Dennis Franz (Blow Out) Blow Out
Dennis Franz (born October 28, 1944, Maywood, Illinois) played Manny Karp, the sleazy photographer, in Blow Out (1981).
Karp is the film's most morally bankrupt survivor
Manny Karp was hired to photograph Governor McRyan in a compromising position with Sally — a political dirty trick. He happened to be shooting when the assassination occurred, which means his film is crucial evidence. But Karp's instinct isn't to reveal the truth; it's to profit from the situation. He sells his photos to News Today magazine and refuses to give up the original film, calling it "the biggest thing since the Zapruder film." Sally eventually gets the film from him, but Burke takes it and throws it in the river.
Franz plays Karp without a shred of self-awareness — a man who sees every situation through the lens of personal advantage. He's disgusting, and he's the only character in the film who comes through unscathed, which is De Palma (in Blow Out, as director)'s point about how the world actually works.
"There's a comic element to the most serious of his characters." — Dennis Franz, Body Double: The Seduction (2002)
Franz understood his function in De Palma's world: he provides profane comic relief that also happens to be the most morally bankrupt figure on screen.
Franz is part of De Palma's stock company of recognizable sleazebags
Josh Edelglass, writing a series on De Palma's filmography, noted how Franz had become a fixture — a reliable presence whose on-screen energy was immediately identifiable:
"Dennis Franz, clearly as much a De Palma regular as Ms. Allen, pops up again, this time as the skeezy photographer Manny Karp. He's fun to watch." — Josh Edelglass, joshuaedelglass.com (2020)
Clayton Hayes, writing for Movie Jawn, saw Karp through Sally's story — the character makes sense only when you understand his relationship to the woman he exploits:
"She isn't a damsel in distress or even a woman in the wrong place at the wrong time but a sex worker that blackmails high-profile clients with a partner-in-crime, played (delightfully) by Dennis Franz." — Clayton Hayes, moviejawn (2023)
The word "delightfully" is doing real work there. Franz makes Karp watchable precisely because the performance is so unashamed of itself. The character has no inner conflict, no redeeming moment — just appetite and opportunism performed with gusto.
Franz appeared in three De Palma films in four years
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Dressed to Kill | Detective Marino |
| 1981 | Blow Out | Manny Karp |
| 1983 | Scarface | Ernie |
He would later appear in Body Double (1984) as Rubin, the film director. The four De Palma roles form a portrait of a particular type: the gruff, profane, amoral working-class man who navigates corrupt systems with ease because he has no principles to compromise.
NYPD Blue (1993–2005) would later give Franz a version of this type with a conscience — Detective Sipowicz as Manny Karp with a moral education.
Kael barely mentioned Franz in her Blow Out review, but three years later, reviewing Body Double, she nailed the quality that would carry him for two decades:
"Franz does his scuzzo number: the guy who's so blatantly uncouth he's funny — only this time he isn't." — Pauline Kael, The New Yorker (1984)