIC MOVIE. THE CLARITY AND SOUND IF THE DVD IS AWESOME....

One of those olfies that even now has its moments. John Travolta would not have been my first choice, but he is more than just okay. And the movie has lots of nice surprises to make you want to watch it through. The end is weak though, very weak.

A brilliant film showing some of the characteristic DePalma directorial touches that persist in his later films. This one is a real time capsule - a style and theme evocative of the era. Travolta and Nancy Allen are (again) excellent together and the supporting cast features the usual quirky, seedy characters that always seem to show up. Really interesting that this movie is “about” movies in some way - how they were made at the time and that too makes for very interesting elements. The Criterion collection is as always beautifully presented with lots of interesting features. Highly recommend!

Esta es una de las mejores películas de Brian de Palma que he visto. Hay muchos elogios para Vestida para matar, pero esta me parece menos predecible. De 1981 cuando Travolta hacía una que otra buena película y Nancy Allen , pareja del director, pero muy buena actriz. Aquí destaca lo importante que es el sonido en una película o para probar un complot de asesinato. Suspenso de la mejor calidad.