Things I Learned from No Way Out
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dubyahsrobotminion — 14 years ago(December 11, 2011 06:02 PM)
GSA Cars circa the mid 80s were mostly Dodge brand crap like the Plymouth Reliant/Dodge Aries pictured in the movie. It wouldnt suprise me at all to see a Cabinet Level Official in the 80s driving a K Car.
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dcavalli — 14 years ago(February 17, 2012 06:34 AM)
- Dark-haired members of the Special Forces run like girls.
- Georgetown has a subway stop. (It doesn't in real life.)
- No one thinks that the best way to narrow down the pool of suspects at the Pentagon after the fat guy spots Tom is to ask (1) whether he was dressed in civilian, military, or police clothing: and (2) what kind or color uniform he was wearing.
- After agreeing to help you cover up a crime, your gay assistant will tenderly cover you with a blanket as you rest on the couch.
- Gays who work for the federal government are very highly strung.
- The best way to identify a Pentagon employee who is a "person of interest" in a murder/espionage case is a room-to-room search instead of letting him see photos of employees on a computer terminal. (Again, the search pool could have been narrowed by pointing out that he was male, young, wearing a Naval uniform, and possibly which male naval officers signed in for work that particular shift or day.)
- To derail the coverup, Tom never considers going to a public payphone and leaving an anonymous tip with the D.C. police, the FBI, or Bob Woodward at the Washington Post.
- The most likely place to find your fugitive spy is at his girlfriend's gravesite.
- Although it's 1987 (and the federal government was spending hundreds of dollars on individual hammers and toilet seats), there isn't a single security camera in operation at the Pentagon, especially near the entrance where the fat guy spots Tom, and near the gymnasium/basketball court where Scott shoots Sam a number of times.
- Scott uses a revolver (as opposed to a pistol with a silencer; silencers don't work with revolvers because the barrel is open) to kill Sam, and no one is nearby to hear the loud gunshots which also create echos.
- Scott tells Tom that he has "no idea what men of power can do," even though Tom has seen him (1) obstruct justice; (2) cover up a homicide (even if it was an accident); (3) destroy evidence; (4) abuse his position to intimidate Iman into silence; (5) have the Special Forces/Contra guys kill her; (6) have the Pentagon waste taxpayers money (okay this is a stretch given real life) to search for Susan's lover and elusive spy, whom he doesn't know, at the time, that he (Yuri) actually exists; and (7) previously threaten him a couple of times.
- After spending a couple of decades in the United States, Russian teenagers who are sent over to become spies and pose as convincing Americans eventually have trouble remembering their first language.
- When you're cheating girlfriend hangs up on you, be sure to impress bar patrons by ripping a public telephone from the wall.
- Susan has been really discrete during her affair with Brice, and her banking statements do not contain any checks (to pay her rent, as Brice tells her) from Brice or an intermediary who could be identified by the authorities. Maybe Brice was smart enough to pay her with cash. (Then he might have to explain to the wife, his tax accountant, etc. what he's doing with the money.)
- Gene Hackman should find better people to cover up his characters' misdeeds. His female chief-of-staff (Judy Davis) in "Absolute Power" (1997) also bungled the cover up of the death and circumstances of the president's mistress while overlooking a witness who could identify him.
- If you happen to see a large a shadow on the ocean, about the size of an aircraft carrier, it's the Navy's new "phantom sub" (which can't be detected by sonar).
- If Tom was doing his job for the KGB, he could have informed them, "During war, just drop depth charges and fire torpedoes and rockets to any large shadows on the ocean."
- Though gay, Scott is a professional, and he is too busy to flirt with the waiter (?) in that elaborate 18th-century uniform who is also brought to the Pentagon to help identify Susan's date.
- If this film is ever remade, one of the villains will not be gay in order to avoid offending the influential gay community, and to apologize for previously offending gays with the film, the remake will have a positive gay character or characters.
