''Narrow Margin'' is a 1990 American
neo-noir
Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...
action thriller film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
written and directed by
Peter Hyams
Peter Hyams (born July 26, 1943) is an American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer known for directing ''Capricorn One'' (which he also wrote), the 1981 science fiction-thriller ''Outland (film), Outland'', the 1984 science fiction f ...
, loosely based on the 1952
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
''
The Narrow Margin
''The Narrow Margin'' is a 1952 American film noir starring Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor. Directed by Richard Fleischer, the RKO picture was written by Earl Felton, based on an unpublished story written by Martin Goldsmith and Jack Le ...
''. The film stars
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen Hackman (born January 30, 1930) is an American retired actor and former novelist. In a career that has spanned more than six decades, Hackman has won two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, one Screen Actors Guild Award, two BAFTAs ...
and
Anne Archer
Anne Archer (born August 24, 1947) is an American actress. Archer was named Miss Golden Globe in 1971, and in the year following, appeared in her feature film debut ''The Honkers'' (1972). She had supporting roles in ''Cancel My Reservation'' (1 ...
, with
James Sikking
James Barrie Sikking (born March 5, 1934) is a former American actor, most known for his role as Lt. Howard Hunter on the 1980s TV series ''Hill Street Blues''.
Early years
Sikking was born in Los Angeles on March 5, 1934 to Andy and Sue (né ...
,
J. T. Walsh
James Thomas Patrick Walsh (September 28, 1943 – February 27, 1998) was an American character actor. His many films include ''Tin Men'' (1987), ''Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987), ''A Few Good Men'' (1992), '' Hoffa'' (1992), ''Nixon'' (1995), ' ...
, and
M. Emmet Walsh
Michael Emmet Walsh (born March 22, 1935) is an American actor who has appeared in over 200 films and television series, including small but important supporting roles in dozens of major studio features of the 1970s and 1980s. He starred in ''Bl ...
in supporting roles. It tells the story of a Los Angeles deputy district attorney who attempts to keep a murder witness safe from hit men while traveling through the Canadian wilderness aboard a train.
''Narrow Margin'' was produced by
Carolco Pictures
Carolco Pictures, Inc. was an American independent film studio that existed from 1976 to 1995, founded by Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna. Kassar and Vajna ran Carolco together until 1989, when Vajna left to form Cinergi Pictures. Carolco hit ...
, and filmed on location in
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
and
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, Canada. It was released by
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony. It is a corporate sibling of Sony ...
on September 21, 1990.
Plot
In Los Angeles, divorced editor Carol Hunnicut is on a blind date in a hotel restaurant with widowed lawyer Michael Tarlow when a waiter delivers a message for him to phone a client. Tarlow goes to his suite to make the call and invites her to come with him. While Hunnicut watches from a darkened room, the client, crime boss Leo Watts, unexpectedly arrives in person along with a gunman, Jack Wootton. He has learned that Tarlow stole from him, but says Tarlow will not be harmed if he repays the money. Then he adds, "I lied", and Wootton shoots Tarlow dead.
The next day Hunnicut learns that Tarlow was Watts's lawyer, and realizes she is in danger. She delivers her son to his father and urges them to go into hiding, and she flees to a borrowed cabin in the
Canadian Rockies
The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...
, telling only one person where she went and what she saw.
Police sergeant Benti traces Hunnicut and learns these facts, which he brings to deputy district attorney Robert Caulfield. Caulfield is half suspicious of his boss, Martin Larner, for stopping a previous prosecution of Watts because the evidence was insufficient; over Larner's objections, he arranges to go to the cabin by chartered plane and helicopter. There, he urges Hunnicut to return with him and testify, but she refuses. At this point Watts's men arrive in their own helicopter and open fire. Caulfield's pilot and Benti are killed.
Caulfield improvises an escape with Hunnicut, first by road, then off-road into a forest. He sees a
VIA Rail
Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...
train to Vancouver stopping nearby, and manages to reach the station in time. He cons an elderly couple into giving up their drawing room on the train, so he can hide Hunnicut, but he is followed onto the train by Wootton and another of Watts's gunmen, Nelson.
