``No Way Out'' Three movies about Kenneth Fearing's novel ``The Clock''

Famous technical staff participates in photography, art, and music.

The story of "No Way Out" begins when Navy officer Farrell (Kevin Costner) falls instantly in love with an attractive woman named Susan (Sean Young) whom he meets at a party. Susan is said to have "a certain situation." Incidentally, the song used in the scene where the two make love in the back seat of a limousine is the aforementioned Paul Anka's "Downtown." Meanwhile, Farrell's brave rescue action is praised by Secretary of Defense David (Gene Hackman) and he is assigned to his direct duties. In fact, David also has "a certain situation" in that he has a mistress. That mistress is Susan, whom Farrell loves. The first half of "No Way Out" unfolds as a dangerous love triangle in which neither of them should know the other's true identity.

The story is set in the Pentagon, but of course the interior of the building is treated as a state secret. Since permission was only granted to film parts of the building, such as the exterior, a maze-like set recreating the interior was built at MGM Studios, which also became a hot topic. Another notable feature of "The Pentagon" is that it features the participation of famous technical staff, including Dennis Washington, who was in charge of the art direction, Maurice Jarre's ominous score, and John Alcott, who was responsible for the impressive opening long take. Incidentally, the filming format used in this film was a standard called "No Way Out 1.85," which was not yet mainstream at the time, and which uses the audio band of 35mm film as video data (later it was unified and called "Super 35").

“No Way Out” (c)Photofest / Getty Images

Cinematographer John Alcott was in charge of lighting for Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and later became famous for his work on Barry Lyndon (1975) and The Shining (1980). In other words, he is also a person who contributed to innovation in film photography. Unfortunately, Alcott passed away suddenly at the young age of 55. Since "The No Way Out" was his last work, the end credits state that this film is dedicated to John Alcott. Director Roger Donaldson and art director Dennis Washington are friends who have worked together on such films as Dante's Peak (1997) and The Fastest Indian in the World (2005). They also worked together again with Kevin Costner in 13 Days (2000).

Kevin Costner has a penchant for performing his own stunts, which would later become one of the reasons he became a nuisance in Hollywood, but there is a scene in "The Man from No Way Out" that infuriated the insurance company. In order to warn Susan's friend of the danger, Farrell runs through the city while escaping his pursuers. In one of the chase scenes, Farrell jumps out onto the road and crashes into a car. If you look closely at this shot, you can see that although the cut is split and the stuntman is in charge until just before the collision, it is clear that Kevin is playing Farrell, who runs onto the bonnet, spins, and falls onto the road.

For movie insurance companies, if the leading actor gets injured, filming will stop and they will have to pay the insurance money for that period. Therefore, it is common to use stuntmen in dangerous scenes. However, Kevin often performs dangerous stunts in the movie himself, which catches the attention of the insurance company. You can see a glimpse of this in "No Way Out".

Based on the novel “The Clock” by Kenneth Fearing