30 YEARS ON: AN UNDERRATED CLASSIC

If you haven’t watched this film yet, let the fact that it’s just about 30 years since its release inspire you to check it out. Or check it out again.

Narrow Margin was a slick and effective Peter Hyams film, starring Gene Hackman.

Synopsis: Robert Caulfield (Gene Hackman), a Los Angeles deputy district attorney and a former Marine who fought in Vietnam, is attempting to take Carol Hunnicut (Anne Archer), an unwilling murder witness, back to the United States from Canada to testify against a top-level mob boss. Frantically attempting to escape two deadly hit men sent to silence her, they board a Vancouver-bound train only to find the killers are on board with them. For the next 20 hours, as the train hurtles through the beautiful but isolated Canadian wilderness, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues in which their ability to tell friend from foe is a matter of life and death.

Of the film, Hyams said: “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.”

The film was a box office bomb and received tepid reviews.  But don’t let those fool you — it even has J.T. Walsh in it!