Caulfield repeatedly manages to evade the men and keep them from seeing what Hunnicut looks like. At the next station, he phones his office. Avoiding Larner, he speaks to another deputy DA, James Dahlbeck, to arrange for police to meet the train at the following station. But the "police" turn out to be more of Watts's men, thereby confirming that Dahlbeck is dirty. Caulfield manages to reboard the train, still protecting Hunnicut. Nelson attempts to bribe Caulfield to reveal her, but he refuses.
Another passenger, Kathryn Weller, strikes up an acquaintance with Caulfield and he realizes he must protect her from being mistaken for Hunnicut and killed. As he tries to rush her to safety, another passenger, Keller, is suspicious and reveals himself as a railroad policeman. Caulfield hides Weller with Keller and asks him to pass on a message to Larner that Dahlbeck is in league with Watts, but when he returns from updating Hunnicut, he finds Keller shot dead.
Eventually Caulfield is seen with Hunnicut and they go onto the roof of the train, followed by the gunmen, who both fall off in the ensuing fight. Then Weller climbs on the roof, revealing herself as another assassin, but she faces backwards as she aims her shot, and is swept off the train when it enters a tunnel.
After this, the train is stopped and Caulfield is finally able to phone Larner and tell him what happened. Later, back in Los Angeles, Hunnicut testifies about the murder of Tarlow.
Cast
Production
Peter Hyams watched the original film on television one night "at some ungodly hour" and thought it was ideal for a remake.
"I didn't think the movie was terrific, but I thought the idea of people being stuck on a train was wonderful," said Hyams. "It harkened back to the kind of movie they don't make anymore. The idea of a train is very mysterious and romantic."
['Narrow Margin' Finds Its Route New York Times10 Sep 1989: A.14.]
Hyams got Paramount to buy the rights to the original RKO film and set about writing the adaptation. He felt the train in his film should be traveling through country "so forbidding that you can't just jump off and go to a rent-a-car counter" so he decided to set the action in Mexico or Canada. "So I took the train through the Rockies and was unprepared for how beautiful it is," said Hyams. "It was the most extraordinary scenery I've ever seen."
So he decided on Canada.
Lead roles went to Gene Hackman and Anne Archer. Hackman said, "Peter and I have talked about doing a film vaguely a number of times over the years and this came along and he told me that Anne was going to be involved. It's a good action-thriller. It has a lot of nice character to it."
The film was shot in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
and
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Canada in June 1989.
The train used for both interior and exterior scenes consisted of a
BC Rail
BC Rail is a railway in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Chartered as a private company in 1912 as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), it was acquired by the provincial government in 1918. In 1972 it was renamed to the British ...
SD40-2 diesel locomotive and 12 privately owned passenger railcars, all painted in
Via Rail Canada
Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...
livery to represent the Toronto-Vancouver passenger train. Some of the distant exterior shots were filmed using a model train.
Reception
Cult Cinema writer David Harkin praised the film, suggesting that...'Produced in the late 1980s and released in 1990, arguably during the golden age of the action thriller, ''Narrow Margin'' has remained under the radar. The film, however, has much to recommend it; Bruce Broughton’s score, which echoes Michael Small’s work a decade earlier (''Marathon Man'', ''The Parallax View''), helps move things along as high octane stunts, typical of the era, permeate the climax'
''Narrow Margin'' received mixed reviews. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds a rating of 63% based on 16 reviews.
Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
Home media
The DVD released by Optimum Releasing in 2007 is the only DVD available of ''Narrow Margin'' with any kind of extra features; it contains a commentary by Peter Hyams, B-Roll footage, a brief documentary, sound-bites by the cast and crew, and a trailer. All other DVD versions of the movie have been without features.
Kino Lorber
Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art house films, ...
released the film on Blu-ray on June 30, 2020 with a new 4K master, containing the previous features from the Optimum DVD and a new commentary from film historian/critic Peter Tonguette.
References
External links
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{{Peter Hyams
1990 films
1990 action thriller films
1990 crime thriller films
1990s crime action films
1990s English-language films
American action thriller films
American crime action films
American crime thriller films
American neo-noir films
Carolco Pictures films
Films about lawyers
Films about witness protection
Films directed by Peter Hyams
Films set in Canada
Films set in Los Angeles
Films set on trains
Films shot in Alberta
Films shot in British Columbia
Films scored by Bruce Broughton
Films with screenplays by Peter Hyams
Remakes of American films
TriStar Pictures films
1990s American films