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dkgambler — 13 years ago(May 10, 2012 03:57 PM)
<<51. If this film is ever remade, one of the villains will not be gay in order to avoid offending the influential gay community, and to apologize for previously offending gays with the film, the remake will have a positive gay character or characters. >>
The Secretary of Defense will be gay, and he will have a gay lover who also falls in love with a gay Navy man. The SOD will go crazy when he discovers his gay lover is doing it with another guy, and kill his gay lover by accident, after which his intensely loyal but straight right hand man will immediately get the cover up going and give off vibes the whole movie long showing the audience how straight he is and trying to get the SOD to start dating women. Then when someone mentions the straight assistant might have something to do with it, he will be dismissed immediately because he's straight.
Yes, I realize this means two good gay guys and one bad gay guy, but it's still a huge improvement over the original, right? Or will the gay lobby demand that the SOD part be re-written to make him at least plausibly defensible? -
Peterdeter — 13 years ago(January 01, 2013 04:05 PM)
- The assistant to the secretary of defense can order up assassinations at any time, even right in Washington.
- An obese guy can walk several times around one of the world's biggest buildings, without any problem.
- So there's a search party looking for you in the Pentagon? Just hide in the vents in your office ceiling, no one looks there.
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rickumali — 13 years ago(March 15, 2013 07:30 PM)
- Whenever something doesn't look right on your computer, mutter "the Eigenvalues aren't right."
I rewatched most of this terrific movie tonight on MGM HD. I still like it!
Rick (
http://www.rickumali.com/
) Umali
- Whenever something doesn't look right on your computer, mutter "the Eigenvalues aren't right."
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ksagendo-1 — 12 years ago(November 20, 2013 01:16 PM)
- When the Secretary of Defense is about to go up to his mistress's apartment and sees a man in the dark from a seemingly short distance, he doesn't think about asking him something like who are you or why are you watching me?
- When Farrell meets with Brice and Pritchard and Farrell realizes it was Susan that was killed and excuses himself to go to the bathroom, you might notice something is amiss and would want to question him further right then and there.
But this remains a great movie and this thread is quite entertaining!
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MovieBuffMarine — 10 years ago(May 15, 2015 08:55 AM)
- The best way to identify a Pentagon employee who is a "person of interest" in a murder/espionage case is a room-to-room search instead of letting him see photos of employees on a computer terminal. (Again, the search pool could have been narrowed by pointing out that he was male, young, wearing a Naval uniform, and possibly which male naval officers signed in for work that particular shift or day.)
I was 16 when I saw No Way Out and even then, I thought it was ridiculous that they didn't ask the dock worker what the "Son of a bitch who rented my boat" was wearing.
- The best way to identify a Pentagon employee who is a "person of interest" in a murder/espionage case is a room-to-room search instead of letting him see photos of employees on a computer terminal. (Again, the search pool could have been narrowed by pointing out that he was male, young, wearing a Naval uniform, and possibly which male naval officers signed in for work that particular shift or day.)
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Cinemaskype — 10 years ago(July 13, 2015 08:52 PM)
The only thing missing from "No Way Out" was a Kenny Loggins soundtrack. That being said:
59. Witnesses perceive Kevin Costner as "average."
60. The Secretary of Defense has a hair-trigger temper (good for the electorate to know). And is jealous and proprietary. YET the sight of a man staring at him on the sidewalk in front of the alley behind his mistresses' house fails to enrage him. -
crockett_john — 10 years ago(March 18, 2016 09:51 PM)
- You can earn a Navy Cross and an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal as well as spending six months or more on a deployment without being awarded a Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
- The US Navy's Summer Service Whites have the same protective properties as personal body armor (Farrell performs all kinds of stunts and never gets hurt).
- Any unsolved crime in DC can be blamed on "Yuri." Dead hooker? Yuri! Dr. Hessleman is killed? Yuri!
I'm just expressing my opinion.
You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.
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Critomaton — 9 years ago(May 16, 2016 08:59 PM)
- When reaching out to strangle your mistress, if she's just out of arm's reach the first time, draw back and reset like it was all a big misunderstanding, then lunge at her for the second try.
- If you're an undercover Soviet agent who's dating the mistress of the Secretary of Defense, make sure to rocket down the George Washington Parkway in a bright red Alfa Romeo convertible together, eating bugs off the windshield. Nobody would notice or remember that.