Set in the high-stakes world of a sound-effects designer, Brian De Palma’s Blow Out follows everyman technician Jack (an effective John Travolta) plying his wares in the world of trashy films and outré smut. Late one night, scoring some sounds, he records an accident on the road.
While most people would get a commendation from the police force, Jack suspects foul play. A man obsessed, he goes deeper to excavate the mondo world of sound effects as he’s targeted with political intrigue, cold-blooded killers and sweetly affected Nancy Allen and her baby voice.
As he gets to the deeply overwhelming conclusion, Jack uses his well-trained ears to unravel the mystery and, ever more so, using his wits to catch at killer. Taking inspiration from Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film Blow-Up, the mystery of Blow Out is not the killer, but instead the ramifications of the killer.
A true testament to De Palma’s 1980s brilliance, this is a complex film that weaves a dirty brilliance in its Philadelphia freedom, bringing everything from rote slasher skinflicks of screen to John Lithgow’s eel-like presence as the hands-on strangler; he hits all the buttons. While this well-timed thriller had semi-glowing reviews upon reception, Blow Out seems to be forgotten by most parties; I guess a coke-fueled movie like Scarface will do that do you. —Louis Fowler