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Narrow Margin

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Narrow Margin
Narrow Margin 1990 Poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed byPeter Hyams
Written byPeter Hyams
Based on
The Narrow Margin
by
Produced byJonathan A. Zimbert
Starring
CinematographyPeter Hyams
Edited byJames Mitchell
Music byBruce Broughton
Production
company
Distributed byTri-Star Pictures
Release date
  • September 21, 1990 (1990-09-21)
[1]
Running time
97 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15–21 million[2][3]
Box office$10.9 million[4]
This article is about the 1990 remake. For the 1952 film, see The Narrow Margin.

Narrow Margin is a 1990 American neo-noir action thriller film written and directed by Peter Hyams. It stars Gene Hackman and Anne Archer, with James Sikking, Nigel Bennett, Harris Yulin and J. T. Walsh in supporting roles. It was released in the United States by TriStar Pictures on September 21, 1990.[1]

Based on the 1952 film The Narrow Margin, it is the first of two RKO reimaginings by Hyams, the other being 2009's Beyond a Reasonable Doubt.[5] The film keeps the same general story, and follows a Los Angeles deputy district attorney who attempts to keep a murder witness safe from hitmen while traveling on a train. However, it changes the moral alignment of some characters, and the setting from the Super Chief route to the Canadian Rockies.[6]

Discover more about Narrow Margin related topics

Neo-noir

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 States—roughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, film noir, translates literally to English as "black film", indicating sinister stories often presented in a shadowy cinematographic style. Neo-noir has a similar style but with updated themes, content, style, and visual elements.

Peter Hyams

Peter Hyams

Peter Hyams is an American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer known for directing 1978 conspiracy thriller film Capricorn One, the 1981 science fiction-thriller Outland, the 1984 science fiction film 2010: The Year We Make Contact, the 1986 action/comedy Running Scared, the comic book adaptation Timecop, the action film Sudden Death, and the horror films The Relic and End of Days.

Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman

Eugene Allen Hackman is an American retired actor and novelist. In a career that spanned more than six decades, Hackman won two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, one Screen Actors Guild Award, two BAFTAs and one Silver Bear.

Anne Archer

Anne Archer

Anne Archer 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 (1972), The All-American Boy (1973), and Trackdown (1976), and appeared in Good Guys Wear Black (1978), Paradise Alley (1978) and Hero at Large (1980).

James Sikking

James Sikking

James Barrie Sikking is an American former actor, most known for his role as Lt. Howard Hunter on the 1980s TV series Hill Street Blues.

Nigel Bennett

Nigel Bennett

Nigel Bennett is a British-Canadian actor, director, and writer who has been based in Canada since 1986. He is best known for playing the vampire patriarch Lucien LaCroix in the TV series Forever Knight, for which he won the Canadian Gemini Award for best supporting actor in a dramatic series.

Harris Yulin

Harris Yulin

Harris Yulin is an American actor who has appeared in over a hundred film and television series roles, such as Scarface (1983), Ghostbusters II (1989), Clear and Present Danger (1994), Looking for Richard (1996), The Hurricane (1999), Training Day (2001), and Frasier which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 1996.

J. T. Walsh

J. T. Walsh

James Thomas Patrick Walsh 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), Sling Blade (1996), Breakdown (1997), and Pleasantville (1998).

The Narrow Margin

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 Leonard. The screenplay by Earl Felton was nominated for an Academy Award.

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009 film)

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009 film)

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt is a 2009 American crime thriller film written and directed by Peter Hyams, starring Michael Douglas, Jesse Metcalfe and Amber Tamblyn. Based on Fritz Lang's 1956 film of the same name, it was Hyams' second reimagining of an RKO property after 1990's Narrow Margin. In it, a young journalist (Metcalfe) sets himself up as a murderer to expose the unethical practices of a star prosecutor with a trumped up conviction record (Douglas), but finds himself unable to produce the evidence he had prepared to restore his innocence.

Super Chief

Super Chief

The Super Chief was one of the named passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The streamliner claimed to be "The Train of the Stars" because of the various celebrities it carried between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California.

