Director
Brian De Palma
Composer
Pino Donaggio
Cast
John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow
Edition 2024
108'
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1981
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Crime, Mystery, Drama
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Format:
DCP
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Dialogue:
English
In this political thriller about the cover-up of the assassination of a governor, Brian De Palma smartly makes use of the material essence of film (the merging of image and sound) to solve a murder mystery. The director's brilliance here results in an ingenious adrenaline rush somewhere between Antonioni's Blow Up and Coppola's The Conversation.
John Travolta is a soundman who witnesses a car accident concealing a political assassination, which he sets out to prove by purely audiovisual means. De Palma turns the tragic accident and its aftermath into a synthesis of a number of true political scandals and tragedies from the second half of the twentieth century: the sniper assassination of JFK in Dallas; Nixon and his ‘plumbers’ in the Watergate affair; Ted Kennedy's accident in Chappaquiddick to which the premise of Blow Out explicitly refers. In 1980s America, hardly anyone sees any harm in covering up a shady assassination. The cover-up is considered the most ordinary thing in the world. The media do not fulfil their duty; instead of bringing the truth to light, they exploit, without any moral scruples, all the sensational material up for grabs.
Image gallery
Credits
Directors
Brian De Palma
Composers
Pino Donaggio
Cast
John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow
Scenario
Brian De Palma
Director of Photography
Vilmos Zsigmond
Editors
Paul Hirsch
Producers
Fred C. Caruso, George Litto
Production studios
Filmways Pictures, Geria Productions
More info
Dialogue
English
Countries of production
United States of America
Year
1981
Filmography
Brian De Palma
Icarus (short, 1960), 660124: The Story of an IBM Card (short, 1961), Woton's Wake (short, 1963), Jennifer (short, 1964), The Responsive Eye (short, 1966), Show Me a Strong Town and I'll Show You a Strong Bank (short, 1966), Murder a la Mod (1968), Greetings (1968), The Wedding Party (1969), To Bridge This Gap (short, 1969), Dionysus in '69 (1970), Hi, Mom! (1970), Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972), Sisters (1972), Phantom of the Paradise (1974), Obsession (1976), Carrie (1976), The Fury (1978), Home Movies (1979), Dressed to Kill (1980), Blow Out (1981), Scarface (1983), Body Double (1984), Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band: American Storm (music video, 1986), The Untouchables (1987), Casualties of War (1989), The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), Raising Cain (1992), Carlito's Way (1993), Mission: Impossible (1996), Snake Eyes (1998), Mission to Mars (2000), Femme Fatale (2002), The Black Dahlia (2006), Redacted (2007), Passion (2012), Domino (2019)
Technical Specs
Format
DCP
