Blown Away (1994)

An Irish bomber escapes from prison and targets a member of the Boston bomb squad.

Director:

Stephen Hopkins

Writers:

John Rice (story), Joe Batteer (story)

Stars:

Jeff Bridges, Tommy Lee Jones, Suzy Amis

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeff Bridges	...	Dove
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Gaerity
Suzy Amis	...	Kate
Lloyd Bridges	...	Max
Forest Whitaker	...	Franklin
Stephi Lineburg	...	Lizzy
John Finn	...	Captain Roarke
Caitlin Clarke	...	Rita
Christofer de Oni	...	Cortez (as Chris de Oni)
Loyd Catlett	...	Bama
Ruben Santiago-Hudson	...	Blanket
Lucinda Weist	...	Nancy
Brendan Burns	...	Kevin
Tricia Heine	...	Connie (as Patricia A. Heine)
Josh McLaglen	...	Prison Guard

Storyline

Jimmy Dove works for the bomb squad in Boston and he is always the one who is on the tough jobs. One day he decides to quit the force and to become a teacher for the rookies of the squad. A few days later his former partner is killed by a bomb and Jimmy becomes suspicious that maybe this bomb could have been built by a former friend of himself. He begins to investigate and finds out that his worst nightmare has returned from his past.

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Plot Keywords:

bomb | irish | vomiting | prison | ireland | 

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Taglines:

Boom baby. Sweet dreams.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and some language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kevin Bacon, Alec Baldwin, Michael Biehn, Bruce Campbell, Kevin Costner, Michael Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Richard Gere, Mel Gibson, Michael Keaton, Christopher Lambert, Viggo Mortensen, Chuck Norris, Dennis Quaid, Mickey Rourke, Kurt Russell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Selleck, Sylvester Stallone, Patrick Swayze and Bruce Willis were considered to play Jimmy Dove.

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Goofs

At the beginning of the movie during the disarming of the bomb at MIT you had Dove and Cortez in the room with Nancy and one or more bomb squad personnel in the hallway. The bomb squad personnel all had to be there; Nancy did not. Why didn't Cortez or one of the other bomb squad personnel take over the keyboard from Nancy so that they could get her out of there? This just did not make sense.

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Quotes

Anthony Franklin: I gotta tell them the truth. I gotta tell them how I tracked the terrorist, I disarmed the bomb, and I saved the day. And I'm a hero, and everybody loves a hero!

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Crazy Credits

This film is dedicated to the memory of Officer Jeremiah J. Hurley of the Boston Bomb Squad, and to the more than Three Thousand Certified Bomb Technicians throughout the world who risk their lives for our safety every day.

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Alternate Versions

In addition to your normal dialogue and language cuts, the TV version also edits the computer sequence so that the display does not cycle text on part of the monitor, whereas in the original version, there is text in that section, including a b-word used in a context that network TV likely would not have tolerated. Some parts of this sequence are also cropped so that just the typing is visible.

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Connections

Referenced in At the Movies: Love Affair/Wes Craven's New Nightmare/Exit to Eden/Hoop Dreams/The Specialist/Little Giants (1994)

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Soundtracks

All Night Long
Written by Curtis Reginald Lewis
Performed by Aretha Franklin
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

A better 'bomb' movie than Speed.

Most IRA movies made in Hollywood are always criticised for the actors not sounding like real Irishmen. I have never once found this to be true and certainly not for Blown Away. Tommy Lee Jones is quite convincing as a deranged bomber who goes after Jeff Bridges in revenge for betraying him 25 years earlier.

Stephen Hopkins uses his fave cinematographer and composer Peter Levy and Alan Silvestri to bring some visual style and a powerful musical score to accompany the action and explosion scenes. The final encounter between Jones and Bridges is WAY cool. Trust me. It's one of the best showdowns in history.

A cool use of widescreen photography captures a pleasant and eye-pleasing view of Boston. I only ever saw this city in Cheers previously and now it makes wanna visit. This film was overlooked in the summer of 1994 because the audience was too busy with the other BOMB movie Speed. By that I mean movies with bombs. Not movies that are bombs. Speed was about a bomber wanting money. But Blown Away is a more personal, character-driven film and definitely the superior of the two.

Details

Official Sites:

MGM [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Irish

Release Date:

1 July 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blown Away

Filming Locations:

Chelsea, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$28,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,424,873, 4 July 1994

Gross USA:

$30,156,002

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$30,156,002

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Trilogy Entertainment Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby SR DTS-Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1