Blow Out

Brian De Palma's 1981 thriller (arguably his best film) about a political death with echoes of the JFK assassination, Chappaquiddick, and Watergate, stars John Travolta in a career-best performance as Jack Terry, a B-movie soundman in the right place at the wrong time, who unintentionally records what turns out to be evidence proving that an automobile accident was actually a murder. The trouble begins when Terry hears a car screeching and then plunging over a bridge, after which he dives into the water and rescues a woman inside, later finding out that the drowned driver was a potential presidential candidate. Reviewing his sound recordings, Terry hears what might be a gunshot before the blowout that supposedly caused the event. The possibility of a conspiracy develops when he learns that the rescued passenger is a hooker named Sally (Nancy Allen), and assorted other figures come into play, including Manny Karp (Dennis Franz), a sleazy private investigator with a sideline in blackmail; and Burke (John Lithgow), an assassin and “dirty tricks” specialist. Soon Terry's sucked into the twist-and-turn mystery, with De Palma employing his favorite techniques—split screens, overhead tracking shots, elegantly controlled Steadicam long takes—to communicate the character's subjective experience and confusion. Extras on Criterion's newly remastered DVD and Blu-ray editions include interviews (with De Palma, Allen, and Steadicam operator Garrett Brown), as well as De Palma's 1967 experimental feature, Murder à la Mod. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)