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No Way Out (1987)
In Australian director Roger Donaldson's suspenseful,
twisting political thriller - the neo-noir action film was an update
of the 1946 Kenneth Fearing potboiler novel The
Big Clock, originally adapted for the big screen as the
suspenseful The Big Clock (1948) that was set in NYC and
starred Ray Milland and Charles Laughton. For this film, the screen
story and screenplay were created by Robert Garland.
Its plot themes included murder, a secret affair and semi-love triangle, political
intrigue, suspicions of a Russian KGB mole, an innocent man wrongly-accused
on a manhunt for himself, and an intense cover-up, with an out-of-the-blue,
slightly preposterous plot twist to conclude the film.
Original music in the film was scored by Maurice Jarre.
At a budget of $15 million, it successfully grossed $35.5 million
(domestic revenue). Its tagline asked: "Is
it a Crime of Passion or an Act of Murder?"
- under the title credits in the film's opening,
a lengthy backward tracking shot began at Capitol Hill
and reversed itself all the way out of the city, passing by the
Pentagon, and reaching a suburban safehouse in a wooded area; it
was the location of an interrogation-debriefing of Navy Lieutenant
Commander Tom Farrell (Kevin Costner in a star-making role) by
two associates (Contra # 1 and # 2), questioning him about his
interactions with his boss, Secretary of Defense David Brice (Gene
Hackman)
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Debriefing-Interrogation of Navy Lt. Commander Tom
Farrell (Kevin Costner) by Two Operatives (Contras)
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- Farrell stood up, and revealed a bloody, bandaged
right forearm and blood splatter on his uniform before the flashback
began (the film's storyline); the opening scene was bookended
by the concluding scene; Farrell
explained how six months earlier in Washington DC, he was introduced
to Secretary of Defense Brice, by Brice's
own scheming, ruthless yet ultra-loyal aide General Counsel Scott
Pritchard (Will Patton), his former college
buddy
- Pritchard had invited naval
attache Lt. Cmdr. Tom Farrell to attend a Presidential Inaugural
Ball in DC (at Christmastime) at the Omni Shoreham Hotel; Farrell
met up with Pritchard (who claimed about his boss: "I'd lay
down my life for him"), who then introduced Farrell to his
boss - an abrupt and unfriendly Sec. of State David Brice
- during the evening's ball, Farrell kept noticing a high-class mistress-escort
Susan Atwell (Sean Young) wearing a low-cut evening gown, and flirted
with her; he ordered a "Stoli" at the bar (a clue to his Russian
connections) and momentarily was startled when she asked: "Are
you one of them?" (she was referring to the political "hypocrites" in the room)
- at the start of a torrid, hot and passionate evening,
after some small talk at the bar, he suggested: "Let's get
outta here"; she replied: "My date's not gonna like that very much" to
which he replied: "But, what the hell? His wife'll be delighted";
Farrell was not aware that she was Brice's date-mistress
Sex in the Back of a Chauffeured Limousine with
Susan Atwell (Sean Young)
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- to the tune of Paul Anka's "No Way Out" -
the title song, Farrell seduced her into having sexual intercourse
with him in the back seat of a moving stretch limousine (chauffeured
by an inquisitive driver named Bill (Gordon Needham/Boyd) watching
them through the rear-view mirror) during a tour of DC's monuments
and on the way to a Georgetown apartment; he kissed her, unzipped
her dress to reveal a black bra, touched her breast's nipple with
two fingers, and then pulled off her dress; she offered him her
panties; from the car, a phallic-related view of the erect and
tall Washington Monument passed by; he then unfastened her lacy
garter straps as she reached to help undress him before having
sex; post-coitus, he introduced himself: "My
name's Tom," and she replied: "I'm Susan"
Susan to Her Apartment Friend Nina: "We need
your bed"
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- at her party girl friend Nina Beka's (Iman) apartment
door, she stood naked after removing her fur coat as she waved
goodbye, laughed, and borrowed Nina's apartment bed for the evening: "We
need your bed"
- the next morning, Commander Farrell was dropped
off by taxi at the airport, with a sad goodbye from Susan;
he shipped out for the Philippines on the USS Billings battleship
in pursuit of a Russian sub; he received
the Navy Cross and became a national hero after
rescuing Seaman Dufor (Peter Bell) on the "forward lookout"
during a fierce nighttime storm
Secretary of Defense David Brice (Gene Hackman)
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Brice's Gen. Counsel Scott Pritchard (Will Patton)
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- in the meantime, Defense Secretary
David Brice was involved in a political feud and ongoing dispute
with Senator William 'Billy' Duvall (Howard Duff) serving in the
Armed Services Committee, who supported the continuation of a controversial "phantom
submarine" project;
Brice protested that the military had spent $5 billion over 5 years
on a prototype that could evade sonar, and wanted to terminate
Congressional funding for the expensive flop: ("The Phantom sub is
a sinkhole"); Brice was concerned that the powerful Senator was
allied with the current CIA Director Marshall (Fred Dalton Thompson),
who would use their combined political clout to push forward the
project; in order to combat Senator Duvall, Brice advised Pritchard to bring
Farrell back to Washington, due to his experience in naval intelligence:
("We could use a hero. Get him here, will you?")
