No Way Out

No Way Out
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Roger Donaldson
Produced by	Robert Garland Laura Ziskin
Screenplay by	Robert Garland
Based on	The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing
Starring	Kevin Costner Gene Hackman Sean Young
Music by	Maurice Jarre
Cinematography	John Alcott
Editing by	William Hoy Neil Travis
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date(s)	August 14, 1987 (1987-08-14)
Running time	114 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English Russian
Budget	$15 million
Box office	$35,509,515

No Way Out is a 1987 thriller film about a U.S. Naval officer investigating a Washington, D.C. murder. It stars Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman and Sean Young. It is a remake of The Big Clock; both films are based on the novel by Kenneth Fearing.

Plot

At a ball, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell meets a young woman, Susan Atwell, and the two immediately begin an affair, although Atwell is involved with someone else. During his next Naval deployment, Farrell rescues a fellow sailor during a storm and becomes a hero. He is brought back to Washington to work at The Pentagon for Secretary of Defense David Brice on the recommendation of his General Counsel Scott Pritchard, an old friend of Farrell's. Brice, determined to cancel a boondoggle Navy project that has powerful political backing, decides that Farrell should act as his direct liaison to the CIA to gather information about whether the Soviets really are working on a similar project.

Soon after, Farrell finds out that the other man in Susan's life is Secretary Brice, who in turn learns of Susan's infidelity. While demanding the name of her new lover, Brice slaps Susan in a jealous rage, knocking her off an indoor balcony to her death. Ready to turn himself in, Brice is persuaded by Pritchard to cover up everything and blame it on someone else. They concoct a story that Susan's other lover was in fact a long-suspected but never confirmed KGB sleeper agent code-named "Yuri." In the aftermath, they focus all attention on an attempt to capture him.

Confident that "Yuri" doesn't exist, CIA director Marshall dismisses the possibility of Pritchard having an affair with Susan, saying that Pritchard is homosexual. Brice appoints Farrell to lead the investigation to find Susan's other lover, placing him in the position of attempting to find evidence that could implicate himself. The only forensic evidence in the case is a discarded Polaroid negative recovered from Susan's house, which requires lengthy computer processing to become visible. Farrell pleads with systems analyst and old friend Sam Hesselman to slow down the processing, and tells him about Susan and Brice. Meanwhile, Farrell sets about proving Brice was involved with Susan by searching computer files for evidence that Brice gave Susan a government-registered gift he had previously received from Morocco.

Pritchard harasses Nina Beka, a close friend of Susan's, by threatening deportation back to South Africa, then sends covert assassins to kill her, but Farrell rescues her just in time. A suspicious Sam goes to Pritchard with concerns about what Farrell told him. Realizing that Sam can implicate Brice, Pritchard shoots and kills him. Farrell obtains the printout before the picture implicating him becomes visible and presents it to Brice, who then shifts the blame to Pritchard, arguing that Pritchard was jealous of his relationship with Susan. A devastated Pritchard commits suicide and is falsely exposed as "Yuri" to the police by Brice, hoping to escape blame for Susan's death, and Farrell, who is finally able to leave the Pentagon free of suspicion.

As Farrell sits beside Susan's grave, two plainclothes men arrive and take him away for questioning. One of the interrogators is Farrell's landlord, who addresses Farrell in Russian. Farrell, who responds in kind, is in fact the real "Yuri", and his landlord is his KGB supervisor. Yuri/Farrell was planted in the U.S. as a teenager and became the KGB's "mole" in the Department of Defense. Aware of Brice's affair, the Russians assigned Farrell to seduce the Secretary of Defense's mistress and gather intelligence from her.

Although his handlers demand that he return to the Soviet Union, Farrell refuses and leaves as his handler quips, "He'll be back. Where else does he have to go?"

Cast

• Kevin Costner as LCDR Tom Farrell, USN / Yuri, Soviet spy
• Gene Hackman as Secretary of Defense David Brice
• Will Patton as Scott Pritchard
• Sean Young as Susan Atwell
• George Dzundza as Sam Hesselman
• Howard Duff as Senator Duvall
• Jason Bernard as Major Donovan, CID
• Fred Dalton Thompson as CIA Director Marshall
• Iman as Nina Beka
• Brad Pitt (first onscreen role) as Officer

Production

In addition to the Orion Pictures Corporation studio, filming locations were Annapolis, Maryland; Arlington, Virginia; Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C., as well as Auckland, New Zealand.

Music

The film features original music by Academy Award-winning composer Maurice Jarre.

Release

Box office

The film debuted at #2 at the box office after Stakeout. Other films in wide release at the time were The Fourth Protocol, Dirty Dancing, and Hamburger Hill.^[1] The film's budget was an estimated $15 million dollars US; its total US gross was over $35 million US^[2].

Critical reception

The film was very well received by critics and currently holds a 96% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews, albeit with an audience rating of only 66% (the proportion of RT users who rate the film 3.5 stars or higher). The consensus states: "Roger Donaldson's modern spin on the dense, stylish suspense films of the 1940s features fine work from Gene Hackman and Sean Young, as well as the career-making performance that made Kevin Costner a star".^[3]

Roger Ebert called the film "truly labyrinthine and ingenious" and awarded the film 4 out of 4 stars.^[4] Nevertheless, Richard Schickel of Time Magazine wrote, "Viewers who arrive at the movie five minutes late and leave five minutes early will avoid the setup and payoff for the preposterous twist that spoils this lively, intelligent remake of 1948's The Big Clock."^[5] And Desson Thomson of the Washington Post wrote, "The film makes such good use of Washington and builds suspense so well that it transcends a plot bordering on ridiculous."^[6] Gene Siskel, however, hated the movie, criticizing the performances as uninteresting.

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: No Way Out (1987 film)

• Official website
• No Way Out at the Internet Movie Database
• No Way Out at Box Office Mojo
• No Way Out at Rotten Tomatoes