The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 05, 1981, Page Page 6, Image 6
Entertainment"
Trayoll
By DAVID BAKER
"Blow Out," Brian DePalma's twelfth
movie in the past 14 years, is an example of
the master at his best. From the opening
frame through the final credits, the movie
fairly bristles with the intensity and talent
of a man in love with his chosen medium.
With the possible exception of Michael
Mann's "Thief," no other 1981 movie is as
stylistically precise, so kinetically exciting
as DePalma's clever, heart-wrenching new
thriller.
The picture reunites DePalma with John
Travolta and Nanc> Allen, who respectively
played two of the more repellent characters
in "Carrie," the director's biggest boxoffice
hit. But "Blow Out" is a much more subtle
work than either "Carrie" or DePalma's
more recent success, "Dressed to Kill,"
IF ONE must draw parallels between
"Blow Out" and another DePalma film, the
film would have to be "Obession," not
because of any similarity in plot, but
because of the deliberate pacing. Like
"Obsession," "Blow Out" begins with a
bang, returns to square one and then slowly
and steadily builds suspense until it reaches
? ~i:
a mei aily ui?iuiutKiiig t'liiuux.
As the film opens, DePalma presents us
with one of his favorite cinematic devices, a
film within the film. This one's called "Coed
Frenzy" and it's a devastating parody of
the current maniac-on-the-loose movies, a
violent genre that one could argue DePalma
helped to start.
The director begins with a point-of-view
shot that places the viewer in the position o!
the heavy-breathing, knife-wielding killer.
We (the killer and the viewer) make our
way toward a bustling girls' dormitory,
where a plethora of scantily-clad beauties
are glimpsed dancing topless and making
out with their boyfriends. Ultimately, we
even see one of them masturbating.
Abruptly, we enter the bathroom where
one hornv voune thine is observed washine
away her sins in the shower. (This, I might
By SKOTGAKRICK ar"? build the
and props for
in me spring 01 iy?z mere tne two montn;
will be a motion picture on the produc
released by Avco Embassy a good deai
called Swamp Thing, takes to makt
starring Adrienne Barbeau well as what it
and Louis Jordan. The movie it in the movi<
was shot almost entirely in personal level
the swamps of Charleston Aquiring a ]
and employed quite a few crew was
USC students as production easiest part ol
assistants. ordeal, althoi
I was hired as a part of the certain amoi
art department, whose ruthless pers
responsibility is to design complish n
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Two USC students, Skot Garrick and S
point out, is approximately DePalma's 494th
career reference to "Psycho.") We raise
our knife, the girl looks up and releases the
silliest-sounding scream ever recorded.
SUDDENDLY, the scene we're watching
is taking place on a screen in a soundmixing
theatre, where a group of low-budget
filmmakers, among them Jack Terri
(Travolta), throw up their hands in
exasperation.
The movie's producer orders Terri, a
sound effects man, to go out and record a
blood-curdling scream that can be used in
the howler's stead. The search for a usable
scream is to be a running gag through the
bigger part of "Blow Out," a joke who's
punch line is apt to elicit more tears than
laughter.
In the next scene, Jack is on a routine
sound effects hunt. We see him standing
atop a bridge, microphone in hand, when a
speeding car approachs in the distance. As
it draws near, one of its tires blows out,
causing it to skid across the bridge, through
the railing and over the side.
Diving into the stream below, Jack is able
to rescue Sally Bedina (Allen), but not the
car's driver, who turns out to be Governor
McRyan, the odds-on favorite to win the
upcoming presidential election.
UNBEKNOWNST to them at the time, the
car's tire was shot out and Jack and Sally
have gotten themselves involved in an
. :^^A! -l-i t- 1- 1 _! l
absassiuaiiuu pioi wnicn, wnen aiscoverea,
they are unable to convince anyone else of.
And while they're trying to bring out the
truth, the assassin, as well as the people
involved in the incident's cover-up, are
determined to see the couple die.
DePalma has blended together elements
of the Kennedy assassination, Sen. Kennedy's
accident (if, indeed, it was an accident)
at Chappaquiddick and the
Watergate conspiracy into a witty, intelligent
commentarv on the state of the
world. He even has the audacity to stage the
picture's murderous climax against a
Liberty Day parade and fireworks display
lent* Wfl
i various sets including interviews and
the picture. In daily long-distance calls tc
s that I worked Charleston for a week. My
tion, I learned first interview was or
about what it Tuesday, May 19, my second
e a movie, as was on the following Friday,
takes to make my employment was con;
business on a firmed on Saturday, and 1
was requested to report tc
position on the the production office of the
actually the art department no later than
r the nine-week Monday evening.
ugh it took a THUS, exactly one week
int of almost after 1 first heard that ap
isience 10 ac- plications were being ac
ly objective, cepted, I stood before my
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cott Hicks, on the set of 'Swamp Thing.'
in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.
