Gene Hackman Stars In This Pulse-Pounding ‘90s Thriller [The Overlooked Motel]
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Today on The Overlooked Motel, we’re reflecting on Narrow Margin, a forgotten ‘90s thriller starring the late, great Gene Hackman and Fatal Attraction’s Anne Archer. The film, which is a loose remake of the 1952 picture The Narrow Margin, is effectively paced, hitting the ground running and delivering nonstop thrills until the final frame rolls.
Hackman is in fine form, turning in an impressive performance as Caulfield, a deputy district attorney tasked with protecting a witness to a mob hit. Hackman is scripted as an archetypal desperado who doesn’t like to play by the rules. But the actor makes the character his own, imbuing Caulfield with a certain boyish charm and a smarmy sense of humor that would almost certainly be off-putting with a less engaging actor playing the role.
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The witness in question is Carol (Archer), an editor at a major publishing house who reluctantly agrees to go on a blind date at the behest of a friend, only to see her would-be paramour (J. T. Walsh), a shady attorney, taken out by notorious mobster Leo Watts (Harris Yulin). Archer comes across as believably terrified, yet still plenty firm in her convictions and disinterested in taking any crap from anyone.
When Carol flees to a cabin in the middle of the Canadian wilderness, Caulfield sets out to find her, with designs on compelling the reluctant witness to testify against the notoriously slippery Watts. Carol initially has zero interest in cooperating with Caufield, yet when armed mafiosos show up at the cabin with deadly designs, she flees the scene in his company, and the two board a train, hoping to evade detection. However, the duo quickly discovers that some of their fellow passengers have connections to Watts and are all too eager to ensure that Carol never has the chance to testify against him.
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We’ve seen similar setups plenty of times before, yet Narrow Margin manages to set itself apart from the pack by executing on a familiar premise more effectively than most. The flick gets quite a few things right. Not the least of which is setting the bulk of the action on a train, which adds a claustrophobic element to the setup that ups the ante. There’s a thrilling cat-and-mouse dynamic at play that leads to a number of harrowing exchanges throughout. Writer/director Peter Hyams (who would later go on to direct the action horror film End of Days) smartly sets up the proceedings with the mob enforcers making Caulfield, but unaware of what Carol looks like. That creates the perfect balance, giving the antagonists a slight upper hand, without tipping the scales too far in one direction or the other.
The flick unfolds frantically as Carol and Caulfield bounce back and forth between train compartments in a valiant effort to avoid detection (and death). One might be tempted to draw parallels to North by Northwest here, courtesy of the train-based intrigue. With that said, the film on which this is based actually bowed before North by Northwest. Not to mention, Narrow Margin sets itself apart in a number of ways. Perhaps most importantly, there’s no romantic subplot.
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Hackman and Archer have great screen chemistry. They play well off of one another, initially both expressing mutual disdain. Yet they ultimately come to care about and appreciate one another throughout the course of their time together. Fortunately, Hyams resists shoehorning a romance into the proceedings where one isn’t needed. I’m glad. This is a cat-and-mouse thriller where both leads are on the run from mob enforcers from roughly the 20-minute mark all the way through to the denouement. Not only would trying to force a connection between Hackman and Archer seem preposterous, but it would also likely feel forced. They are a mismatch in almost every way, with their characters sharing very little common ground. Not to mention, Hackman is nearly 20 years older than Archer, which could well have made any attempts to bring them together in a scenario where he’s tasked with protecting her feel almost predatory.
Lack of romantic entanglements aside, I also connect with the way the film delivers a couple of twists that aren’t quite as obvious as they might have been in less capable hands. Escapist thrillers of this ilk commonly feature a plot twist, often one that’s overly predictable and obvious well before it’s formally revealed. While Narrow Margin surely follows the pattern of including a couple of surprise reveals near the onset of the third act, the ultimate revelations are handled with more nuance here than one might expect. It’s hard to discuss the twists featured within without spoiling all of the surprises for the uninitiated, so I’ll simply resign myself to saying that we learn a couple of somewhat surprising lessons about where certain loyalties lie. Thankfully, the eventual discoveries are thoughtfully executed in a manner that may just subvert audience expectations.
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Overall, Narrow Margin is a stellar example of escapist entertainment done well. Though the film doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it still executes rather effectively on familiar themes. Both leads deliver solid showings; the twists, while perhaps not revolutionary, are still well disguised enough to avoid being blatantly obvious, and the pacing is consistently on point. I consider this one of my favorite escapist thrillers from the ‘90s, and I suspect anyone with similar tastes will find plenty to enjoy about Narrow Margin.
Although the film isn’t available to stream anywhere, it is available for digital rental. Or, better yet, you can pick up a copy on physical media. In fact, Kino Lorber recently put the flick out on 4K.
That’s all for this installment of The Overlooked Motel. If you would like to chat more about under-seen and underrated films, feel free to hit me up with your thoughts on Twitter, Threads, or Instagram.
Categorized: Editorials The Overlook Motel
