Kino Lorber
1987’s No Way Out starring Kevin Constner, Gene Hackman, and Sean Young is a classic Cold War spy thriller in the vein of Le Carré or Clancy with a hearty helping of murder mystery thrown into the mix.
Directed by Australian director Roger Donaldson and written by Robert Garland, the film is loosely based on the 1946 novel The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing.
No Way Out is the gripping tale of Naval Commander Tom Farrell (Costner) who is recruited by Secretary of Defense David Brice (Hackman) to help him gather intelligence to use against his political foes on Capitol Hill surrounding a new secret submarine project. His extremely loyal advisor, Scott Pritchard introduces the two at a party.
At that party Farrell meets the beautiful Susan Atwell (Young), and the two begin a torrid romance. Little does Farrell know but his new boss, Senator Brice, is also involved with Atwell who is his mistress.
When Brice accidentally kills Susan during an argument Pritchard suggests a cover up where they pin the murder on a fabled double agent Russian spy named Yuri whose name has been talked about in the halls of the CIA and the Pentagon. Farrell is tasked with finding the Russian Spy, and helping protect the Senator from scandal and possibly prison.
Look, I know this sounds like I am giving away the entire plot, but trust me when I say that this film has twist upon twist upon twist. It is like the proverbial Matryoshka Doll. One red herring after the other piles up so fast that they could start a fish market. Just when you think you figure out what the mystery is going to be, they flip it into another. All is done deftly and masterfully.
I saw this film in ‘87 when it was released and then saw it here and there on cable over the years. I probably haven’t seen it for at least 20 years.
As a Cold War kid growing up in the eighties, I was obsessed with spy novels, movies, anything Cold War related. I voraciously read John Le Carré, Tom Clancy, Ian Flemming, and Robert Ludlum novels. I loved Bond and Smiley. No Way Out is a film that can hold its head high with these giants. Seriously. It holds up and even though I knew how the film ended it still held me captive for the entire 114 minutes of run time.
Kevin Costner is great as the no nonsense yet slightly boring and straight laced Navy Commander Farrell. Really, it is the type of role he can play with aplomb. He is an extremely limited actor, but what he excels at is this type of clean cut All-American poster boy for freedom. He had just released The Untouchables two months before this movie came out where he played “The man who got Capone” Elliot Ness. At the time, if you wanted an actor to play the “‘Murican” you got Costner.
Gene Hackman’s Senator David Brice is brilliant. When isn’t Hackman NOT brilliant? He knows the assignment and he brings 100% to every movie role he plays. Even if the movie is crap, at least you can count on Hackman to deliver a top notch performance. Sean Young as Susan Atwell is perfectly cast as the beautiful object of both men’s affections who’s tragic end is the crux of the main story. Rounding out the brilliant main cast is Will Patton as the almost loyal to a fault political assistant and advisor, Scott Pritchard, who will stop at nothing and go to any means to protect his Senator.
As I mentioned this film still holds up really well. The political intrigue, the mystery, and the way the story unfolds is all exceptionally crafted. Producer Mace Neufeld will go on to produce the Jack Ryan films and TV show.
The only thing that I felt was extremely cringe and did not age well was the two god awful Paul Anka “soft rock” songs “No Way Out”, the title song, and super cheesy love song, “Say It”. Dear God, I forgot how terrible they are. I am pretty sure they both sucked when it originally released in 1987 so expecting them to be better nowadays is nigh impossible. Thankfully, they only last for a very short time and are only in the film briefly.
Extras include new 4K restoration, two audio commentaries, interview with Donaldson and trailer.
With the exception of Paul Anka’s participation, if you love a good spy thriller, No Way Out is top notch. The intrigue and the complex storyline are well worth a watch and it is a somewhat underrated film overall in my humble opinion. Highly recommended.
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