A movie sound recordist accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger.A movie sound recordist accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger.A movie sound recordist accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger.
- Awards
- 2 nominations
Missy Cleveland
- Coed Lover
- (as Amanda Cleveland)
Missy Crutchfield
- Dancing Coed
- (as Missy O'Shea)
- Director
- Writers
- Brian De Palma
- Bill Mesce Jr.(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJohn Travolta suffered from insomnia during the shoot. His lack of sleep helped him create a very moody performance and is why his character seems so downtrodden throughout the movie.
- GoofsThe sound mixer for the slasher movie mutes all of the sounds except the scream of the girl in the shower, in order to prove that it's really her voice. In fact, what he proves is that she's been dubbed: if it were really sound from the location he would not have been able to eliminate the shower or its curtain being pulled aside, as the microphone would have picked them up too.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Jack Terry: It's a good scream. It's a good scream.
Featured review
An enjoyable mix of `Blow-Up' and `The Conversation'
Jack is a sound editor for small films. When he is out one evening recording background noises, he inadvertently records a car crash which kills a politician running for the US Presidency, although Jack saves a girl in the car. When pressured to say that the politician was alone, Jack finds that his recording may prove that it was murder and not an accident. However someone is cutting off the loose ends around the crime.
A clever rework of Blow-Up that is given a thriller twist and visual style by De Palma. The story is quite straight forward and doesn't contain too many twists and turns. However it does have a good premise at it's core and it builds to a suitably low-key ending.
De Palma works well with the material at some points it's a little obtrusive, but he certainly can frame a shot. From his use of foreground and background focusing to the scene where Travolta realises what he has on tape he has style to spare. He handles the ending well but perhaps feels he wants to be like Coppola a bit too much.
Pre-career dip Travolta gives his best performance before Pulp Fiction he plays the everyman really well and is totally convincing. Allen is a little too squeaky and irritating, but get past this and she's OK. Franz is on-form as a sleazy opportunist, while Lithgow is chilling as a ruthless, clinical killer.
Overall it occasionally feels like there is more style than substance but everyone holds their end up and the result is a solid, enjoyable thriller that maybe pays a bit too much homage to other work.
A clever rework of Blow-Up that is given a thriller twist and visual style by De Palma. The story is quite straight forward and doesn't contain too many twists and turns. However it does have a good premise at it's core and it builds to a suitably low-key ending.
De Palma works well with the material at some points it's a little obtrusive, but he certainly can frame a shot. From his use of foreground and background focusing to the scene where Travolta realises what he has on tape he has style to spare. He handles the ending well but perhaps feels he wants to be like Coppola a bit too much.
Pre-career dip Travolta gives his best performance before Pulp Fiction he plays the everyman really well and is totally convincing. Allen is a little too squeaky and irritating, but get past this and she's OK. Franz is on-form as a sleazy opportunist, while Lithgow is chilling as a ruthless, clinical killer.
Overall it occasionally feels like there is more style than substance but everyone holds their end up and the result is a solid, enjoyable thriller that maybe pays a bit too much homage to other work.
helpful•9823
- bob the moo
- Mar 16, 2002
- How long is Blow Out?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Personal Effects
- Filming locations
- Lincoln Drive, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA(accident scene, under the Henry Avenue bridge)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $18,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $12,000,000
- Gross worldwide
- $12,000,754
- Runtime1 hour 48 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
![John Travolta, Nancy Allen, Dennis Franz, John Lithgow, and Barbara Sigel in Blow Out (1981)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZmZiMmZmNjQtNGM3OC00MTFkLWIxMzktZmJhMGYzMjYwYzZmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,2,90,133_.jpg)