When the version of an event that's reported in the media loses credibility for any reason, cynicism, distrust and conspiracy theories are bound to follow and it's within this climate that political paranoia grows. In "Blow Out", after the death of a prominent politician in a car crash, certain important facts are intentionally withheld from the media, ostensibly to protect the man's family from any unnecessary embarrassment. The problem is that, in doing this, suspicion grows that there are far more sinister reasons why those involved have an interest in suppressing the truth. One of the strengths of this movie is the way in which the disturbing atmosphere that's created by these types of practices, gradually grows and then affects the perception of everything else that happens as the plot develops.
Jack Terry (John Trevolta) is a sound technician who works for a company that produces low-budget horror movies. One night when he's out recording ambient sounds, he witnesses a car crash in which a vehicle veers off a bridge and falls into the river below. He swiftly leaps into the water and bravely rescues a young lady from the wreckage but is unable to help the driver who has already drowned. At the local hospital, where he and Sally Bedina (Nancy Allen) are treated, Jack is told that the man in the car was actually a leading Presidential candidate and he should forget about Sally's presence in the car for the benefit of everyone involved.
Soon after, Jack sees a TV news report about a photographer called Manny Karp (Dennis Franz) who was also at the scene of the "accident" and took a series of photographs that are subsequently reproduced in a popular magazine. When Jack synchronises his sound recordings with the series of photos to produce a mini-movie of the event, he becomes convinced that a gunshot was fired immediately before a tyre blew out and the crash was the result of an assassination rather than a simple accident.
Jack and Sally grow closer and she helps him in his efforts to prove that the crash wasn't an accident. The chances of Jack being successful are remote, however, because no-one believes his theory and there is little that one man can do to counteract the enormous power of the authorities that are involved in the cover-up.
John Trevolta is perfect as a good natured and sympathetic man who's also very intense and obsessive. His character is talented and slumming in his current job because he's consumed with guilt about an incident that happened when he was working for the police when an agent that he'd wired was killed. It's ironic, especially in view of his relationship with Sally, that at one point, he wires her for sound in a way that's reminiscent of the incident that had haunted him so badly over the years.
Sally's a hooker who'd worked extensively with Karp in the past to photograph men in compromising situations in order to blackmail them and Nancy Allen is good at conveying Sally's strange contradictions and complexities so convincingly. John Lithgow also impresses as a ruthless serial killer who's part of the conspiracy and has no compunction about killing innocent women simply to conceal his real motive for killing his prime targets.
Brian De Palma is a sensational director in every sense of the word and "Blow Out" features the split screens, tilted camera angles and overhead shots that are typical of his work as well as the more voyeuristic, exploitative and darkly humorous moments that he also favours so strongly. The ways in which the circumstances of the accident and the cover-up immediately evoke thoughts of Chappaquiddick and Watergate are very effective in generating audience suspicion whilst also dispensing with the need for any unnecessary exposition and the movie's downbeat ending is also mitigated to some extent by the distasteful but amusing way in which Jack gets the perfect scream he needs for his current production.
Jack Terry (John Trevolta) is a sound technician who works for a company that produces low-budget horror movies. One night when he's out recording ambient sounds, he witnesses a car crash in which a vehicle veers off a bridge and falls into the river below. He swiftly leaps into the water and bravely rescues a young lady from the wreckage but is unable to help the driver who has already drowned. At the local hospital, where he and Sally Bedina (Nancy Allen) are treated, Jack is told that the man in the car was actually a leading Presidential candidate and he should forget about Sally's presence in the car for the benefit of everyone involved.
Soon after, Jack sees a TV news report about a photographer called Manny Karp (Dennis Franz) who was also at the scene of the "accident" and took a series of photographs that are subsequently reproduced in a popular magazine. When Jack synchronises his sound recordings with the series of photos to produce a mini-movie of the event, he becomes convinced that a gunshot was fired immediately before a tyre blew out and the crash was the result of an assassination rather than a simple accident.
Jack and Sally grow closer and she helps him in his efforts to prove that the crash wasn't an accident. The chances of Jack being successful are remote, however, because no-one believes his theory and there is little that one man can do to counteract the enormous power of the authorities that are involved in the cover-up.
John Trevolta is perfect as a good natured and sympathetic man who's also very intense and obsessive. His character is talented and slumming in his current job because he's consumed with guilt about an incident that happened when he was working for the police when an agent that he'd wired was killed. It's ironic, especially in view of his relationship with Sally, that at one point, he wires her for sound in a way that's reminiscent of the incident that had haunted him so badly over the years.
Sally's a hooker who'd worked extensively with Karp in the past to photograph men in compromising situations in order to blackmail them and Nancy Allen is good at conveying Sally's strange contradictions and complexities so convincingly. John Lithgow also impresses as a ruthless serial killer who's part of the conspiracy and has no compunction about killing innocent women simply to conceal his real motive for killing his prime targets.
Brian De Palma is a sensational director in every sense of the word and "Blow Out" features the split screens, tilted camera angles and overhead shots that are typical of his work as well as the more voyeuristic, exploitative and darkly humorous moments that he also favours so strongly. The ways in which the circumstances of the accident and the cover-up immediately evoke thoughts of Chappaquiddick and Watergate are very effective in generating audience suspicion whilst also dispensing with the need for any unnecessary exposition and the movie's downbeat ending is also mitigated to some extent by the distasteful but amusing way in which Jack gets the perfect scream he needs for his current production.