Canadian Rockies

Canadian Rockies

The Canadian Rockies 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 of the Canadian Cordillera, which is the northern segment of the North American Cordillera, the expansive system of interconnected mountain ranges between the Interior Plains and the Pacific Coast that runs northwest–southeast from central Alaska to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico.

Plot

In Los Angeles, divorced editor Carol Hunnicut is on a blind date at 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. Watts has learned that Tarlow stole from him, and has Wootton shoot Tarlow dead.

Having learnt that Tarlow was Watts's lawyer, Hunnicut realizes that she is in danger. She delivers her son to his father and urges them to go into hiding, then flees to a borrowed cabin in the Canadian Rockies, telling only one person where she went and what she saw.

Police sergeant Benti traces Hunnicut and gives her coordinates to deputy district attorney Robert Caulfield. Over the objections of his boss, Caulfield charters a flight to the cabin and meets a scared Hunnicut. At this point, the group is attacked by Watts' men, and Caulfield's pilot and Benti are killed.

Caulfield and Hunnicut escape in the woman's SUV. They see a train to Vancouver stopping nearby. Looking for a hiding spot aboard, they are told that all private cabins have been booked, but manage to con an elderly couple into giving up theirs. However, Caulfield is seen getting on the train by Wootton and another of Watts's gunmen, Nelson.

However, Caulfield is able to meet up with Hunnicut in the cabin without the two men finding out what she looks like. At the next station, he phones his office and speaks to fellow 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. After a fight, Caulfield manages to reboard the train. Nelson attempts to bribe Caulfield into turning her over to them, but he refuses.

Another passenger, Kathryn Weller, strikes up an acquaintance with Caulfield, who realizes he must protect her from being mistaken for Hunnicut and killed. As he rushes her to safety, another passenger, Keller, gets suspicious and reveals himself as a railroad policeman. Caulfield entrusts Weller to his protection. Since Wootton has sabotaged the train's public phone line, Caulfield also asks Keller to use his police radio to inform the authorities of Dahlbeck's betrayal. But when he returns from updating Hunnicut, he finds Keller shot dead.

Eventually Caulfield is seen with Hunnicut. Caulfield sends Hunnicut to their last possible hiding place, the roof of the train. He fights off Wotton, then follows Hunnicut onto the roof, where a second fight ensues with Nelson. After the latter is defeated, Weller appears, 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. Later, in a Los Angeles courtroom, Hunnicut testifies about Tarlow's murder, and identifies Leo Watts.

Cast

Discover more about Cast related topics

Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman

Eugene Allen Hackman is an American retired actor and novelist. In a career that spanned more than six decades, Hackman won two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, one Screen Actors Guild Award, two BAFTAs and one Silver Bear.

Anne Archer

Anne Archer

Anne Archer 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 (1972), The All-American Boy (1973), and Trackdown (1976), and appeared in Good Guys Wear Black (1978), Paradise Alley (1978) and Hero at Large (1980).

James Sikking

James Sikking

James Barrie Sikking is an American former actor, most known for his role as Lt. Howard Hunter on the 1980s TV series Hill Street Blues.

J. T. Walsh

J. T. Walsh

James Thomas Patrick Walsh 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), Sling Blade (1996), Breakdown (1997), and Pleasantville (1998).

M. Emmet Walsh

M. Emmet Walsh

Michael Emmet Walsh 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 Blood Simple (1984), the Coen Brothers' first film for which he won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead. He also appeared in Carl Reiner's comedy The Jerk (1979), Robert Redford's drama Ordinary People (1980), Ridley Scott's science fiction film Blade Runner (1982), Barry Sonnenfeld's steampunk western Wild Wild West (1999) and Brad Bird's animated film The Iron Giant (1999). Roger Ebert said that "No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad."

Susan Hogan (actress)

Susan Hogan (actress)

Susan Hogan is a Canadian film, television and stage actress.