DePalma's vision is not perfect, though,
and his story contains several gaping holes,
foremost amone them the fart that nn nn#?
examines the blown-out tire as soon as the
car is pulled from the river. But it's a tribute
to the director's talents that we don't notice
the flaws in his script until well after the
curtains have been drawn and we're on the
way home.
DEPALM A also should be commended for
his work with the actors, Travolta in particular.
"Blow Out" marks the first time
Travolta has appeared onscreen as an adult.
And he's responded to the chanllenge in a
mosi exquisite tasnion, tilling ttie character
of Jack Terri with sensitivity, worldliness,
compassion and detachment, sometimes all
at once. It's a riveting portrayal that blows
to hell his image as a singing, dancing,
undulating teen dream.
tk un jw
camera poini
I three supervisors: Art be covered v
? Director David Nichols (who Spanish mos
had been involved with signs had to I
i Rocky and Taxi Driver), set buckets of si
I director Robb Wilson King an algae-likt
U wl,inco onH TUn
aumpea intc
Rocky Horror Picture create amor
[ Show), and Rhoda Neal, my AT TIMES
most immediate supervisor. (jUg under t
! Neal, an ongoing USC water so t\
i Journalism major, has been stunt men
working in film for only two place to lea]
years, but has already out of. We w<
m n n n rtn/1 * '
uiauaftcu i,v a c v; u i c OUF mealS S
prominent positions in the rest of t
several important would alwaj
ga productions. mud, grime
B Working a film is a very worse.
R demanding and tiring task The art d
li which leaves little time for not the only
y outside relaxation. Most hire USC ?
j work weeks were seven davs nri?#*H mrwcti
IH long, and the average work and journali:
I day was 15 hours. Over the "Carolina
course of the production, the positons on t
art department would en- lighting creu
dure several 24-hour work wardrobe a
days. electricians.
As well as assisting in the represented
I building of sets, the largest swamps, an
I of which was an old church productioi
I and supply shed which was acknowledg
I constructed on a small students wer
; ] island in Cypress Gardens, productive.
the production assistants Although
, had to wade through the staggeringly
c?,omn 'inrt .v*'?Lr? "
f2m orruiup uuu ui(ii\i> OU1 U IIIUI UKTO IS HO
everything had the right feeling as i
"look" to it. Wherever the
lowout
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Allen, too, is most effective, even though
her Sally often seems to be little more than
an imitation of Mary Steenburgen imitating
Judy Holliday. But in that there are only so A I
many ways one can play a rather
stereotypical dumb blonde, we can at least
be thankful she didn't opt to give us Suzanne
Somers.
Even a movie with the steel-like construction
and rigid foundation of "Blow
Out" couldn't withstand the explosion of
poor acting from a purported sex bomb like
that.
in any eveiu. "tnow uui ' ts, trom a
technical standpoint, the year's most
perfectly executed movie. ^
IN IT, DePalma seems to come right at
us, laughing as he fascinates, manipulates
and ultimately decimates those of us who've
come 10 expeci irom mm nothing but the
best.
amp Set.
ted, trees had to 4. , 4 r ,
rith hand.toSS?d essential part of such a vast
?_ creative force. A film crew is
te removS like a sma? eovernment
limy duckweed with different branches
growth were performing vital and
; the water to divergent tasks.
One aspect of making
.holes had to be "1 that became tangibly _
hp fptid hl'irk Ciear aunn8 me very 1,rst 9
.at actors and we<* ?f Phroduction was the
would have a reason why mov,es are s0
r? infn nra..,! costly. The actors, stunt?niH
hnvp tn p9i men, sets and elaborate
eperately from props are just a sma11 ^ of
he^crew, as we total As1we11 as
rs hp oakpH in the ent,re technical crew,
fj> ue edKeu in thppft wa!c t|K> vaet n^f nf
, uucKweca or ren(a| vehicles and the
epartment was seemingly never-ending
department to supply of of light food and
students. Com- dr,nks ?n set, culminating .
v of media nrls every Wlth a lar?e 9
* supply of cold beer. Insm
majors, the surance is also a large
Crew tinea factor; one painting chosen
he camera and for an eiaborate library set
-s, make up and cost$140 000
issistants, and
USC was well The most gratifying aspect
down in the of the entire project was how
d most of the readily the USC students
n company were accepted as members
ed that the of the production. The long,
e dilligent and muddy days of toiling in the
hot, snake-ridden swamps ^
it was often were more than offset by a
tiring work, few cordial dinners in some
comparison to of Charleston's finest
if you are an restaurants.