Browser’s Magnificent Seven
Blow Out 8.45pm beIN Movies Stars
IN THIS 1981 thriller, John Travolta abandoned his pop star image as a song and dance man. This former teenagers’ idol became one of the top-paid actors in Hollywood.
John plays sound recordist Jack Terry who accidentally tapes a car crash that was really a political assassination. The right-wing hitman, John Lithgow, hunts Travolta and girlfriend Nancy Allen.
Brian De Palma directs with customary flair, but his script borrows from so many sources it resembles spare parts surgery. As entertainment, it’s none the worse for that.
Echoes of Antonioni’s classic Blowup, Hitchcock’s Psycho, Gene Hackman’s portrayal of another soundman caught up by murder in The Conversation, and even the infamous real life drowning of a girl at Chappaquiddick involving Senator Ted Kennedy in 1969.
Travolta’s performance was much praised and director Quentin Tarantino rated it his favourite Travolta role. Most observers preferred Travolta as the garrulous hitman in Tarantino’s own Pulp Fiction.
Empire magazine called Blow Out: “A forgotten gem. Intricately crafted and full of suspense. Crammed with wonderful De Palma showboating and a wonderfully crackpot turn from John Lithgow as a right-wing loon.”
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