Nigel Bennett

Nigel Bennett

Nigel Bennett is a British-Canadian actor, director, and writer who has been based in Canada since 1986. He is best known for playing the vampire patriarch Lucien LaCroix in the TV series Forever Knight, for which he won the Canadian Gemini Award for best supporting actor in a dramatic series.

J. A. Preston

J. A. Preston

James Allen Preston is a former American actor. Preston is best known for portraying Colonel Randolph in the movie A Few Good Men and for his role as Ozzie Cleveland on the NBC prime-time television series Hill Street Blues.

Harris Yulin

Harris Yulin

Harris Yulin is an American actor who has appeared in over a hundred film and television series roles, such as Scarface (1983), Ghostbusters II (1989), Clear and Present Danger (1994), Looking for Richard (1996), The Hurricane (1999), Training Day (2001), and Frasier which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 1996.

Production

Development

Peter Hyams got the idea to remake the film after happening upon it on late night television. He asked his then employer Paramount Pictures to acquire the rights, although the project later found a home at a different studio.[7] Hyams said: "I didn't think the movie was terrific, but I thought the idea of people being stuck on a train was wonderful."[2] Star Gene Hackman, who had recently starred in another noir reimagining, No Way Out, was attracted to the character's agreable demeanor and the fact he did not shoot anyone throughout the film, which contrasted with the more aggressive types generally shown in adventure films.[2][8] The actor contributed incidental details, such as the glasses and the water pistol squirts during a suspense scene, to underscore that mellow side.[9][10]

Jonathan Zimbert, who started as Hyams' assistant and was eventually promoted all the way to producer, collaborated with his mentor once more.[11] One of the Carolco executives overseeing the project at an early stage was future Derailed director Bob Misiorowski.[12] The film was budgeted between 15 and 20 million during production, with a later estimate coming in at $21 million.[3]

Writing

Due to the lesser popularity of rail travel in the late 1980s, the story was relocated to the Canadian wilderness to justify the lack of alternate transport options, and to make getting off the train appear like a riskier proposition. The Mexican desert was also considered, but due to the passengers' demographics, it was deemed implausible that Archer and Hackman's characters would be able to remain hidden among them for long.[3]

Vancouver Sun reporter Moira Farrow relayed the filmmakers' opinion that "[t]he title Narrow Margin is all that's left of the original movie. The new film [...] has a completely different story and character, so the word remake does not apply."[2] The manner in which they distanced themselves from the original drew the ire of its director Richard Fleischer. The veteran helmer penned a rebuke to the New York Times (who had published a condensed version of the Sun's behind-the-scenes coverage), pointing to the similarities between Hyams' pitch and the film Fleischer had made. He concluded: "How different can two stories get? Tell me, when is a remake not a remake? Maybe it's when the new film costs between $15 million and $20 million to make instead of $188,000."[13]

Train

The train portrayed in the film is The Canadian transcontinental, which has operated since 1955, and serves what is often described as Canada's flagship route between Toronto and Vancouver. However Via Rail, the country's national operator in the film as in real life, backed out of leasing one of its carriages to the producers due to overbooking.[2] Only one of the cars forming the convoy seen in the film actually came from Via Rail. The others came from a Colorado-based company, a Texas collector and provincial operator BC Rail. They were then refurbished and repainted to resemble the real thing.[2][3][14]

Filming

Principal photography began on June 12, 1989, and was reported as complete by Variety in their October 23, 1989 edition.[3] Despite their lived-in look, some of the film's locations were built specifically for the film, such as Carol's mountain cabin and a pair of train stations.[10][15] While Lac des Arcs is a real place in Alberta, there was no railroad stop at that point.[16] The fictional Monashee station, taking its name from the Monashee Mountains, was erected in a locale called Porteau.[14] Some train interiors were also recreated on a set in Vancouver, and mounted on an inflatable platform to create the appropriate swaying motions.[3]

Narrow Margin's climax atop the train was filmed between Howe Sound and Cheakamus Canyon near Squamish in British Columbia. It took three weeks to capture, and could only be filmed a couple hours at a time due to the impossibility of diverting the area's regularly scheduled traffic. The film's stars did perform part of the rooftop scene themselves, being secured by cables concealed under their clothes. According to Hackman, this was the first stunt ever performed by co-star Anne Archer.[17]

Discover more about Production related topics

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production and distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global. It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest film studio in the United States, and the sole member of the "Big Five" film studios located within the city limits of Los Angeles.

