In this superlative paranoia thriller from Brian De Palma, John Travolta plays a B-movie sound man who accidentally records a political assassination when he’s out recording sound effects. The assassination has a survivor: Nancy Allen, who should not have been in a car with a married presidential hopeful. Caught in a well-spun web of conspiracy, Travolta and Allen run a race to expose the truth of the murder coverup before they are eliminated.
In his most subtle performance, John Lithgow is extremely unsettling as the malfunctioning psychopath behind the killing. Dennis Franz does what he’s done brilliantly for decades as a dirtbag photographer who’s also in on the conspiracy.
In the tradition of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation and Alan J. Pakula’s Klute, Blow Out is a first-rate paranoia thriller.
Blow Out is part of The Criterion Collection on Blu-ray and DVD. A must-have for any serious collector.
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