Blow Up

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Blowup, or Blow-Up, is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni about a fashion photographer, played by David Hemmings, who believes he has unwittingly captured a murder on film. It was Antonioni's first entirely English-language film.
The film also stars Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, John Castle, Jane Birkin, Tsai Chin and Gillian Hills as well as sixties model Veruschka. The screenplay was by Antonioni and Tonino Guerra, with English dialogue by British playwright Edward Bond. The film was produced by Carlo Ponti, who had contracted Antonioni to make three English-language films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (the others were Zabriskie Point and The Passenger).
The plot was inspired by Julio Cortázar's short story, "Las babas del diablo" or "The Devil's Drool" (1959), translated also as "Blow Up" in Blow-up and Other Stories, and by the life of Swinging London photographer David Bailey. The film was scored by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. The music is diegetic, as Hancock noted: "It's only there when someone turns on the radio or puts on a record." Nominated for several awards at the Cannes Film Festival, Blowup won the Grand Prix. (Read more at Wikipedia)
== Links To Peel ==
Peel described "Blow Up" as "a rather good film" on his 04 February 1968 show, as session guests Tomorrow had recorded a track with the same title as the film. Tomorrow, at the time known as The In Crowd, had been considered by director Michaelangelo Antonioni to appear on the film, but he eventually chose Peel favourites The Yardbirds instead. They play "Stroll On" in a stylised scene set in a London pop club, in the course of which Jeff Beck (reportedly, rather reluctantly) smashes his guitar.
The film created a stir on its release in the USA. Wikipedia describes it as "a counterculture-era film with its explicit sexual content (by contemporary standards)", which "helped liberate Hollywood from its puritanical prurience". It was nonetheless a big box-office hit there and it is likely that Peel saw it during his time as a DJ on KMEN in San Bernardino, California. The 31 December 1966 issue of the station newspaper, the Kmentertainer, mentions the Yardbirds' appearance in "Blow-Up" and gives an account of the controversy surrounding its U.S. release ("The film is too hot for general release and will be booked as an "adult only") 
== External Links ==
* Wikipedia
* IMDB
Category:Films