Film noir

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 film noir. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key, black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression.

No Way Out (1987 film)

No Way Out (1987 film)

No Way Out is a 1987 American neo-noir political action thriller film directed by Roger Donaldson and starring Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Will Patton, and Sean Young. Howard Duff, George Dzundza, Jason Bernard, Fred Thompson, and Iman appear in supporting roles. The film is based on the 1946 novel The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing, previously filmed as The Big Clock (1948) and Police Python 357 (1976).

Film producer

Film producer

A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, directing, editing, and arranging financing.

Derailed (2002 film)

Derailed (2002 film)

Derailed is a 2002 American-Bulgarian action film directed by Bob Misiorowski, and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Tomas Arana and Laura Harring. Van Damme's son Kristopher van Varenberg also appears as his fictional son. In the story, a secret agent must escort a thief (Harring)—and the bioweapon she has stolen—from Slovakia to Germany, but the agent's unsuspecting family and a dangerous criminal (Arana) end up on the same train as them.

Mexico

Mexico

Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Mexico covers 1,972,550 km2, making it the world's 13th-largest country by area; with a population of over 126 million, it is the 10th-most-populous country and has the most Spanish-speakers. Mexico is organized as a federal republic comprising 31 states and Mexico City, its capital. Other major urban areas include Monterrey, Guadalajara, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, and León.

Desert

Desert

A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the land surface of the Earth is arid or semi-arid. This includes much of the polar regions, where little precipitation occurs, and which are sometimes called polar deserts or "cold deserts". Deserts can be classified by the amount of precipitation that falls, by the temperature that prevails, by the causes of desertification or by their geographical location.

Richard Fleischer

Richard Fleischer

Richard O. Fleischer was an American film director whose career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave.

Behind-the-scenes

Behind-the-scenes

In cinema, behind-the-scenes (BTS), also known as the making-of, the set, or on the set, is a type of documentary film that features the production of a film or television program. This is often referred to as the EPK video, due to its main usage as a promotional tool, either concurrent with theatrical release or as a bonus feature for the film's DVD or Blu-ray release.

The Canadian (train)

The Canadian (train)

The Canadian is a transcontinental passenger train operated by Via Rail with service between Union Station in Toronto, Ontario and Pacific Central Station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

BC Rail

BC Rail

BC Rail is a railway in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Principal photography

Principal photography

Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.

Release

Box office

Narrow Margin opened in the United States on September 21, 1991. It finished in fourth place at the weekend box office with a $3,628,060 tally. By the end of its domestic run, the film had grossed just $10,873,237.[4] In the United Kingdom, the film debuted on January 18, 1991, to what Variety described as another "disappointing" performance.[18] "[The limited success of] Narrow Margin with Anne Archer was a disappointment. It didn't do very well, for whatever reason. It didn't catch on," Hackman later acknowledged.[19]

Home video

Narrow Margin was released on home video by Carolco subsidiary Live Entertainment in the United States on March 21, 1991.[20] The film had more legs in the home market, cracking the top ten of the Billboard rental charts in its third week and staying there for four.[21][22]

For a long time, the DVD released by Optimum Releasing on February 12, 2007 remained the only one with curated special features (other than trailers and production notes) ; it contained an audio commentary by Peter Hyams, B-roll footage, a brief documentary, and soundbites by the cast and crew.[23] On June 30, 2020, Kino Lorber reissued the film on Blu-ray in the U.S. with a new 4K master, containing the previous features from the Optimum DVD and a new commentary from film historian and critic Peter Tonguette.[10]

Festivals

Narrow Margin was shown at November 1990's London Film Festival, ahead of its wide U.K. release two months later.[20] The film was screened as part of a Summer 1991 train film retrospective organized by New York's Museum of Modern Art, entitled "Junction and Journey: Trains and Film".[24]

Discover more about Release related topics

Box office

Box office

A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is frequently used, especially in the context of the film industry, as a metonym for the amount of business a particular production, such as a film or theatre show, receives. The term is also used to refer to a ticket office at an arena or a stadium.

