BLOW OUT

This cult film by Brian De Palma has been one I've wanted to see for a very long time, and at long last I managed to do so.

And I was not disappointed!  Although I wouldn't go as far as Tarantino and say it is one of my three all-time favourite films, it is well-nigh unimpeachable (other than the odd plot improbability) and it would certainly be one of the great 1970s paranoia films but for the fact it was released in 1981.

It also has a wonderfully bleak ending which probably damaged its box office performance.

I was surprised that John Travolta is the lead in a low budget film like this given that he was a superstar by this time.  He is totally convincing as Jack, a sound engineer who stumbles upon a conspiracy whereby the state governor (and likely future President) dies in mysterious circumstances which are reminiscent of the Chappaquiddick incident.

Despite the political backdrop the film is more interested in Jack's past - whilst a cop he was traumatised when an undercover agent he had wired up is exposed and killed - and in his relationship with Sally (played by Nancy Allen).

Sally has got involved with a sleazeball who takes compromising photos of her with guys he can then blackmail.  She is in the governor's car when it careers off the road and into a river, and is rescued by Jack.

Despite her reluctance to get even more involved it is inevitable that the film will end up with Sally being wired up by Jack, leading to an exciting conclusion during a Liberty Day parade.

En route to that ending we get to enjoy time with Jack in his studio, playing around with his sound equipment, trying to prove what happened on the fateful night.  

And as a bonus we get John Lithgow as a creepy assassin who indulges in sex crimes as part of his deranged plotting. 

Really, what's not to like?

This film is a homage to 'Blow Up', which I should try to catch some time, and would make a great double bill with 'The Conversation', another bleak masterpiece about surveillance.

RATING: ✓✓ Catch It If You Can