{"id":10627,"date":"2025-01-14T23:59:29","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T04:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=10627"},"modified":"2025-01-14T23:59:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T04:59:29","slug":"no-way-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/01\/14\/no-way-out\/","title":{"rendered":"No Way Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"No Way Out<\/strong> (1987)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Orion\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 114 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (sexual content, nudity, language, violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Roger Donaldson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Robert Garland\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Maurice Jarre\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: John Alcott\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 14, 1987 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young, Will Patton, Howard Duff, George Dzundza, Jason Bernard, Iman, Fred Dalton Thompson, Leon Russom, Dennis Burkley, Marshall Bell, Chris D., Nicholas Worth, John D\u2019Aquino.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $35.5M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0There aren\u2019t that many movies that effectively pulled a fast one on me. It\u2019s a small figure. One of them is the 1987 thriller No Way Out<\/strong>. I never saw that ending coming and neither did the rest of the audience judging by the collective gasp that reverberated through the theater that Saturday afternoon. It did such a number on me that I went back to see it a second time a few weeks later. I wanted to look at it with a different mindset now that I knew its secret and could pick out all the clues pointing to the big reveal. I liked it even more that time.<\/p>\n

\u00a0You\u2019ll notice that I didn\u2019t reveal the big plot twist. That\u2019s by design. Although it\u2019s been around for 38 years, it\u2019s likely that some people still haven\u2019t seen No Way Out<\/strong>. I\u2019m not talking about people of my generation so much as I am young folks who weren\u2019t even born when it came out. I am forever urging youngsters (30 and under) to check out titles from decades past. BTW, I still can\u2019t believe 80s movies are now \u201cold movies\u201d. I never thought I\u2019d see the day. In any event, I don\u2019t want to ruin the film for those who have yet to see it. If you know, you know. Let\u2019s leave it at that.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If summer 1987 belonged to any actor, it was Kevin Costner. It was his breakthrough year with starring roles in two hit films, The Untouchables and No Way Out<\/strong>. In the latter, he plays Lt. Commander Tom Farrell of Naval Intelligence. An act of heroism on board a ship lands him a job at the Pentagon. He\u2019s to be the liaison to the intelligence community (e.g. CIA, FBI, etc.) for Secretary of Defense David Brice (Hackman, Hoosiers). He\u2019s recommended by his college friend, Brice\u2019s right-hand guy Scott Pritchard (Patton, Desperately Seeking Susan).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Farrell is romantically involved with a hot little number named Susan Atwell (Young, Blade Runner) who also happens to be Brice\u2019s mistress. He knows about Brice; Brice doesn\u2019t know about him. When he learns Susan is seeing somebody else, he becomes enraged and accidentally kills her. Realizing what a scandal it would be, Pritchard comes up with the idea of making her murder a matter of national security. The killer they\u2019re looking for is a long-rumored mole in the Pentagon, a Soviet sleeper agent known as \u201cYuri\u201d. He then puts Farrell in charge of the investigation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Farrell is distraught over Susan\u2019s death, but he can never let on that he\u2019s the other guy. He doesn\u2019t want the murder pinned on him. He does whatever he can to hamper the investigation while looking for evidence that will directly connect his boss to Susan. Time is a major factor here. They have evidence, a photograph negative, which will ultimately implicate Farrell.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by New Zealand filmmaker Roger Donaldson (Smash Palace) and based on the 1946 novel The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing, No Way Out<\/strong> is a tight and taut noir-thriller with a plot that\u2019s more like a labyrinth. The feeling of the noose tightening as Farrell tries to get himself out a bad situation (that keeps getting worse) is palpable. At one point, two witnesses that can identify him as Susan\u2019s lover are brought to the Pentagon for a room-to-room search. He has to duck and dodge the search parties as he waits for the evidence he needs on Brice. That\u2019s in addition to the two goons brought in by Pritchard to eliminate problems like Susan\u2019s friend (model Iman) who knows about her relationship with Brice. It\u2019s a thrilling race as Farrell tries to get to her before the goons.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Costner, in his day, was a great leading man with his matinee idol good looks and easygoing mannerisms. It served him well in Bull Durham (1988), Field of Dreams (1989), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) and The Bodyguard (1992). He was equally great in more serious films like Dances with Wolves (1990) and JFK (1991). It\u2019s too bad he basically sank his career with the waterlogged bomb Waterworld (1995) and the failed post-apocalyptic epic The Postman (1997). No Way Out<\/strong> is easily one of his best. He makes for a believable hero, a basically good man caught up in a sordid situation. Of course, Farrell is a little more complicated than that, but I\u2019m not going there.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Hackman is at his vile best as Brice, an arrogant slimeball who thinks he\u2019s untouchable. He doesn\u2019t care who he throws under the bus to conceal his misdeeds. Patton is also quite good as his weaselly underling, loyal to the point of breaking a law or several. Young is FREAKING HOT! I can see why both men want her. Susan is an interesting character. It\u2019s easy to see her as a whore with a thing for powerful men. At the same time, she falls in love with Farrell and it\u2019s not an act. It makes her rethink this whole thing with Brice.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I can\u2019t find a single flaw in No Way Out<\/strong>. Everything comes together perfectly starting with an intelligent screenplay by Robert Garland (The Electric Horseman). It has plenty to say about the seedy side of political power circles. The cinematography by John Alcott (this was his last film) is top-notch in how it depicts the Pentagon as both a literal and figurative maze Farrell is trying to escape. The score by Maurice Jarre is riveting. All of this comes together to form a very gripping thriller. It grabs you from the start and doesn\u2019t let go until the final frame.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although dated, No Way Out<\/strong> is one of those older movies that deserve to be discovered by new audiences. It\u2019s a perfect example of technique and a testament to old school cinematic craftsmanship. Plus, there\u2019s that twist at the end. Yeah, if you haven\u2019t seen it yet, treat yourself.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No Way Out (1987)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Orion\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 114 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (sexual content, nudity, language, violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Roger Donaldson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Robert Garland\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Maurice Jarre\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: John Alcott\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 14, 1987 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young, Will Patton, Howard Duff, George Dzundza, Jason Bernard, Iman, Fred Dalton Thompson, Leon Russom, Dennis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-suspense-thrillers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/No-Way-Out-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10627"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10802,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10627\/revisions\/10802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}