Home video

Home video

Home video is recorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming media. In a different usage, "home video" refers to amateur video recordings, also known as home movies.

Billboard charts

Billboard charts

The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in Billboard magazine. Billboard biz, the online extension of the Billboard charts, provides additional weekly charts, as well as year-end charts. The two most important charts are the Billboard Hot 100 for songs and Billboard 200 for albums, and other charts may be dedicated to a specific genre such as R&B, country, or rock, or they may cover all genres. The charts can be ranked according to sales, streams, or airplay, and for main song charts such as the Hot 100 song chart, all three data are used to compile the charts. For the Billboard 200 album chart, streams and track sales are included in addition to album sales.

DVD

DVD

The DVD is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind of digital data and has been widely used for video programs or formerly for storing software and other computer files as well. DVDs offer significantly higher storage capacity than compact discs (CD) while having the same dimensions. A standard DVD can store up to 4.7 GB of storage, while variants can store up to a maximum of 17.08 GB.

B-roll

B-roll

In film and television production, B-roll, B roll, B-reel or B reel is supplemental or alternative footage intercut with the main shot. The term A-roll, referring to main footage, has fallen out of use.

Kino Lorber

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, such as documentary films, classic films from earlier periods in the history of cinema, and world cinema. In addition to theatrical distribution, Kino Lorber releases films in the home entertainment market and has its own streaming services for its digital library.

Blu-ray

Blu-ray

The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006. It was designed to supersede the DVD format, capable of storing several hours of high-definition video. The main application of Blu-ray is as a medium for video material such as feature films and for the physical distribution of video games for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The name "Blu-ray" refers to the blue laser used to read the disc, which allows information to be stored at a greater density than is possible with the longer-wavelength red laser used for DVDs.

4K resolution

4K resolution

4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 3840 × 2160 is the dominant 4K standard, whereas the movie projection industry uses 4096 × 2160.

Wide release

Wide release

In the American motion picture industry, a wide release is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across the country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical release in which a film opens at a few cinemas in key cities before circulating among cinemas around the country, or a limited release in which a film is booked at fewer cinemas in larger cities in anticipation of lesser commercial appeal. In some cases, a film that sells well in limited release will then "go wide". Since 1994, a wide release in the United States and Canada has been defined by Nielsen EDI as a film released in more than 600 theaters.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 63% based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 6.0/10.[25] On Metacritic it has a score of 53% based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[26] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[27]

Contemporary

Contemporary reviews were mixed. Owen Gleiberman gave the film a middling C. He called it "a thinly scripted procession of train-movie clichés", unfavorably comparing it to Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, but commended Hyams' for the real actors' seemless integration into the dangerous train-top finale.[28] Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times faulted the film for lacking "any sense of richness of character" although she was impressed by the final sequence and Archer's involvement in it.[29] Chris Hicks of the Deseret News lauded Peter Hyams' "skill as a director of action sequences" and, like Gleiberman, applauded the absence of stunt doubles in some of the finale's best moments. However he criticized "implausible behavior" on the part of Hackman and Archer's characters, concluding: "[t]o say all of this is contrived is to understate."[30] The Chicago Sun-Times' Roger Ebert delivered perhaps the most negative opinion, simply refusing to buy the film's central premise. He deemed it an example of "'The Idiot Plot' [which] is any plot that would be resolved in five minutes if everyone in the story were not an idiot." He gave the film one and a half star out of four.[31]

Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle was more accomodating, writing that "Narrow Margin has a couple of moments of unabashed hokeyness and some predictable turns of plot, but considering that it's designed to do nothing more than provide escapist fare for 97 minutes, and that there are a dozen surprise twists, it hardly seems to matter."[32] Tom Tunney of Empire called the film a "sometimes witty time-filler" with a "well handled finale", although he did not think it lived up to the original's "genuine sense of confined menace".[6] One of the film's least likely defenders was the usually acerbic Desson Howe of the Washington Post. Despite a reliance on artificial plot devices, he judged that some—such as the absence of a phone on the train—served their purpose, and summed up the film as "fun to watch, fun to indulge in".[33] Hal Lipper of the St. Petersburg Times, who had disliked The Presidio, hailed Narrow Margin as "a crackling good thriller" and "a deeply satisfying yarn", harkening back to a time where movies "care[d] more about characters than pyrotechnics or double-digit body counts".[34]

Retrospective

Retrospective reviews have been largely positive. While acknowledging "a hackneyed storyline" that was neither "uplifting" nor "original", Mike Cumming of AllMovie said "once the action starts, it's hard to stop watching it".[1] Brian Wester of Apollo Movie Guide praised "a sharp and concise script and a solid performance by Hackman and his supporting players".[37] Tyler Foster of DVD Talk called the film a "pretty straightforward, effective thriller". He praised "the skill of Hyams' filmmaking" as well as his efforts to give Hackman "a range of tones to play", contrasting with his harder edged characters such as Popeye Doyle.[38]

Rob Hunter of Slashfilm considered it "every bit as thrilling" as the original, with "fine character work" and "solid action beats".[39] Matthew Hartman of High Def Digest agreed, saying "With only a few stumbles, Narrow Margin holds up well to repeat viewings even after a number of the great twists and turns have been exposed."[40] Matt Holmes of WhatCulture called it "a pretty fine job" and "easily [Hyams'] most accomplished work".[5] Svet Atanasov of Blu-ray.com praised its "truly relentless tempo", marred only by "sporadic splashes of light humor that feel entirely unnecessary", concluding that it was "an otherwise outstanding film".[41]

Discover more about Reception related topics

Rotten Tomatoes

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. Although the name "Rotten Tomatoes" connects to the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes in disapproval of a poor stage performance, the original inspiration comes from a scene featuring tomatoes in the Canadian film Léolo (1992).

Metacritic

Metacritic

Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged. Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts in 1999, and is owned by Fandom, Inc. as of 2023.

CinemaScore

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.

Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for Variety magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with Peter Debruge. Previously, Gleiberman wrote for Entertainment Weekly from 1990 until 2014. From 1981 to 1989, he wrote for The Phoenix.

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 feature films, many of which are still widely watched and studied today. Known as the "Master of Suspense", he became as well known as any of his actors thanks to his many interviews, his cameo roles in most of his films, and his hosting and producing the television anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–65). His films garnered 46 Academy Award nominations, including six wins, although he never won the award for Best Director despite five nominations.

Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times, abbreviated as LA Times, is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the Los Angeles suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States. The publication has won more than 40 Pulitzer Prizes. It is owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and published by the Times Mirror Company. The newspaper's coverage has evolved more recently away from U.S. and international headlines and toward emphasizing California and especially Southern California stories.

Deseret News

Deseret News

The Deseret News is the oldest continuously operating publication in the American west. Its multi-platform products feature journalism and commentary across the fields of politics, culture, family life, faith, sports, and entertainment. The Deseret News is based in Salt Lake City, Utah and is published by Deseret News Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The publication's name is from the geographic area of Deseret identified by Utah's pioneer settlers, and much of the publication's reporting is rooted in that region.

Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago Sun-Times

The Chicago Sun-Times is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the Chicago Tribune. The modern paper grew out of the 1948 merger of the Chicago Sun and the Chicago Daily Times. Journalists at the paper have received eight Pulitzer prizes, mostly in the 1970s; one recipient was film critic Roger Ebert (1975), who worked at the paper from 1967 until his death in 2013. Long owned by the Marshall Field family, since the 1980s ownership of the paper has changed hands numerous times, including twice in the late 2010s.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert

Roger Joseph Ebert was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun-Times said Ebert "was without question the nation's most prominent and influential film critic," and Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called him "the best-known film critic in America."

