6. No Way Out (1987)
No Way Out stars Kevin Costner as Navy Lt. Tom Farrell, who visits a lavish ball and meets Secretary of Defence, David Brice, played by Gene Hackman. At the party he also meets Susan Atwell (Sean Young), has sex with her in the back of her limo (an iconic scene, later parodied brilliantly in Hot Shots Part Deux), and begins an affair. Brice then hires Farrell to get certain information for him, and he soon learns that Atwell is Brice’s mistress.
After Farrell and Atwell go away on a sailing weekend, upon her return Brice pays her a visit. Jealous that she’s been with another man, he loses his temper and pushes her off her balcony right into a glass table, killing her instantly. Thinking they might be able to pin the blame on her “other lover”, who they suspect to be a KGB agent, Brice and his men find the negative of a Polaroid in Atwell’s room which will unmask the mystery lover. Farrell knows the picture is of him, and as the computer technology goes about de-blurring the photo, it becomes a race against time for Farrell.
No Way Out is an exceptionally well acted and structured thriller, in my view one of the best entries in the genre from the 1980s. Intelligently written by Robert Garland (who based his script on the novel The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing), its flow is so tight that it seems to ease itself from one scene to the next, the latest twist coming as a surprise but never feeling over the top or ill fitting to the tight framework. The acting is great too; Young perfect as the slightly unhinged, unpredictable Susan; Costner a straight forward leading man able to hold the drama and tension together; and Hackman on super fine form as the murky Brice, one of his greatest villains in my view. Though the picture as a whole is exceptional, Hackman himself is especially fabulous.
7. Target (1985)
Another decent film from the 80s, and also totally overlooked, was 1985’s Target. Directed by Arthur Penn, it concerns the kidnapping of a woman, Donna Lloyd (Gayle Hunnicutt). Gene Hackman is her husband, Walter, and Matt Dillon is Chris, her son, and together they set about finding her. Unfortunately, the pair do not get on, Chris seeing Walter as a stodgy man of inaction. With the disappearance of Donna however, Walter steps into gear and comes to life, for the first time emerging from his comfort zone and being the man Chris so often wished him to be.
A totally overlooked entry in Dillon, Hackman and Penn’s careers, Target is an engaging thriller that brings forth intriguing father-son dynamics and predicaments. It was in this era that Hackman was choosing to play mature men, fathers who either hoped for better connections with their kids or knew that any such hopes were dead in the water. Here, they bond over the most unexpected thing, and find solidarity in their quest. Dillon is pure angst through and through, rebelling against Hackman at first but ultimately seeing eye to eye with him. It’s a film, though, driven by its plot, its twists and its turns, a good old fashioned thriller directed wonderfully by the masterful Penn. Available on DVD these days, it’s well worth seeking out.
8. 8 Million Ways to Die (1986)
8 Million Ways to Die, written by Oliver Stone and directed by the great Hal Ashby, is often totally overlooked in retrospectives of both men’s careers. And it’s easy to see why. Stone had written the film and gone on his way to make Salvador with James Woods as his leading man. In his absence, his script was re-written, largely by an uncredited Robert Towne, and the budget of the film had rocketed to $17 million.
Stone later said they could have made it on a $2 million budget but they got carried away. Much of it was down to unnecessary expense on the set; lavish white table dinners, crew members driving expensive sports cars around, Ashby smoking pot endlessly in his trailer. Stone was horrified, more so because he had been shooting ultra low-budget on Salvador, and had seen life on the other side, a world without money and expenses.
Controversies aside, 8 Million Ways to Die is a fine thriller. Jeff Bridges is on top form as heavy drinking Police Deputy Matt Scudder, while Rosanna Arquette gave one of her best ever performances as Sarah, a call girl he becomes besotted with. It may be unlike the 70s output of Ashby, but he takes to the thriller genre with expertise and despite the complications on set put together a decent and very enjoyable movie. One has to wonder, though, what kind of job Oliver Stone would have made of it had he been hired to direct.
9. Year of the Dragon (1985)
For those who know Oliver Stone as the great auteur of our times, the experimental visionary, the flamboyant director known for his swirling epics, it’s easy to forget he began his mainstream Hollywood career as a highly sought-out screenwriter. One film he wrote was Year of the Dragon, directed by the great Michael Cimino, released in 1985.
Cimino, the famous director of The Deer Hunter and Heaven’s Gate., enlisted Stone’s help to adapt Robert Daley’s novel, The Year of the Dragon, to the big screen. Starring Mickey Rourke as a hard boiled cop tackling the Chinese organised crime of New York City, it was not a success at the time but has generated appreciation down the years. Stone himself has said he likes the film and thinks that Cimino did a good job, but the negative feedback and bad reviews meant it did little at the box office.
Looking at Year of the Dragon now though, and one can see what a solid thriller it is. Cimino directs beautifully (it was after all his first film after the mega flop Heaven’s Gate, so he may have been working with a little more discipline), the pace is healthy and brisk, and the performances are brilliant. Mickey Rourke is at his early best here, the perfect edgy leading man, and he’s so good it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the part. The film deals with difficult issues and addresses various taboos, but it does so against the backdrop of an effective and enjoyable thriller. Rather than being overly preachy, it merely makes valid points while telling a good yarn.
A little lost in time these days, Year of the Dragon deserves a good dusting off and a re-watch by any lover of the thriller genre.
10. Against All Odds (1984)
Directed by Taylor Hackford, Against All Odds begins when dodgy business man Jake (James Woods) “helps” out his old chum Terry (Jeff Bridges) after he is let go by his football team. Rather than giving him a decent little job though, Jake ends up pulling him into the kind of situation he never wanted any part of. He actually hires him to pursue his girlfriend, Jessie (Rachel Ward), the rich daughter of the owner of Terry’s football team, but does not suspect that Terry will fall in love with her and start an affair. This leads to all kinds of trouble.
Against All Odds is remembered these days for a number of reasons these days. Firstly, and most superficially, it’s Phil Collins’ eponymous, mega hit single, which comes at the very end of the film. People also recall the section of the movie in Jake’s popular club, which includes performances from King Creole and the Coconuts. But perhaps most of all, the thing that most people remember about Against All Odds is the car chase scene between Bridges and Woods that comes early on in the picture.
For me however, it has always been a picture to enjoy for its performances and its intriguing plot developments. Bridges and Rachel Ward put in solid efforts, but for me Woods steals the show. It’s not that he is competitive or purposely attempting to upstage his co-stars, but he gives Jake a curious mystery which makes him interesting. It’s the classic Woods intensity at work, though his Jake Wise is not quite what he seems. At first we deem him a master manipulator, a man who can own anyone with the right amount of money. But it’s clear by the end that he is little more than a pawn himself, at least when we see his real status when it comes to the underworld’s structure.
Against All Odds is a good old fashioned thriller, steamy in parts, wonderfully played by a great cast, and pretty much a treat from start to finish.