1988: Kevin Costner, Sean Young, No Way Out & Bull Durham (Erotic 80s Part 11) / by Karina Longworth

No Way Out , 1987

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The 1988 baseball blockbuster Bull Durham confirms Kevin Costner as the ultimate squeaky-clean, all-American hearthrob, building on a sexual persona sparked the year before with the neonoir No Way Out. Today we’ll talk about why Costner was the quintessential safe hunk for the 80s, his alchemic chemistry with co-star Sean Young in No Way Out, and her subsequent rocky road through Hollywood misogyny.

Kevin Costner and Sean Young in No Way Out, 1987

SHOW NOTES:  

Sources:

A Breakthrough Role in `No Way Out': Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. 09 Aug 1987

NO WAY OUT No Way Out surprise ending arouses unsettling questions Thrills in the Hitchcock tradition by Jay Scott, The Globe and Mail, Aug 14, 1987 

Search for a 'Difficult Character' in 'No Way Out' By Lawrence Van Gelder, NYTimes, Aug. 17, 1987 

Kevin Costner – The Untouchables' New Ness by Peter Biskind. American Film, June 1, 1987 

Will The Real Kevin Costner Please Stand Out? No Way by Jeannine Stein Aug. 19, 1987 

GQ Cover & Article, Kevin Costner, May 1987 

For 1988: The Sexy, Sexier, Sexiest, Kevin Costner Cover, US Magazine, Oct 17, 1988

Costner In Control, Vanity Fair Cover & Article, January 1992 Edward Klein Annie Leibovitz 

Reel Appeal for Women, LA Times, July 10 1988

Kevin Costner A Cool Breeze By Jesse Kornbluth, Vanity Fair, May 1989 

Kevin Costner: Pursuing The Dream by Richard Corliss Time Magazine, June 26, 1989  

No Way Out Review by Duane Byrge, Hollywood Reporter, August 11, 1987

Hollywood Report Martin A. Grove, July 30, 1987

No Way Out, Variety review, August 1987

”Behind Tinted Windows” LA Herald Examiner, October 20, 1987

Temperature Rising, LA Times, March 1, 1987No Way Out, Box Office, October 1987

Kiss and Tell: They Steam on Screen, But Stars Like Julia Roberts and Patrick Swayze Clutch Up in the Clinches, People Magazine, Spring, 1991

Capital Entertainment by David Denby, New York Magazine, August 17, 1987

Easy Way Out by John Powers, LA Weekly, September 4, 1987

Modern Hero by Andrew Sarris, Village Voice, September 1, 1987

Sean Young, Harpers Bazaar Magazine Pictorial, September 1987 

Sean Young Prepares For Upcoming Film by Melina Gerosa, Entertainment Weekly, September 14, 1990 

Clawing for Catwoman by Pat H. Broeske and Anne Thompson, Entertainment Weekly, August 09, 1991

Sean Young - an infamous plea to Tim Burton for Catwoman role - Joan Rivers Show 4:27, 3/16/91 

Sean Young, Out There Where The Trains Don’t Run, November 11991 Michael Angeli 

Sean Young, Seriously : She’s not just a wild spirit, she insists, but a sensitive soul too; certainly she’s brave--her next step is to sing and dance on stage BY Chris Willman, LA Times, MAY 17, 1992 

Sean Young: Young at Heart, Interview, Movieline Magazine

The Agony and Ecstasy of Sean Young by Melina Gerosa, Entertainment Weekly, January 30, 2007

Sean Young: The EW profile, by Karen Valby, Entertainment Weekly, January 29, 2008 

Blade Runner’s Sean Young: ‘if I Were A Man I’d Have Been Treated Better’ The Guardian, March 26 2015 

Actress Sean Young Alleges Harvey Weinstein Exposed Himself to Her by Rebecca Rubin, Variety, Oct 20, 2017 

Sean Young on Surviving Hollywood’s Many Toxic Men by Marlow Stern, The Daily Beast, Mar. 22, 2021 

What the Hell Happened to Sean Young? Lebeauleblog.com, 2011 

Conspiracy, Paranoia, #MeToo, and the Reparative Work of Sean Young’s Catwoman by Dolores McElroy, Film Quarterly, Fall 2020, Volume 74, Number 1

Sean Young Responds to Post-Oscars Arrest: ‘I Was Sober’ by Erin Carlson, Hollywood Reporter, February 28, 2012 

Talking With Sean Young: "Crazy" in Hollywood, Supporting Trump, and a Career That's "Mostly Over" by Rich Juzwiak, Gawker.com, April 2016

Sean Young as Catwoman by Jeff Labrecque, Entertainment Weekly, October 05, 2011

Sean Young Begs for Work in Bizarre Late Show Appearance by Matt Cherette, gawker.com, October 2011 

Sean Young Carl Reiner Interview 2009, youtube.com, Dec 11, 2019 

30 Years After Her Catwoman Costume Stunt, Sean Young Is Ready To Be The Hero Of Her Own Story By Ethan Alter, Yahoo Entertainment March 16, 2021

”No Way Out” reviewed by Pauline Kael in The New Yorkerpbook/096/

Can Orion hit and Run with Bull Durham?” Craig Modderno, LA Times, Jan 10. 1988 

Major league movie about the minors by Julie Salamon, Jun 16, 1988, WSJ

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend by David Denby New York Magazine, June 20, 1988 

Dark Look at Baseball by Patrick Goldstien, June 21, 1988

Sarandon Talks Baseball, Chess, Life” by Harold Reynolds,  Knight Ridder News Service, July, 1988

Durham Duo Flap Proves Pic’s Point, Variety, April 16, 2003

Interview: Lizzie Borden on Love Crimes

Bull Durham Criterion edition special features

Sean Young in her Catwoman costume before appearing on The Joan Rivers Show in 1991 | Photo- Richard Corkery, NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

Music:

The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.  

Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode: 

"Rumoi Night" - Kokura Station

"Caveman" - High Horse

"Four Cluster" - Fornax

"Quindi Cavern" - LufaQuest

"Pxl Eventuat" - The Fence

"Pxl Htra" - The Fence

"WestDesert" - LufaQuest

"The Killjoy Brothers" - Kittyhawk

"Of Our Choosing" - LufaQuest

"The Kishner Method" - Kajubaa

"Quindi Cavern" - LufaQuest

"Dimming Circuit" - Limoncello

"Gemeni City" - Kajubaa

"Still Nite" - Hutter

"Readers Do You Read" - Chris Zabriskie

Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham, 1988

Credits:

This episode was written, narrated, and produced by Karina Longworth.

Our editor this season is Evan Viola. 

Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.

Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.

Logo design: Teddy Blanks.