No Way Out

No Way Out Movie Poster

"Is it a crime of passion, or an act of treason?"  Released in 1987, No Way Out was a cleverly written remake of a 1948 suspense movie titled The Big Clock.  The movie starred Kevin Costner as Lt. Tom Farrell, and Gene Hackman as Secretary of Defense, David Brice.  The film was not only a hit with critics, but it made 35 million dollars on a 15 million dollar budget.

In this this movie, Farrell begins an affair with a woman who is involved with another man.  When Farrell takes a job working for the Secretary of State (David Brice), he finds out the woman is Brice's mistress.  When Brice finds out, he is so angry, he ends up killing his mistress in an effort to find out who the other man in her life was.  Brice is convinced by others to cover up the death by concocting a story that she was killed by her lover, a KGB agent named Yuri.

Brice hires Farrell to investigate the murder, which essentially puts Farrell in a position of collecting evidence that could implement himself.  The blame is shifted to a man named Scott Pritchard, who was the attorney for Brice that first recommended that Brice cover up the crime.  Pritchard kills himself and thus becomes an easy scapegoat for the crime.  As the film ends, we learn that indeed Farrell is the real KGB agent, and his affair with Brice's secretary was a deliberate act from jump street.