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"No Way Out" (1987) - brilliant if it had been 104 minutes long

Neo-noir or noir-revival. Crime drama or psychological thriller. Whatever. If what it takes to fit these labels is characters making nihilistic moral choices as a result of desperate circumstances - then “No Way Out” (1987) fits right in the zone. It even says so in the title.

We get a gorgeous 32-yo Kevin Costner playing beside 28-yo Sean Young and against Gene Hackman. It is brilliantly performed and super intense. You can see how Costner became a star. This is 2 years after “Fandango” and “Silverado”. It came out at the same time as “The Untouchables” and right before “Bull Durham”. His star-ness was definitely anchored here. Sean Young’s character is more complex than you might want to credit at first - and they were easy to believe.


The only characterization I couldn’t get behind was Will Patton. He was played to be a deviant / sociopath. He did that great. Unfortunately in 1987, they had to out him as homosexual just so we would know how truly awful he was. For the 2023 viewer, this needless bash stood out. There was nothing about his character which appear “gay” and his homosexuality was not relevant to anything - except to tell the audience [now this explains some things]. It made me a little sad.


I read there is an uncredited Brad Pitt as a party guest, but I missed him. Mostly because I was too caught up in the show to watch for people crossing in the background. The cinematography is a tourist reel for Washington DC. Director and Writer earned every penny. It is based on a 1940's book (‘The Big Clock’) which I can’t find, and there were two other movies based on this book that I also can’t find.


If I could do one thing, I would chop out the first and last 5 minutes. Those 10 minutes are a confounding twist that are a distraction from the rest of the story. You don’t need them. You don’t want them. They are meant to be a MacGuffin, but they are whatever you call a MacGuffin that is unnecessary - a MacWHY? That is what I said to the screen during the final scene anyway.


It was a fun ride all the way through - a pre-90’s thriller, when there was still some thrill to the show.


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