Blow Out (1981)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Brian De Palma

Cinematographer: Vilmos Zsigmond

Composer: Pino Donaggio

Cast: John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz

A film soundman for trashy exploitation flicks, out in a remote spot one night recording new sounds for his latest project, manages to capture the fatal car crash of a presidential candidate on tape, as well as rescuing his comely young companion, and becomes convinced, as film footage also comes to light, that it was an assassination, not the tragic accident peddled by the official line, in De Palma’s stylish and greatly entertaining if occasionally rather silly (though often pleasingly so) thriller, which is also somewhat clumsily written in spots. Iain.Stott