This is the film from back when John Travolta was cool the first time round, long, long, long before Tarantino resurrected his career. This is the film back when Nancy Allen was a total fox before age was cruel to her. Best of all though, this is the film when Brian De Palmas supposed obsession with stealing mercilessly from Alfred Hitchcock was in its infancy, resulting in one of the strongest films he has ever made. And as were all aware, there is a well-known, much respected equation that reads Brian De Palma Movie + Made And Released Prior To 1989 = A Very Good, Even Maybe A Classic. (Exceptions to said equation of course include Carlitos Way and Mission: Impossible) Blow-Out is a genuinely brilliant conspiracy classic with some of the best sound editing ever used in cinema. Travolta plays a sound technician called Jack Terri, working in dodgy horror movies (which gives us the excuse for that still ace opening sequence from De Palma where we have the Halloween-esque opening stalk and eventual kill, only to pull back and reveal the oft-copied movie within a movie moment). Jack accidentally audio tapes the sound of an automobile crash involving a presidential candidate that results in the loss of the candidates life. As he plays and replays the tape, unearthing hidden sounds within the loop, Jack uncovers a political conspiracy that could topple the highest level of government and threatens the life of not only him but also the presidential candidates secret mistress (Nancy Allen) who was in the car with him when he died. As a side note, if you only ever know the wonderful John Lithgow from the likes of Bigfoot and the Hendersons or Third Rock From The Sun then you really should check this film out. Lithgow is a government assassin going about strangling women and killing people indiscriminately. Hes fantastic!