Narrow Margin (1990)

Director:

Peter Hyams

Writers (WGA):

Martin Goldsmith (earlier story) &
Jack Leonard (earlier story) ...

Release Date:

21 September 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Sometimes the difference between life and death can be a Narrow Margin

Plot:

A woman secretly witnesses the murder of her blind date for the evening by a top Mafia boss. She immediately...

Plot Keywords:

Mafia | Train | Blind Date | Murder | District Attorney

Cast

Gene Hackman	...	Robert Caulfield
Anne Archer	...	Carol Hunnicut
James Sikking	...	Nelson (as James B. Sikking)
J.T. Walsh	...	Michael Tarlow
M. Emmet Walsh	...	Sergeant Dominick Benti
Susan Hogan	...	Kathryn Weller
Nigel Bennett	...	Jack Wootton
J.A. Preston	...	Martin Larner
B.A. 'Smitty' Smith	...	Keller
Codie Lucas Wilbee	...	Nicholas
Barbara Russell	...	Nicholas' Mother (as Barbara E. Russell)
Antony Holland	...	Elderly Man
Doreen Ramos	...	Elderly Woman
Kevin McNulty	...	James Dahlbeck
Andrew Rhodes	...	Sgt. Nigro

Also Known As:

Le seul témoin (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Canadian Express (Japan: English title) [en]
De Frente Para o Perigo (Brazil) [pt]
Doruktaki kadin (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
En hårsbredd fra døden (Norway) [no]
Farligt möte (Sweden) [sv]
Freniris apodrasi (Greece) [el]
Lähellä kuolemaa (Finland) [fi]
Nära döden (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Narrow Margin - 12 Stunden Angst (Germany) [de]
Niewygodny swiadek (Poland) [pl]
O Expresso dos Malditos (Portugal) [pt]
På et hængende hår (Denmark) [da]
Rischio totale (Italy) [it]
Testigo accidental (Spain) [es]
Uski prolaz (Serbia) [sr]

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Australia:M | Finland:K-14 | Germany:16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Carolco Pictures

Trivia:

It was Gene Hackman's idea that his character wear glasses.

Goofs:

Continuity: As Caufield's helicopter is approaching the mountain cabin, the outside scenery alternates from treeless, snow-covered mountain peaks and deep forests.

Quotes:

[in helicopter above mountains]
Caulfield: Why does he have to fly so low?
Sergeant Dominick Benti: We're not low. The ground's high.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Crash Point Zero (2000)

A thriller can't get better than this

For once, the remake is better than the original. Richard Fleischer's black and white movie has many fans, and rightly so, but the 1990 version really has something to it that makes me watch it again and again. The story and the characters have largely improved, and someone really had a lucky hand with the casting here. Gene Hackman gives a great performance as the loudmouth police detective who finds out that he is not as smart as he had thought. He is on his own, he is scared and he also has a bad conscience. Along with numerous action scenes he shows all these sentiments, the viewers can really feel with him. The same can be said for Anne Archer, together with Hackman she makes a formidable team. She is really perfect for the part of an upper middle class businesswoman who is looking for some romance and suddenly finds herself on the hit list of the mob. A formidable opening scene with a short but really great performance by J.T. Walsh sets the tone, and the tension never loosens.

A very important part is also played by the landscape, a remote, idyllic part of Western Canada, I believe. The director successfully succeeded in putting a romantic scenery opposite to the harrowing plot, the hectic action which has nothing to do with its immediate surroundings. Nature is depicted in its friendliest forms of appearance as an innocent bystander. Everything is so normal, so lovely, except ...