Blow Out

Blow Out (1981)

Timing: 1:48 (108 min)

7.365/10
1644

7.141/10
9384

7.4/10
75000

All about film

Video 7

Photo 116

Actors and characters

Release date

1981-07-24

Country

United States

Production

Filmways Pictures, Cinema 77, Geria Productions

Genre

Thriller, Mystery, Crime

Budget

$18 000 000

Revenue

$12 000 000

Website

Director

Brian De Palma

Actors

John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz, Peter Boyden, John Aquino, John McMartin, Deborah Everton, J. Patrick McNamara, Roger Wilson
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Brian De Palma, Bill Mesce Jr.

Producer

George Litto, Fred C. Caruso

Operator

Vilmos Zsigmond

Composer

Pino Donaggio

Artist

Audition

Lynn Stalmaster

Editing

Paul Hirsch
All team (38)

• Initially, director Brian De Palma chose Al Pacino for the role of Jack Terry.
• During filming, John Travolta suffered from chronic insomnia.
• During the editing period, two reels of film containing footage from the Freedom Parade scene were stolen. They were never found. It took another $750,000 to reshoot these scenes. Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond was already busy with another project at the time, and was replaced by László Kovács.
• In the French version of the film, John Travolta was dubbed by Gérard Depardieu.
• The car accident alludes to the scandal known as the Chappaquiddick incident, which effectively ended the political career of Senator Ted Kennedy, brother of the late President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy (the middle of the three Kennedy brothers). On July 19, 1969, returning from a party hosted by one of his friends on Chappaquiddick Island off the U.S. Atlantic coast, Ted Kennedy lost control of the vehicle, and the car he was driving plunged off a bridge into the water. With him in the car was Mary Jo Kopechne, Robert Kennedy's secretary, with whom he had attended the party, although he had a wife and children at home. The senator managed to escape from the car and fled the scene without calling the police, later attempting to establish an alibi. His companion drowned. Thanks to his family connections, Ted Kennedy avoided prosecution but was forced to abandon his dream of becoming president forever.
• Some of the music from 'The Pier' was borrowed for the film 'Planet Terror' (2007).
• The car accident alludes to the scandal known as the Chappaquiddick incident, which effectively ended the political career of Senator Ted Kennedy, brother of the late Presidents John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy (the middle of the three Kennedy brothers). On July 19, 1969, returning from a party hosted by one of his friends on Chappaquiddick Island off the Atlantic coast of the United States, Ted Kennedy lost control of his vehicle, which plunged off a bridge into the water. He was with Mary Jo Kopechne, Robert Kennedy’s secretary, whom he had brought to the party, despite having a wife and children at home. The Senator managed to escape the car and fled the scene without calling the police, later attempting to establish an alibi. His companion drowned. Thanks to his family’s connections, Ted Kennedy avoided prosecution, but was forced to abandon his dream of becoming president forever.
• The commercial failure of the film affected John Travolta's acting career, who played the main role in it. He stopped being considered for roles in serious projects. On the other hand, Quentin Tarantino was so delighted with this film that he cast Travolta in one of the key roles in the drama "Pulp Fiction" (1994), which largely contributed to Travolta's return to the top of cinematic success.
• The underwater filming of the aftermath of the car accident took place in a huge tank in California. Nancy Allen (who played Sally) suffers from claustrophobia, so the scenes in the submerged car were not easy for her.
• The slasher film sequence at the beginning of the movie was shot by Garrett Brown himself, who used his own invention, the "Steadicam" (which allows operators to shoot with a handheld camera while walking without the inevitable shaking). Brown acted so confidently and quickly that the rest of the crew barely kept up with him. When one of the slasher characters holds a knife in front of the camera and strikes the guard, Garrett himself was holding the knife, because there was no other way to shoot the scene.
• The scene in which the car goes underwater required the construction of a dam over 18 meters long and 4.5 meters high to ensure the water level was high enough. 7 days were spent filming this scene. After filming, the filmmakers had to dismantle the dam to return the stream to its usual bed – this was insisted upon by environmental activists.
• The parade scene for National Freedom Day (celebrated on February 1st) was filmed with 11 cameras plus one mounted on a helicopter. The filming involved 1,000 extras, 25 stunt drivers, as well as fire trucks and police cars from Philadelphia.