This is one of the films from the 80's that was meant to stand the test of time. Out of the last 3 movies I have watched to test this theory 2 of them passed, this was one of them.

John Travolta plays Jack Terry, a sound technician at a low-budget film company that just happens to be out one night as a witness for a crime that results in the death of a governor that was being groomed to be president of the USA. Jack is there in the location that night with some high-powered uni-directional microphones to capture audio for reasons unexplained and happens to witness the car holding the governor crashing into the river. He rushes to help and ends up pulling a woman out of the back seat.

Jack Terry is just trying to do the right thing by providing the evidence to the authorities but there is a much bigger sequence of events in play here that results in his story not being believed and even his studio being raided and all of his audio tapes being erased (by John Lithgow of all people - love that guy.) He has an ace in the hole though, because his master copy of the tape is something that he stashed somewhere that no one else knows about.

This movie is still meaningful and worth watching today because Travolta gives a great performance, as do most of the other people in the movie. The soundtrack (thankfully) isn't overbearing in the way that so many 80's films were (it seemed to be in fashion at the time) and the technology of the time period is actually pretty nostalgic to those of us that were alive at the time. The use of pay-phones, the fact that all films were actually on FILM and that cars were the size of tanks are just a few of the cases in point.

There is also a scene at the beginning where Travolta is actually walking through a hospital and smoking a cigarette the entire time and no one thinks anything of it. I can tell you folks, I'm reasonably old, but I am not sure if this was ever acceptable. I do remember smoking just being a part of day-to-day life but I am relatively certain that the ICU was still a non-smoking area.

Overall, i would say that this murder mystery film is still worth watching by today's standards. Even if the only reason for doing so is to see Travolta before he went completely bat s**t crazy. It isn't great. I was frequently bored, but as far as movies from the 80's are concerned that i wasn't yet old enough to watch(this one had boobies in it) and therefore didn't hear about it, this one is good.

6 / 10

Name: Blow Out (film): Travolta before the dark years
Item: Blow Out
Rating: 60
Author: @gooddream

Comments · 11

@bharat273(45)· 2976d

Hiii.. Gooddream

Your all posts are good.your review on this trailer are also perfect.

@kwadjobonsu(61)· 2976d

If you liked F/X, you'll probably like Blow Out and vice versa because both films involve a person who uses their craft to solve a highly corrupt case of murder.

While F/X's Rollie Tyler was a special effects engineer, our hero in Blow Out is a sound technician who must piece together parts of a sound recording (along with some other vital information from other sources along the way) to solve the murder of the gubernatorial candidate, a death which the police have written off as a homocide. Travolta employs Nancy Allen's help, a rather dumb prostitute who was in the car with the victim when their car ran off the bridge, but who is the only survivor and essential key to unlocking the mystery. They are dealing with a very relentless killer who will stop at nothing to make sure the trail of evidence leading to him is eliminated.

It is a typical DePalma movie in that it is done with many Hitchcock elements (they didn't call him the master of suspense for nothing) and also that he works with movies-in-a-movie (see 'Body Double' and 'Dressed to Kill'). It is an enjoyable crime and mystery movie in the days when John Travolta movies were still fun to watch

@stef1(71)· 2976d

Many years ago I watched this movie but somehow it was erased from my memory reading your review, I recalled it again. I liked the story and of course I was really excited to see how everything will end up, the movie full of tension and you feel yourself so much involved too.

Like you I can#t remember that it was allowed to smoke in high dependency area but I remember the time when it was more relaxed with smoking before but nowadays it is really strictly forbidden, although still we see a lot of smoking "early-birds" in front of main entrance of hospital. Like the doctors say smoking is the best"physiotherapist" :)

@theresa16(79)· 2976d

The travolta movies were my favorite, and I liked them a lot

@theresa16(79)· 2976d

The travolta movies were my favorite, and I liked them a lot

@nattybongo(71)· 2976d

Its been quite a very long time since i watched any of John Travolta's movie, am gonna watch this for the fun of it

@rodneysreviews(53)· 2976d

I do love De Palma's films, and this is a good one, with a great performance by Travolta, as you say. I enjoyed it thoroughly, for all the reasons you say.

The main problem I have with it is that it is basically a superficial remake of two better films, the sixties London set thriller "Blow Up," by Antonioni, in which David Hemmings looks for evidence of a conspiracy in photographs, and the seventies San Francisco set Gene Hackman thriller "The Conversation," by Francis Ford Coppola, in which, you guessed it, a sound recording guy records a conspiracy, and sets out to stop it.

Everything that "Blow Out" did, "The Conversation" did better, earlier, including one of the most lonely and intense performances the always brilliant Gene Hackman ever gave. That movie gave me the sweats.

All three thrillers are downbeat, with De Palma's surface slickness the only quality to recommend his picture over the other two, which are more resonant thematically, but the way "The Conversation" also succeeds as a stunning character portrait, coupled with Gene Hackman at his absolute best, make that picture the one to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them. :)

@praditya(67)· 2976d

This seems thrilling, moreover after watching the trailer I loved the part when they say that he had recorded a murder, that was amazing, I would love to watch this movie. moreover I wanted to ask that when will you start another contest, I am waiting to participate :)

@salim1321(34)· 2976d

Seems to be a good movie

@kamran600(41)· 2976d

Nice movie and a brilliant story. Travolta plays a sensational role and has his part for much of the movie. The fact that john isnt believed by anyone about that murder makes the movje look suspensive. Thsnks for sharing. It was a lovely trailer and the murder mystery is a great one.

@emwalker(65)· 2976d

Can't believe I've never even heard of this- probably for the same reason as you - movie had boobs - you've sold me on it - not because of the boobs- I'll come back and share my thoughts afterwards.

Also a big fan of Travolta pre nutty days this sounds like it's going to be fun.