Blow Out - 1981
The conversation goes something like this - Burgeoning Cinephile: "I want to watch something new tonight. Something solid and substantial but entertaining and thrilling."
Old Guard Movie Nerd: "Oh. Have you done Citizen Kane?”
BC: *snidely stares in silence*
OGMN: "Alright. Okay. You've seen it."
BC: "I think I need to hop back onto the De Palma train. Maybe I'll do Blow Out this time! “
OGMN: "You mean the Antonioni remake? Pssh. Go for it. It's fine. BUT...the original is way better." (Flips head, strides away)
Perhaps you did not have such an encounter before you sat down to watch Blow Out, but if you did your research, it was no doubt rattling around your brain somewhere. Blow Up or Blow Out? Which is superior? And, of course, the tertiary questions which naturally followed: European 60's or American 80's? Neorealist trappings or Hitchcockian suspense? Arthead protagonist or everyman hunk?
Allow me to behave unabashedly like a politician and dodge the question entirely. One of my very best friends is fond of stridently shouting the phrase "False equivalency!" whenever he dislikes objects being compared (particularly in the political arena). But, in this case it is quite apropros. The films are WIDELY different in their construction, aims, andconclusions. For starters, one is about the visual medium of photography and the other lives in the world of sound. Both are undoubtedly about the obsessive nature of pursuing a crime (or at least an alleged one in the former case), but Antonioni is much more keen on just chewing scenery with his lead. De Palma's work, by contrast, can be located in a long lineage of political thrillers beginning a decade earlier and the corollary American unrest around the regimes of power in that time period.
I could continue on this track for awhile, but I'll just recommend that you simply search for this if it interests you further. Plenty of proud essays exist which compare and contrast the two. For my own part, I refuse to render a verdict now, having only seen both films one time. I'll need repeat exposure for real conclusion-making, but I will say this - Blow Out is decidedly EASIER to watch, even if may not be the most capital A artistic. As I've stated in passing, perhaps the ending is the greatest difference of all, and Blow Out's is at least conclusive (and shocking).
Now in saying it may be the lesser film artistically, I am not in any way arguing it is not an artful construction. This is De Palma, after all. He crushes style pills for breakfast. The opening sequence is a completely masterful use of POV tracking. Moreover, the scene where Travolta is meticulously assembling a matching sound tape to fit a flipbook of pictures is simply riveting. So too is the spinning camera long take of Jack Terry's office when he discovers foul play. De Palma pulls the split diopter lens out again here and uses it to maximal effect, particularly in the sequence when Sally is first taken to the hospital and officials rush in to begin covering up the accident.
I should mention also the work of John Lithgow in this regard. He plays a right wing nut who goes rogue on his co-conspirators' orders after the accident. His character work is impressive. Travolta is excellent at toning down his movie star power for one of his finer character studies. On the other hand, one of my major criticisms of the film is their counterpart Nancy Allen. Quite frankly, I just thought she was NOT great in this film. She is worlds better in Dressed to Kill, and I think the affectations she put on and the confident swagger which she exuded there would have actually worked quite nicely in this film alongside Dennis Farina.
There are a few other little nitpicks here and there (like how Travolta crashes a parade (literally) and yet ends up in an ambulance RIGHT NEXT to where the killer has taken Sally, for instance). But, all in all, I think this may actually go down the smoothest of all of De Palma's works. The story is pretty straightforward, and despite the stylistic flashes, it plays pretty down the middle. It's as thrilling and engaging as it should be. And my oh my does the very last sequence pack a wallop!
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