"Blow Out" discussion

[Monterey Jack]

One of Brian De Palma's finest thrillers (featuring some of John Travolta's best acting) bombed in theaters back in 1981 but has gained a hearty cult audience since then. Travolta is movie sound man Jack Terry, "earwitness" to a possible political asassination, De Palma's then-wife Nancy Allen is the girl that Jack pulls from a car wreck that kills a presidential candidate, and a creepy, heavy-lidded John Lithgow is the "clean-up" man assigned to eliminate all evidence of the crime. De Palma stages some of his most nimble and visually arresting suspense setpieces, and builds to a heartrending climax that attains an operatic emotional grandeur (buoyed by Pino Donaggio's wrenching score). Discuss this excellent thriller!

[JimboQ]

I was particularly thrilled when this, along with Dressed To Kill, and Carrie (re-issue) were released last year, as I love this film. There was an article in Movieline a good few years back with Quentin Tarentino, discussing twenty of his favorite films, and this was one of them (notice one particularly influenced split-screen scene from Jackie Brown). About a year ago a friend told me that at one point, this movie got re-released in 3-D, and to this day I still think he's full of it, or at least maybe he's referring to another movie. When I think of movies such as Blow Out, this is a perfect example of why I refuse to go to theatre anymore; they just don't make them like they used to. Don't get me wrong; I will make an appearance at my local cineplex to see Confessions, but I've been soured by the whole movie theatre experience, as well as just bad movies period. John Travolta has never done a better performance in his whole movie career, except maybe Saturday Night Fever or Pulp Fiction. Dennis Franz is always a good sleazy foul-mouthed individual, and John Lithgow stole the movie out from under everyone, and to think he sold himself short doing that tv show Third Rock. And as always, composer Pino Donoggio (who did a rather decent score for Pirahna) delivers with a sultry, and chilling score.