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Blow Out

R Released Jul 24, 1981 1h 48m Mystery & Thriller List
89% Tomatometer 61 Reviews 81% Audience Score 10,000+ Ratings
While recording sound effects for a slasher flick, Jack Terri (John Travolta) stumbles upon a real-life horror: a car careening off a bridge and into a river. Jack jumps into the water and fishes out Sally (Nancy Allen) from the car, but the other passenger is already dead -- a governor intending to run for president. As Jack does some investigating of his tapes, and starts a perilous romance with Sally, he enters a tangled web of conspiracy that might leave him dead. Read More Read Less
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Blow Out

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Blow Out

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Critics Consensus

With a story inspired by Antonioni's Blow Up and a style informed by the high-gloss suspense of Hitchcock, DePalma's Blow Out is raw, politically informed, and littered with film references.

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Critics Reviews

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Eric Henderson Slant Magazine It’s the death of the ‘60s and ‘70s that haunts Blow Out and has arguably inflated its reputation among those incapable of recognizing anything good in, say, The Fury. Sep 9, 2022 Full Review Kevin Maher Times (UK) A horror movie, a paranoid political drama and a serial killer flick all at once. Rated: 5/5 May 21, 2021 Full Review Bruce McCabe Boston Globe It's a Xerox of a movie that's nowhere near as indelible as the originals it purports to emulate. Apr 27, 2018 Full Review Roger Moore Movie Nation What blew young film fans away back in the day is the same thing cinephiles still embrace about this homage to Antonioni and Analog. The film’s technique is packed with sizzle Rated: 3/4 Jun 2, 2024 Full Review Brian Susbielles InSession Film Blow Out is among the top movies about moviemaking because it uses sound so cleverly and as the driving force to investigating what happened and the danger the lurks for his snooping. Feb 14, 2023 Full Review Eddie Harrison film-authority.com …Blow Out is now considered one of the all-time greats because it’s so deeply, unremittingly dark in what it observes about human nature, and what’s remarkable is how De Palma uses the film-making technique to uncover that weakness in the human soul… Rated: 5/5 Dec 2, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Greatest Film Ever Made. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/24/24 Full Review Melissa C A poorly-paced, convoluted plot that Travola’s charm and commitment can’t manage to save. Allen makes a noble effort as well, but it’s troubling that the female lead is written as a character with so little agency or common sense. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 07/09/24 Full Review nick s Suspenseful thriller with a well thought out plot and good character acting. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/08/24 Full Review Audience Member The ending felt riveting with how it was handled and throughout the entire runtime the movie held my attention pretty well with its suspense. The premise and subject matter were all interesting (conspiracies, societal viewpoints and responses to them, issues with law enforcement and reporting conspiracies to the right/wrong people, and messing with evidence). However, toward the end they made it less about the revealing of the truth about the assassination to the public and instead chose to focus on the romance angle of the story and characters which felt less significant to me and unearned with how it was portrayed/treated. After all, the character said that he made a copy of the evidence in his apartment even though it was thrown into the water by Burke so what ever happened with that? Plus, I’m not the biggest John Travolta fan. He kind of rubs me the wrong way and doesn’t have a lot of unique spunk or style to his acting in my opinion. Overall though, it’s a movie that’s interesting enough to give a chance! Rated 3 out of 5 stars 06/27/24 Full Review ed m Weak. Like a bad version of "The Conversation". Nancy Allen gives a horrible performance. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 05/15/24 Full Review Melissa L It's a Brian De Palma movie, and John Travolta stars in it. Hitchcockian and awesome. Recommended! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/18/24 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis While recording sound effects for a slasher flick, Jack Terri (John Travolta) stumbles upon a real-life horror: a car careening off a bridge and into a river. Jack jumps into the water and fishes out Sally (Nancy Allen) from the car, but the other passenger is already dead -- a governor intending to run for president. As Jack does some investigating of his tapes, and starts a perilous romance with Sally, he enters a tangled web of conspiracy that might leave him dead.
Director
Brian De Palma
Producer
George Litto
Screenwriter
Brian De Palma
Production Co
Filmways Pictures
Rating
R
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 24, 1981, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 1, 2017
Runtime
1h 48m
Sound Mix
Surround
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