Blow Out (1981)

Blow Out (R) - Review

"Sounds like..."

Brian De Palma (Scarface) directs John Travolta (Saturday Night Fever) as a B-Movie sound fx editor who witnesses a murder made out to be an accident with his audio recording equipment.   He and the surviving woman (Nancy Allen) must evade a political assassin (John Lithgow) as they attempt to unravel the mystery without losing their lives.

De Palma also wrote the film, which is almost a too direct homage/mash-up of two earlier and far superior films:  Blow Up and The Conversation.  The movie is very well made (though considering the 2 templates he used that is no surprise) yet almost over stylized in its camera work, especially the finale.  It does have an interesting look inside late 70s, early 80s independant movies, in particular showcasing the process and ingenuity of sound editing of a bygone era.  An entertaining movie, yet no where near as powerful or artistic as its source material.

7 Literally Shotgun Mics out of 10 (GOOD)