- meanwhile, Farrell was in a noisy dive bar in Manilla,
with topless dancers wearing thongs behind him, as he attempted
to call Susan from a payphone - she answered but then hung up;
it was revealed that she was in her apartment's bedroom about to
have sex with Sec. of State Brice - she was his long-time mistress!
- upon his return to DC to work at the Pentagon, Farrell was
dropped off at a residential apartment, where he met the building's
manager, his ex-landlord, who was an aspiring painter; the manager-landlord
provided Farrell with his mail and would continue to make available
for him his former residence [Note: Later, it was revealed in the
closing sequence that Farrell's foreign landlord was his handler
- a third Russian interrogator.]
Farrell With Susan Upon His Return From Battleship Service
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Susan Taking a Polaroid Photo of Farrell
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Farrell Prematurely Removing Polariod Photo Backing
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- soon after, Farrell also paid
a visit to Susan at her place, and she was overjoyed to see him
again; he carried her up the stairs to her bedroom where they quickly
began undressing for sex and she took a Polaroid photo of him on
the bed; however, he removed the paper backing too soon before it fully developed: ("I
think I did this way too early"); he crumpled up the picture and threw it aside
- the next day, Pritchard led Farrell to Brice's office,
where he was briefed on his duties - he would serve as Brice's
personal liaison, supervised by Pritchard, to serve as an intelligence
agent to monitor the activities of the CIA (regarding the submarine
project), in the hopes of terminating the boondoggle; Farrell was
informed that Senator Duvall in Congress would resist, and it was
worrisome that Duvall was connected to the CIA; Farrell was to
acquire the "raw data" from the CIA upon which the spending decisions were made
- during his tour of the computer operations center
in the Pentagon, Farrell met his good friend Dr. Sam Hesselman
(George Dzundza), a disabled Pentagon computer IT specialist
- in Susan's bathroom vanity area during their continuing
affair, while she prepared to go out to a black-tie reception to
honor the Ambassador (Terrance Cooper) of New Zealand (attended
by the Brices), Farrell noticed an expensive gold jewelry box and
learned it was a gift from her lover; she said he had received it
as a present from the foreign minister of the Moroccan government,
and she divulged that her prestigious boyfriend
was Secretary of State Brice; when Farrell responded: "You know
I work for Brice?", she answered: "That makes two of us"
- Farrell also attended the party and whisked Susan
away for a romantic weekend together at a B&B,
where they pretended to be a loving couple - Mr. and Mrs. Smythe;
once they returned to her apartment, Susan had to help Tom exit
from a back entrance to avoid being seen by Brice, although Brice
caught a glimpse of an unidentified male figure and suspected that
Susan had another lover
- Brice went into a jealous rage and brutally slapped Susan when questioning
her about cheating with another man: ("Who were you with this weekend?"),
to which she replied: ("Why worry? There's plenty left");
when Brice struck her after she called him a "pig," she
toppled backwards - in slow-motion - from her upstairs balcony
onto a glass dining room table on the first floor; shockingly, she turned up dead
- rather than allow Brice to confess to the manslaughter crime,
Brice's own loyal General Counsel Scott Pritchard offered to clean up the crime scene - where he found
an unclear film negative from a Polaroid picture taken of Farrell
by Susan (the one he had discarded); Pritchard also schemed and advised
Brice to initiate a top-secret cover-up - it was recommended that
Brice blame the crime on a bogus, never-seen, mythically-rumored
Russian KGB mole/spy code-named "Yuri"
who was seen leaving Atwell's apartment [Note - Spoiler: Little did
the two know that Atwell's other lover was actually a KGB spy.]
- Farrell was given "direct orders" to
investigate and discover Atwell's secret lover and supposed DC
murderer - his first indication that Susan was dead - and it
was a devastating blow to him, since he truly loved her [Note:
It would be a bogus investigation since he was actually the suspect!]
Brice described the scandalous problem to Farrell - that Susan
was the mistress of both Brice and "Yuri": "Do
you realize the magnitude of the scandal? The Secretary of Defense
and a Soviet agent sharing the favors of a murdered whore"
- the photo negative was planted as evidence by Pritchard, to be found
by the Army's Criminal Investigation Division (CID); it was taken
to Dr. Hesselman's Pentagon lab for computer enhancement (a process
that would take a few days); fortunately, Farrell was able to
have his old friend Dr. Hesselman delay the photo-enhancement efforts on the processing
- Pritchard also attempted to silence Susan's friend Nina, who knew of both affairs,
but only divulged Brice's presence; Farrell learned of Pritchard's
plan to order two U.S. Army Special Forces assassins to kill Nina,
and helped her escape; Farrell also furiously raced against time
to find blame elsewhere during an investigation that he knew could
falsely implicate him as Atwell's killer and expose his real identity;
he only had a few hours to name the killer before a Polaroid negative
found at Atwell's place could place him there and make him a suspect
- with Hesselman's help, Farrell was able to raid
a State Department computer registry to provide a printout of
registered gifts to US officials by foreign governments; Farrell
asked Hesselman to register the Moroccan 'gold jewelry box' gift
to Brice, in order to identify it as a clear link between Brice and Atwell
- Pritchard became suspicious when Hesselman knew
of Farrell's suspicions about Brice, his involvement with Atwell
and the incriminating gift, and silenced him by shooting him dead
- in one of the last startling scenes, Farrell went on the run and ended
up in Brice's office, where he successfully threatened to expose
Brice as the actual killer by providing a print-out of the damning
gift registry; Pritchard entered and directed the accusations
toward "Yuri" as Hesselman's (and Susan's)
murderer - and then pinned the murders on Farrell - by coincidentally
deducing that Farrell was "Yuri"!