San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle

The San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The paper is owned by the Hearst Corporation, which bought it from the de Young family in 2000. It is the only major daily paper covering the city and county of San Francisco.

Empire (magazine)

Empire (magazine)

Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. The first issue was published in May 1989.

AllMovie

AllMovie

AllMovie is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. As of 2015, AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne.

Soundtrack

The film's score was composed and produced by Bruce Broughton, who returned from The Presidio. It was performed by the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Broughton.[36] The soundtrack was not issued upon the film's release. Select tracks appeared on a 1999 Intrada Records compilation of various Broughton scores called Sounds Exciting.[42] A more complete version eventually appeared on CD as part of Intrada's Special Collection in 2004.[36][35] The score's creation was a bumpy ride, as some tracks were rejected by Hyams, who Broughton described as "very demanding".[43][44][45]

Discover more about Soundtrack related topics

Film score

Film score

A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to enhance the dramatic narrative and the emotional impact of the scene in question. Scores are written by one or more composers under the guidance of or in collaboration with the film's director or producer and are then most often performed by an ensemble of musicians – usually including an orchestra or band, instrumental soloists, and choir or vocalists – known as playback singers – and recorded by a sound engineer. The term is less frequently applied to music written for other media such as live theatre, television and radio programs, and video games, and said music is typically referred to as either the soundtrack or incidental music.

Bruce Broughton

Bruce Broughton

Bruce Harold Broughton is an American orchestral composer of television, film, and video game scores and concert works. He has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career and has contributed many pieces to music archives, including the 1994 version of the 20th Century Fox fanfare, and conducting the Cinergi Pictures logo composed by Jerry Goldsmith. He has won ten Emmy Awards and has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score. Broughton is currently a lecturer in composition at UCLA.

Hollywood Symphony Orchestra

Hollywood Symphony Orchestra

The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra (HSO) is a large scale American symphony orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. Its founder was John Scott and its current Principal Conductor and consulting producer is John Everett Beal. The HSO is dedicated to performing classic, contemporary and world premiere media scores, and comprises recording musicians from the Hollywood movie studios and the Los Angeles concert scene.

Intrada Records

Intrada Records

Compilation album

Compilation album

A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for release together as a single work, but may be collected together as a greatest hits album or box set. If the recordings are from several artists, there may be a theme, topic, time period, or genre which links the tracks, or they may have been intended for release as a single work—such as a tribute album. When the tracks are by the same recording artist, the album may be referred to as a retrospective album or an anthology.

Source: "Narrow Margin", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 25th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrow_Margin.

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Further Reading

Gene Hackman

The Conversation

Hoosiers (film)

The French Connection (film)

Bound for Glory (1976 film)

Ordinary People

Mississippi Burning

Young Frankenstein

Lost in Space (film)

Amazing Stories (1985 TV series)

Outland (film)

The Narrow Margin

Stay Tuned (film)

Sudden Death (1995 film)

The Star Chamber

The Hard Way (1991 film)

