No Way Out (1987)

A coverup and witchhunt occur after a politician accidentally kills his mistress.

Director:

Roger Donaldson

Writers:

Kenneth Fearing (novel), Robert Garland (screen story),

Stars:

Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kevin Costner	...	Lt. Cmdr. Tom Farrell
Gene Hackman	...	Defense Secretary David Brice
Sean Young	...	Susan Atwell
Will Patton	...	Scott Pritchard
Howard Duff	...	Senator William 'Billy' Duvall
George Dzundza	...	Sam Hesselman
Jason Bernard	...	Major Donovan
Iman	...	Nina Beka
Fred Dalton Thompson	...	CIA Director Marshall
Leon Russom	...	Kevin O'Brien
Dennis Burkley	...	Mate
Marshall Bell	...	Contra #1
Chris D.	...	Contra #2
Michael Shillo	...	Schiller
Nicholas Worth	...	Cup Breaker

Storyline

Tom Farrell is a navy officer who gets posted at the Pentagon and is to report to the secretary of defense David Brice. He starts an affair with Susan Atwell not knowing that she is Brice's mistress. When Susan is found dead, Tom is assigned to the case of finding the killer who is believed to be a KGB mole! Tom could soon become a suspect when a Polaroid negative of him was found at Susan's place. He now has only a few hours to find the killer before the computer regenerates the photo.

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Plot Keywords:

mistress | search | secretary of defense | love | mole | 

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Taglines:

Is it a crime of passion, or an act of treason?

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

14 August 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sin salida

Filming Locations:

National Mall, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$35,509,515 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Susan and Pritchard's characters only appear in flashbacks; by the time the film begins, they've already died.

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Goofs

When the gift list is printing, one item is misspelled as "Gold Brooch/Diamonmd". (at around 1h 30 mins)

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Quotes

[the band has started playing ''D'ya think I'm Sexy' by Rod Stewart and two people start disco dancing]
Susan Atwell: We've got a potential nausea situation building here!

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits appear in orange and then disappear, similar to the reconstruction process for the incriminating photograph of Tom.

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Connections

Referenced in Beverly Hills, 90210: Down and Out of District in Beverly Hills (1991)

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Soundtracks

"NO WAY OUT"
Words & Music by Paul Anka and Michael McDonald
Performed by Julia Migenes and Paul Anka
Produced by Denny Diante
Arranged by Robbie Buchanan
Courtesy of CBS / Columbia Records
Published by Paulanne Music, Inc. and Genevieve Music

User Reviews

Excellent thriller - it's strengths outweight it's weaknesses

Tom Farrell is offered a job within the Defence department under Brice, the secretary of defence. When the two begin seeing the same woman, Farrell is forced to do so quietly so that Brice doesn't know. When Brice finds that Susan is seeing another woman he accidentally kills her. In order to cover up Brice's involvement, his aide Pritchard engineers a theory that the "other man" in Susan's life was the one that killed her and that he is a legendary Russian spy. In order to keep control of the investigation, Farrell is put in charge of the investigation and is faced with clues that he knows will eventually lead to him. With the set-up closing in on him he must race against time to find a way out.

This is a remake of The Big Clock, with a modern political set-up. The story is well set-up with only some misgivings in the first 30 minutes where the roots for the story are developed. Once the real story starts it is very good and it moves with a real thrilling pace, building to two endings one very powerful and with a feeling of being trapped, and the second being a clever if not totally convincing twist. The feeling of being trapped and closed in on is very palatable and is very well conveyed for most of the film.

Costner is excellent here (a long time before his bubble burst) and Hackman brings his usual class. The standout role is Patton's smarmy, spin doctor homosexual Pritchard, he is truly excellent and manages to bring a sense of menace to a quite feminine role.

Overall an excellent thriller that is slow to start and has a low-key ending. The only problems are the slightly stretched plot and some of the action being unexplained (why do the covert-ops guys keep chasing Costner? I understood why for one of the chases but other ones just seem to happen for no reason). But 7 out of 10.