Narrow Margin
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Movie Reviews of Narrow Margin
Movie Review: Excellent suspense - one of my all-time favorites
Summary: 5 Stars
Gene Hackman and Anne Archer keeps you on the edge of suspense in this thriller. It's one of my all-time favorites. I've watched this over and over again. A must-see!Movie Review: Fast paced, an excellent thriller.
Summary: 5 Stars
A must see if you like fast paced movies. The scenery is out of this world. Gene is supurb!Movie Review: A witness to a murder, a lethal train journey, and Gene Hackman to make it interesting
Summary: 4 Stars
So what if some critics say that Peter Hyams' Narrow Margin is filled with improbable coincidences, train-hunt cliches, characters who obviously may not be good guys, and the strenuous activities of a 60-year-old star which would lead to heart attacks for the rest of us. With all that I still think that the film is a lot of fun, a satisfying adventure that relies successfully on two things: First, the proven attractiveness of a murderous, extended hunt in the confines of a moving train; and second, the skill and personality of Gene Hackman.
The movie is based on 1952's The Narrow Margin. It shares the title and the basic plot idea with the earlier film, but in tone and style it's as different as a Chicago hot dog is from a Beverly Hills steak. A wise man can enjoy both.
Carol Hunnicut (Anne Archer) witnessed a mob hit where Mr. Big, Leo Watts, was present. She wasn't noticed, but she knows that if anyone discovers what she saw she'll become a target for killing. She flees to an isolated cabin in the Canadian Rockies. Unknown to her, she left a fingerprint on a glass, and now L. A. Assistant District Attorney Robert Caulfield (Hackman) not only knows what she saw, he has been able to learn where she's hiding. But when he shows up to convince her to testify, a hail of bullets tears through her cabin. They flee in a truck and barely make it to a small town just as a train is pulling up. Caulfield finagles a private compartment and off they go...followed by the two hit men who had originally followed Caulfield to the cabin. For the rest of the movie we're up to our necks in a polite and lethal cat-and-mouse game as the hit men attempt to locate Hunnicut, whom they've never seen, through Caulfield. He tries to call up reinforcements, but they do, too. He is slow to realize that there may be more than two killers on the train. Close escapes happen in dimly lit train hallways, smiling bribes are offered in the club car, a character winds up with a bullet hole in his forehead and a water pistol comes in handy. And all the while, the train barrels along through the night, swaying back and forth with the clickety-clack of iron wheels on iron tracks. At the climax, after a strenuous battle on top of the moving train as it roars over high passes and through tunnels, Caulfield has the chance to say these memorable lines, "You know what I like about you? You're tall."
Sure, the movie wouldn't amount to much without Hackman...but with Hackman the movie becomes an exciting duel between Caulfield and the obstacles he has to overcome to save Hunnicut. Hackman has probably made more B movies seem like candidates for A status than any other Hollywood actor. Three fine character actors also add a lot of interest to the film, even though their roles are brief. M. Emmet Walsh plays a good-guy detective sergeant with gum-chewing, wise-mouth quality. J. T. Walsh plays a mob numbers man who made the mistake of skimming off the top. Harris Yulin plays Leo Watts, the mob boss, with cold ruthlessness and a fine disdain.
As an added incentive to see the movie, it's a good advertisement for one of the world's great train rides, VIA Rail Canada's rail journey on the Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver (or the other way). With a private compartment, you can't beat the scenery, the service or the cuisine.
The DVD picture is just fine. There are one or two inconsequential extras, such as cast lists.
Movie Review: Quite a ride
Summary: 4 Stars
1990's Narrow Margin made a poor showing at the box-office, which is a pity because this is a thriller that really thrills. All too quickly dismissed by many critics for committing the cardinal sin of being a remake (in this case of Richard Fleischer's classic 1952 B-movie), it's a superbly paced example of pure commercial film-making at its most satisfying.
Intelligently scripted by director Peter Hyams (Capricorn One, Outland) with an admirable use of Scope that emphasises the claustrophobic nature of the game of cat-and-mouse, there are at least two genuinely breath-taking moments even before the inevitable train-top finale. Yet the film is always careful to maintain a semblance of credibility. As a result, it derives as much of its suspense from our involvement with the characters as from its bravura action sequences.
True, these are stereotypes - idealistic DA, frightened-but-honest witness, pragmatic killer - but they are believable stereotypes who behave logically, relying on their wits. If the watchword of Hyams' Outland was professionalism, in Narrow Margin it is self-reliance. Both sides have to make the most of what is to hand in a restrictive environment that works against them equally.
If this enclosed environment had been a spaceship and the killers aliens, Narrow Margin might have wowed them at the box-office. As it is, without an easily exploitable angle, it proved one of the most mystifying of Hyams' frequent financial disappointments: Hyams at his peak was the consummate commercial film-maker, yet paradoxically his films were never very commercially successful. With impressive performances from Hackman, Archer and Hyams' regular James B. Sikking as the businessman-like killer who prefers negotiation to coercion, Narrow Margin deserved much, much better. It's a good movie, and one you won't just watch once.
Unfortunately, the Region 1 DVD isn't particularly good - no real extras and an indifferent widescreen transfer. If you have a multi-region player you're much better off tracking down the Region 2 German PAL DVD, which comes with an exclusive audio commentary (in English) by Hyams, as well as brief featurette, behind-the-scenes footage and theatrical trailer.
Movie Review: An atmospheric thriller quickie
Summary: 4 Stars
Peter Hyams' remake of Richard Fleisher's 1952 The Narrow Margin focuses more on atmosphere and scenery than it does film noir. It does make for a cool, if a bit too short, movie.
Gene Hackman is the loudmouth Deputy DA desperate to get a big daddy mob boss behind bars. And when a shy book editor witnesses a mob assassination he treks out to Middleofnowhere, Canada to drag her into court to testify. Problem's arise when the bad guys show up in the wilderness and blow the crap out of her cabin.
A brilliant, rustic car/chopper chase down the sheer slopes of a mountain forest follows. It's a great scene with some cool shots and sharp editing. Once they reach the bottom of the mountain they find a train station and board the train for a private cabin. The bad guys follow, only they still don't know what their witness looks like.
Many scenes of hiding and seeking make up the rest of the movie. It doesn't sound like much but Peter Hyams' widescreen photography is used to the max to promote a sense of claustrophobia and even the quieter scenes are dominated by the sound of the train charging through the dark Canadian wilderness. One particular scene at Monashee Station really does take advantage of the 'middle of nowhere' feeling.
Bruce Broughton's score is kind of okay, but nothing as loud and exciting as the score he originally created. Peter Hyams disagreed (as he often does with his composers) and chopped up Broughton's work in post-production. Thus, the music in the movie is more of an underscore with much of the more action-based cues missing.
I wish it did last longer and with more scenes on the train (coz trains are cool) but, for what it is, Narrow Margin is a tightly wrought thriller with Gene Hackman on top form as always and having fun playing the older guy in the suit who can still get into fights and car chases as if it were his everyday job.
Filmed in Panavision the DVD is in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with a Dolby 2.0 soundtrack. Though 5.1 would have been better there is still some surround use. The R2 DVD by Universal also has better cover art than the R1.