Company Business

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009 film)
References
  1. ^ a b c d Rasmussen, Linda; Cummings, Mike. "Narrow Margin (1990)". allmovie.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Farrow, Moira (September 10, 1989). "'Narrow Margin' Finds Its Route". New York Times. p. A–14.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Narrow Margin (1990)". afi.com. American Film Institute. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Narrow Margin (1990)". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Holmes, Matt (June 25, 2008). "Michael Douglas toplines Beyond a Reasonable Doubt remake". whatculture.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Tunney, Tom (January 1991). "Narrow Margin Review". Empire. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  7. ^ "Quality, quantity collide in Gene". Vancouver Sun. June 10, 1989. p. H6.
  8. ^ "No guns to shoot: Hackman's happy in his new role". Montreal Gazette. Canadian Press. June 10, 1989. p. H-8.
  9. ^ "Gene Hackman: He Blazes a Hollywood Trail So Hot He Has to Cool It". deseret.com. Associated Press. October 30, 1990. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  10. ^ a b c Hyams, Peter (director) (June 30, 2020) [February 12, 2007]. Narrow Margin. Blu-ray commentary (Media notes). New York: Kino Lorber. UPC 738329247508.
  11. ^ Rowlands, Paul (2016). "An Interview with Peter Hyams (Part 2 of 2)". money-into-light.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  12. ^ "Bob Misiorowski – About Bob". misiorowski.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2005.
  13. ^ Fleischer, Richard (June 14, 1991). "'Narrow Margin'; Plot Twists". New York Times. p. 2–3.
  14. ^ a b Dutka, George (February 22, 2018). "Throwback Thursday: Via Rail Canada SD40-2 No. 757?".
  15. ^ Muller, Christopher (ed.). "Train Movies and Railroad Films on DVD and Blu-ray". railserve.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  16. ^ Gurtner, Manuel (July 3, 2007). "Narrow Margin". Eisenbahn im Film – Rail Movies (in German). Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  17. ^ Champlin, Charles (October 2, 1990). "Gene Hackman: The Portrayal as Portraiture". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  18. ^ Pitman, Jack (January 28, 1991). "'Rookie' not capturing U.K. auds". Variety. p. 53.
  19. ^ Davis, Chuck (March 3, 1991). "Gene Hackman Not Ready to Retire". The Okhlahoman. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  20. ^ a b "Narrow Margin". tcm.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  21. ^ "Top Video Rentals". Billboard Magazine. New York: BPI Communications. April 21, 1991. p. 53. ISSN 0006-2510.
  22. ^ "Top Video Rentals". Billboard Magazine. New York: BPI Communications. May 18, 1991. p. 68. ISSN 0006-2510.
  23. ^ "Narrow Margin (1990): Releases". blu-ray.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  24. ^ Van Gelder, Lawrence (June 14, 1991). "At the Movies". New York Times. p. C–6.
  25. ^ "Narrow Margin". Rotten Tomatoes.
  26. ^ "Narrow Margin (1990)". Metacritic.
  27. ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  28. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (September 28, 1990). "Narrow Margin". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  29. ^ Benson, Sheila (September 21, 1990). "Movie Review : Narrow Margin's Thrill Is During Its Train-Top Chase". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  30. ^ Hicks, Chris (September 24, 1990). "Film review: Narrow Margin". Deseret News. Salt Lake City. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  31. ^ Ebert, Roger (September 21, 1990). "Narrow Margin". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  32. ^ Stack, Peter (September 21, 1990). "'Narrow Margin': Thriller Right on Track". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  33. ^ Howe, Desson (September 21, 1990). "'Narrow Margin' (R)". Washington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  34. ^ Liper, Hal (September 21, 1990). "Track Down a Danger Train". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  35. ^ a b ""Narrow Margin" Soundtrack Released By Intrada Records". brucebroughton.com. June 28, 2004. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  36. ^ a b c d "Narrow Margin – Intrada (Special Collection Volume 14)". soundtrack.net. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  37. ^ Webster, Brian (December 20, 2005). "Narrow Margin". Apollo Movie Guide. Archived from the original on December 20, 2005.
  38. ^ Foster, Tyler (June 30, 2020). "Narrow Margin (1990)". dvdtalk.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  39. ^ Hunter, Rob (November 15, 2017). "The Best Train Movies You've Probably Never Seen". slashfilm.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  40. ^ Hartman, Matthew (July 7, 2020). "Narrow Margin". highdefdigest.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  41. ^ Atanasov, Svet (July 4, 2020). "Narrow Margin Blu-ray Review". blu-ray.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  42. ^ "Sounds Exciting – Intrada (CD 4002)". soundtrack.net. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  43. ^ "Narrow Margin: Editorial Review". filmtracks.com. October 14, 2011. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  44. ^ Broughton, Bruce; Sikoryak, Joe (May 25, 2004). Narrow Margin (CD liner notes). Oakland: Intrada Records. Special Collection 14.
  45. ^ Fernández, Iván; Saiz, Julia; Nieto, Pablo. "Interview with Bruce Broughton". bsospirit.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
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