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Blow Out stars John Travolta as Jack Terry, a sound effects technician working on a new horror film and he’s tasked with getting some new outside wind sounds, in addition to finding an actress who can provide a great scream to dub over the lame one recorded by the actress onscreen who’s about to be murdered, although to be fair – as the director points out – he only hired the actress “for her tits”.
While out and about using his directional mic, he first picks up the sounds of a couple walking past and talking about a man looking back at them(!) However, things change tack as, right in front of him, a car leaves the road and plunges into the river, but why? To the layman, it simply looks like one of the tyres has suffered the titular ‘blow out’.
To complicate matters, while Jack rescues Sally (Nancy Travis), the man she was with, and who died in the car, was Governor McRyan (John Hoffmeister), potentially the next President given the latest polls. Along the way, as Jack and Sally get to chew the fat over how they came to meet, he tells her about a time from his past how he got into his profession, by being hired to wire up an undercover cop to go and shake down a mob guy.
All this leads to a conspiracy which, in typical movie tradition, could result in them both ending up dead if it all goes wrong as they try to expose it.
With Travolta mostly on top form, and Nancy Travis, providing a reasonable female lead whilst never really pushing the boat out, the cast also includes Dennis Franz as Manny Karp, a man who also just happened to be in the right place at the right time and filmed the accident on his camera. John Lithgow also cements the fact that he was born to play bad guys and is instructed to go to any lengths necessary to tie up any loose ends…
It’s amusing that when John Travolta switches on his TV, he sees the President’s spokesman talking about how the government is having to “make tough decisions” during a recession. Oh, how times don’t change!
In addition, you can see Travolta walking through a hospital, after the accident, smoking a cigarette inside as if it’s perfectly natural… although it most likely was at the time.
The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio and, early on, it does have a bit of a hazy appearance to it, even though it’s a new transfer. This soon evens out, though, so you can buy this disc with confidence.
This was the first time I’d seen Blow Out and it proves just how expert Brian De Palma is with the camera and the wonderful picture composition, such as with the panning of shots across from one side of the street to another just after a murder, for example. In addition, there’s his trademark feature of having both objects in the foreground, and background, in focus at the same time. This is on view a few times and is a delight to see.
The sound is in DTS HD 2.0. There’s nothing to get animated about, audio-wise, but it does a fine job of bringing the atmosphere home to you.
There are some interesting extras on this disc – and in HD, too, although no interviews or comments from De Palma or Travolta, sadly:
- Black and White in Colour (27:41): Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond talks about many aspects of the film, and there’s some interesting content in there, but it’s not easy to hear all the time because he’s clearly a heavy smoker and his voice is shot. Subtitles really would’ve been handy, here.
- Rag Doll Memories (21:28): Nancy Allen talks about her experience shooting Blow Out, talking about how people either loved or hated the film – there was no inbetween, her high-pitched voice throughout and how she saw Sally as a ‘rag doll’, hence the title of this featurette.
- Return to Philadelphia (18:37): Producer George Litto talks about many aspects including how both he and De Palma grew up in Philadelphia and that’s why it made for a great location, as well as having two reels stolen during filming, so some of the movie had to be re-shot.
I have to say that Mr Litto constantly guffaws throughout this piece, and it reminds me of someone I know in real life who’s intensely annoying when they do that… so I was glad when this segment ended.
- Multitracking Blowout (28:06): This is an interview with composer Pino Donaggio. As he is Italian, there are English subtitles onscreen for this extra only. Interesting to note that Al Pacino was originally considered the lead role for this film, but he was busy, so it was adapted for Travolta’s personality.
- Trailer (1:45): Cropped to 1.85:1, this shows how Brian De Palma’s works cannot be compromised – but that’s how trailers used to be back then. It’s a good trailer that doesn’t spoil things too much, it just gives a flavour of the film.
- Image Gallery: Ten black-and-white images, some of which have been seen during the extras.
The menu features clips from the film playing with the theme playing in the background.
There are subtitles in English, but for this Special Edition the chaptering is anything BUT special with the usual 12 that so many films get these days. Very lazy.
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FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
8 10 7 4 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 107 minutes
Year: 1981
Released: May 27th 2013
Chapters: 12
Cat.no: FCD791
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS HD Master Audio 2.0
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Panavision)
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Brian De Palma
Producer: George Litto
Screenplay: Brian De Palma and Bill Mesce Jr.
Music: Pino Donaggio
Cast:
Jack Terry: John Travolta
Sally: Nancy Allen
Burke: John Lithgow
Manny Karp: Dennis Franz
Sam: Peter Boyden
Donahue: Curt May
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.