- "Tom is the man who saw you at Susan's.
He's known about you all along, isn't that right? Do you
know what that means, David? If Commander Farrell is the
man who was with Miss Atwell, then Commander Farrell is the
man who killed Miss Atwell. And we know that the man who
killed Miss Atwell is Yuri. Therefore, Commander Farrell
IS Yuri, quod erat demonstrandum"
- feeling threatened, Pritchard - with his gun at Farrell's
throat - then boldy asserted: "You have no idea what men of power
can do"; but then Pritchard's superior
Brice decided on a different strategy - he shifted
the blame to accuse Pritchard of being "Yuri" - and the fall guy
for the murder of Atwell; Brice planned to claim that homosexual
Pritchard was "fiercely jealous" of Brice's relationship
with Susan, and therefore killed her
- devastated by the betrayal by his boss and the
new accusation, Pritchard committed suicide (he shot himself in the head) in their presence
in the office; Farrell was offered a deal by
Brice to keep everything secret, but didn't accept it
- Brice informed investigators that Pritchard had been exposed as "Yuri";
Farrell sent the registry printout to the CIA director, and was
able to escape before the Polaroid negative revealed him with
Atwell
- as the flashback ended, the film returned to Farrell's
detention and debriefing at a suburban safehouse with the Soviet
operatives (a third agent also emerged from behind a one-way mirror;
it was his handler - also his landlord); the
devious trick-surprise ending revealed Farrell's true loyalty (to
the KGB) as the fabled, never-seen mole/spy 'Yuri'; Farrell was
innocent of murdering high-class mistress-escort Susan Atwell,
but he really was a
KGB sleeper agent who had infiltrated the Pentagon
- Farrell-'Yuri' had been commissioned
to seduce Atwell in order to blackmail Brice and learn secrets
of US intelligence; Farrell was criticized for his "poorly-handled" relationship
with Atwell. Farrell argued back: "I did what I was told!
You wanted me to be her lover. I was her lover"
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The Plot Twist Reveal in the Tacked-On
Ending: Lt. Cmdr. Farrell (aka Yuri) At the Debriefing with Soviet
Officials, Including His Handler - His Building Manager-Landlord
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- the 3rd Soviet official (his landlord) spoke to Farrell (Farrell's Russian
name: Yevgeny Alexeyevich) - in Russian, seen in English subtitles: "Couldn't
you have managed this better?" Farrell was told that it
wasn't possible for him to remain in the US, and that he must return to Russia:
"This bizarre incident has given them their 'Yuri.'"; but Farrell was reluctant and refused
to be a Soviet hero: "I came here. I thought I owed you that.
But you can't make me go back"
- after telling them that he was ready to quit being "Yuri," Farrell
was allowed to leave, although his handler stated that
he would be back: "Let him go. He will return. Where else does he have to go?"
- the film concluded with a claustrophobic spy satellite-view
of Farrell/Yuri getting into his car and driving off to an ambiguous and uncertain future
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Opening Title Credits - Backwards Tracking Shot From the Nation's Capitol
to a Suburban Safehouse
At Inaugural Ball, Farrell Noticing Mistress-Escort Susan Atwell (Sean
Young)
Farrell's "Daring Sea Rescue" in Newspaper
Senator
William 'Billy' Duvall (Howard Duff) - Supportive of the "Phantom
Submarine" Project and Opposed to Sec. Brice
CIA Director Marshall (Fred Dalton Thompson)
Farrell Calling Susan From a Topless Bar Phone in Manila, Philippines
Susan Answered the Phone - But Was in the Company of Sec. of State Brice
in Her Bedroom - Susan Was Brice's Mistress
Farrell's Ex-Landlord and Building Manager (Spoiler: A Soviet Operative)
Dr. Sam Hesselman (George Dzundza) - Pentagon IT Computer Specialist
Susan's Gift of an Expensive Gold Jewelry Box in Her Bathroom
Susan to Farrell: "That makes two of us!" - Both Susan and
Farrell Worked for Brice
Susan Atwell's Accidental Murder by Enraged Sec. of State Brice
Comm. Tom Farrell Assigned to Investigate
Susan Atwell's Lover and Supposed DC Murderer Yuri - Himself!
After Being Betrayed, Pritchard's (Will Patton) Shocking Suicide
Last Image - Farrell/Yuri Insisting That He Not
Be Returned to Russia
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