Blow Out

Wednesday, July 3 - Thursday, July 25, 2024

Just in time for the 4th of July, Brian De Palma’s 1981 paranoid masterpiece returns to the big screen. Philly sound-effects artist John Travolta records a car accident that he starts to believe may be a politically motivated murder. De Palma’s stylish and inspired mash up of Coppola’s The Conversation and Antonioni’s Blow Up climaxing in a spectacular “Liberty Day” parade set-piece–remains one of the key conspiracy thrillers of the 1980s, and a major influence on filmmakers from Quentin Tarantino to Oliver Stone.

“In BLOW OUT, John Travolta plays… a sound man for a sleazy Philadelphia B-movie factory. He works on cheap, cynical exploitation films. Late one night, while he’s standing on a bridge recording owls and other night sounds, he becomes a witness to an accident. A car has a blowout, swerves off a bridge, and plunges into a river. Travolta plunges in after it, rescues a girl inside (Nancy Allen), and later discovers that the car’s drowned driver was a potential presidential candidate. Still later, reviewing his sound recording of the event, Travolta becomes convinced that he can hear a gunshot just before the blowout. Was the accident actually murder? He traces down Nancy Allen, discovers that she was part of a blackmail plot against the candidate, and then comes across the trail of a slimy private eye (Dennis Franz) who wanted to cause a blowout, all right, but didn’t figure on anybody getting killed.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

  • Country USA
  • Year 1981
  • Running Time 108 minutes
  • Format DCP
  • Distributor Park Circus
  • Director Brian De Palma
  • Cast John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow
  • Accessibility Assistive Listening, T-Coil

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.