The first of those collaborations with Costner came when Patton was cast as a friend-turned-enemy of Costner's Tom Farrell in 1987's "No Way Out."
Patton had already broken out with a small part in Martin Scorsese's "After Hours" and a villainous role in 1985's "Desperately Seeking Susan," but "No Way Out" saw him holding his own on screen not only with Costner but also Gene Hackman, doing much of the dirty work for Hackman's Defense Secretary David Brice as the pair try to cover-up the murder of Susan Atwell (Sean Young) and uncover a KGB spy operating in Washington. Pritchard is eventually thrown under the bus by Brice, and commits suicide.
But before his character's death, Patton left a lasting impression on Hollywood — one that might have had a detrimental effect on his career, he explained to Parade in 2018. "For a while there, I was caught where nobody would give me anything that was heroic, because from 'No Way Out,' I was pegged as a dark, dark figure," Patton said. "I had to fight that, because if somebody had said, 'What's the character that's the least like Will in the world, let's find it,' it would be the character in 'No Way Out.'"
