Brian De Palma's 1981 work stars a younger John Travolta (before his first comeback), Nancy Allen, John Lithgow and Dennis Franz. It is a gripping suspense thriller, with many, many techniques borrowed from the master, Alfred Hitchcock. The formula works well for De Palma and the cast.

Travolta is a sound engineer for a small time movie producer, who is out recording night sounds when he records an accident that will have him embroiled for the rest of the film. A car plunges into a river and Travolta, a witness dives in to help. He rescues a trapped woman from the car (Allen) but is unable to help another passenger. He later finds out that the man who died was a Presidential candidate and he was having a rendezvous with Allen, a waitress at a formal banquet he had attended. The political powers set out to silence Allen and her partner , Dennis Franz, who had set up a blackmail film. Travolta, with evidence of a conspiracy on his tape - he has recorded the sounds of the "blow out" knows too much and becomes a target along with Allen, who he is smitten with. John Lithgow is a savage killer hired by the powers, who mutilates his woman victims with the image of the Liberty Bell after he has strangled them with a wire from his watch. Many Hitchcock elements are present in the film; a scene shot from a train station from above on a crane, the impending doom of a strangled victim; we see Lithgow stalk the woman, see him make the connection and then witness the entire murder. As Hitchcock said, if you let the audience know what is going to happen, it is much more suspenseful. The acting is excellent. Travolta is the brilliant sound editor who gave it all up because of a past mistake which cost someone their life, Allen is absolutely perfect as the New Jersey girl with big dreams, Franz is about as scummy as they come; he tries to rape Allen in one scene, and Lithgow is absolutely cold as the killer; brilliant and one step ahead of everyone.

Picture-The widescreen transfer is in very good shape for a 1981 film. A lot of the beginning moments of the film are set up on a dark night on a dark road and hardly a speck of dust is visible. The transfer is sharp and clear with natural skin tones and rich colors. Artifacts are minimal. Sound-The film deserves a 5.1 surround soundtrack. MGM did their best with original material, and the sound is clean and hiss free with a decent stereo surround mix. However, this one deserves a re-mix. Sound is an important aspect of the plot of the film. Technically, remixes are being done more and more on much older films. MGM needed to do that with this film. Hopefully they will on a future edition.

Very few-De Palma commentary, especially on this film would be a much appreciated bonus feature. MGM, while providing a decent transfer, dropped the ball with only a theatrical trailer and language options. AHH!!!

A loving tribute to Hitchcock, Brian De Palma and cast come through with fine performances and gripping suspense. A very fine film. The film deserves some special attention with extras and a sound remix, which MGM did not provide. I consider this one of De Palma's finest films and lovers of Hitchcock will see the marvelous application of the master's techniques in this film.