I'll Look After My *Own* Ass, Thank You: Blow Out

Blow Out (1981, directed by Brian DePalma) is a an 80's American conspiracy movie about 70's American conspiracy movies that's a reinterpretation of a 60's Italian director's British movie.

Blowup (1966, directed by Michaelangelo Antonio) is a movie about a photographer who accidentally shoots a murder taking place and then tries to unravel the mystery. Blow Out is the same story except the guy's a sound engineer for b-movies instead of a photographer.

The interesting thing about Blowup is that it stabs at posh art culture in London in the 60's. David Hemmings is a sought-after photographer and subsequent asshole, and Vanessa Redgrave is his abused-but-likes-it supermodel. I'm not a big Antonioni fan, but this and The Passenger are my favorite movies of his. Fuck L'Avventura.

Here's my big problem with Blow Out. What's it REALLY about? Is it a political conspiracy movie like The Parallax View? Is it a cop conspiracy movie like Klute? Is it a serial killer movie - Dirty Harry? Is it a "lovestory in hell" cult movie like Videodrome?

It tries to pay homage to b-movies. Travolta sarcastically does the sound for some titty horror movies, the director of which is always in search of the perfect scream. And the movie closes with them finally finding it, like a closing nod and wink from Bruce Campbell. In doing all this I think DePalma sacrificed the most interesting thing this movie had going for it: John Lithgow. The guy's a madman. He sits in phone booths and tells politicans how it's gonna be like some Zodiac idiot savant. But his screen time is limited to only a few minutes. Thus he's made out to be a Wes Craven kind of a bad guy. Constantly lurking, mysterious, completely unknown - might as well be wearing a ski mask. On this path, the guy should be a caricature of fear, not a driven and ambitious megalomaniac with actual psychological depth brewing behind the scenes. But we just get titties and screams.

God love 'em. But this is 1981 and you're fucking Brian DePalma. Do it for yourself. Do it for America.

Netflix rating: 3 stars
RIYL: Blowup, The Parallax View, The Conversation
Youtube: trailer