Critics out to brand Brian De Palma a misogynistic rip-off merchant seize on this 1981 thriller as Exhibit A. But it also serves as vital evidence in any defence action. A superb exercise in pure suspense, it tracks John Travolta's movie soundman as he explores the death of a presidential hopeful. Borrowing from both Francis Coppola's The Conversation and Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up, Blow Out is as gripping as either, but much more accessible.
DVD Extras:
Trailer. Cited by Quentin Tarantino as one of his "three favourite films of all time" - and key to Travolta's Pulp Fiction casting - Blow Out has the ingredients for a great Making Of, investigating De Palma's writing process, Vilmos Zsigmond's stylised cinematography and the subject's parallels with the Zapruder footage. Shame no one told the disc-makers.
