Narrow Margin
Short description
Carol Hunnicut, an editor recovering from a divorce, agrees to a blind date with a lawyer named Michael Tarlow. The evening goes wrong when she witnesses Tarlow being killed by men connected to the crime boss Leo Watts, a client of his. Frightened for her life, Carol hides out alone in a remote mountain area. Robert Caulfield, an assistant district attorney, tracks her down, but she refuses to testify. When Watts's people close in, Caulfield persuades her to travel with him by train toward a distant part of Canada, unaware that the killers have found out where they are. During the long journey through isolated wilderness, they cannot tell who among the passengers means them harm.
Peter Hyams directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Earl Felton. The film is the eighth of the seventeen features he has directed, following The Presidio and preceding Stay Tuned. Gene Hackman plays Caulfield and Anne Archer plays Carol, with James B. Sikking, Harris Yulin, J.T. Walsh and M. Emmet Walsh in supporting roles. It was produced by Carolco Pictures on a budget of eighteen million dollars.
Released in September 1990, the film earned about eleven million dollars worldwide, less than its production cost. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.4 out of 10 from 241 votes, while a critics' score of 6 out of 10 comes from 16 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- In different scenes, the helicopter that brings Gene Hackman's and M. Emmet Walsh's characters to the cabin shows different windows near the tail section—they are sometimes flat and sliding to the side, and other times completely stationary and convex.
- The movie trailer reveals what happens to the character played by M. Emmet Walsh (who played Sergeant Dominic Benti).
- The film's protagonist, played by Gene Hackman, is named Robert Colfield—director Peter Hyams had a manager by that name during his time working in television. This same name was borne by Elliott Gould's character in the 1977 dramatic thriller 'Capricorn One,' which was also directed and written by Peter Hyams.
- The film was shot in the Canadian province of British Columbia, where railroad tracks and a station were specially constructed for the production. The train consisted of an SD40-2 diesel freight locomotive and 12 passenger cars, rented from a private owner and painted accordingly. In some scenes (specifically when crossing rivers), a model train was used.
- The cabin shown at the beginning of the film was specially constructed for the shoot. Director and screenwriter Peter Hyams ordered it to be built on a mountaintop while it was still covered in snow. Soon after, the snow melted, revealing that the cabin was sitting on a huge pile of garbage, which had to be cleared away before filming could continue.
- As the helicopter with the protagonist on board approaches the cabin, differences in the outdoor scenery can be noticed—alternating between snow-covered mountain peaks without trees and dense forests.
- The shadows of the characters in the final showdown on the roof of the train car vary in length across different shots. Specifically, in one shot, the shadow cast by the villain reaches the rocks that the train is speeding past. In the very next shot, the shadow he casts is noticeably shorter and does not extend beyond the roof.
- The idea for his character to wear glasses came to Gene Hackman himself.
- A significant portion of the filmed scenes featuring the helicopter chase and the start of the train journey was later used in Jim Wynorski's action movie 'Drop Zone' (2001), starring Treat Williams.
- Director and screenwriter Peter Hyams spent a long time searching for a cinema classic that would be suitable for a remake. Eventually, he chose the film noir 'The Narrow Margin' (1952) by Richard Fleischer and William Cameron Menzies.
- Filming took place in Canada from June 12 to October 1989.
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