Blow Out (1981) – A small time movie sound engineer(John Travolta) captures the sound of a car crash that may been an assassination rather than an accident. He and the young woman he rescued from the car (Nancy Allen) will try to get the truth out while a killer stalks them.
Time to swim against the stream here. This movie has a cult following and I’ve been told that I’m “off my rocker”, but I don’t much like this movie. Tarrantino loves it, Pauline Kael loved it, Roger Ebbert loved it. It’s considered a “classic” by many. I spent my time watching it making derisive noises and caustic comments.
I will admit that I watched it the same day that I watched “The Conversation” (reviewed last month). It suffers incomparison. They are two very different movies. Francis Ford Coppola’s direction is much more spare and minimalist. De Palma’s feels more flamboyant in comparison. So my reaction may not be entirely fair. But “The Conversation” is always listed as one of the influences on De Palma in this movie. So I feel perfectly justified in making the comparison.
The movies share a focus on the idea of listening in on things we’re not supposed to hear and the conspiracies to cover up that knowledge. “The Conversation” came out right after the Watergate revelations and felt fresh and cutting edge. The whole idea had become so tread worn by 1981 that the script can’t seem to generate much excitement about it. There is a little lip service to the concept but it never felt like it was really “sold”. The audience was expected to understand the joke so there’s no development of the concept. This leaves the whole movie feeling rather hollow.
There are two performances worthy of note here. John Lithgow is fabulously creepy as the killer. Travolta also carries the movie quite nicely in the primary role. I will even admit that all the “sound guy” stuff in this movie warmed the cockles of this old radio guy’s heart too.
But it wasn’t enough to overcome the rest.
The script is a turkey in my opinion. The dialogue is awkward and forced. Too often the actors come off as acting. Nancy Allen benefits from having a role where being an airhead is fine. Unfortunately, Sally ends up as a cardboard cut out of a character. She’s not charming, or exciting or even very interesting. Dennis Franz walks through a fairly predictable character as the sleazy photographer/blackmailer. There are no other characters you will care even the tiniest bit about or remember. Which leaves Travolta acting in a bit of a vacuum. There’s no one to push against, or pull on.
Somewhere there is a cheesy ’70s movie looking for its soundtrack. The music is intrusive and overly orchestrated. This is a movie about the tiniest sounds, the most elegant and delicate audio details. Then the soundtrack stomps through like a herd of elephants.
I’ve always had reservations about De Palma’s directorial style. Half the time he is “paying tribute” to his heroes (overtly ripping them off) and the rest of the time I get the feeling he’s trying to make sure we notice how clever he’s being. If I’m noticing the direction it is usually not very good. In the end I’m left with the feeling that he either needed to go all in or back off. The movie could have been done very stylishly or a lot less stylishly. Where it landed just didn’t thrill me much.
There is a third movie that is always mentioned with “The Conversation” and “Blow Out”. That’s Antonioni’s 1966 “Blow Up”. I should probably get that one cued up as well. There’s certainly room between De Palma and Coppola.
In the end, I think Travolta, Lithgow and the movie making stuff are enough to make it worth a look.
Rating – *** Worth A Look
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