No Trailer Available

Carolco Pictures

Not part of a collection.

Narrow Margin

Name: Narrow Margin
Released: 1990-09-21T00:00:00.000000Z
Rating: 6.4

It will take you to the edge of suspense.

1990 • 97 min • ★ 6.4 (241) • Released

Action Crime Mystery Thriller

An L.A. District Attorney attempts to take an unwilling murder witness back to the United States to testify against a top-level mob boss. Frantically attempting to escape two deadly hitmen sent to silence her, they board a Vancouver-bound train only to discover that the killers are onboard with them. For the next 20 hours, as the train hurls 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.

IMDb ↗

Original title: Narrow Margin
Language: EN
Country: US
Budget: $17,500,000
Revenue: $10,900,000

Reviews & Ratings 2

JPV852

Sep 29, 2025 · via TMDB

★ 7.0

Second time watching this and still a solid thriller with a great finale that, save for one shot, looked practical which was great and today would've been done with visual effects. Good performances from Hackman and Archer and at only 94-minutes, a quick but entertaining way to spend a weekend night. **3.5/5**

John Chard

Dec 1, 2014 · via TMDB

★ 6.5

Narrow Margins and Wide Loads. Director and writer Peter Hyams took the bold decision to reimage one of the best film noir crime pictures of the 1950s, and all things considered it’s not half bad. Without getting close to the greatness of Richard Fleischer’s 1952 claustrophobic suspenser that is. Having Gene Hackman and Anne Archer heading up your two principal characters is a good foundation. As the district attorney employee and witness to a mob killing respectively, both actors come up trumps for their director as they are thrust into a game of cat and mouse aboard a speeding train. As the Canadian wilderness outside the train’s windows soothes the eyes, the cramped interiors make for good suspense as Hackman plays the calm to Archer’s panic. There’s nothing new here in terms of thriller conventions, and the pitfalls and familiarity of the plot’s ideas keep it from hitting better heights: people still do dumb things – important details are all too quickly swept aside – laws of gravity non existent and etc. But refreshingly Hyams resists the chance to insert a cloying romance, while his staging of suspense scenes are very well handled. But of course he’s got Hackman being as cool as a cucumber. 6.5/10

User reviews courtesy of TMDB.

Keywords 3

jump from train night train witness protection

Buy

Amazon Video

Apple TV Store

Google Play Movies

YouTube

Fandango At Home

Rent

Amazon Video

Apple TV Store

Fandango At Home

Cast 16

Gene Hackman

Robert Caulfield

Anne Archer

Carol Hunnicut

James B. Sikking

Nelson

Harris Yulin

Leo Watts

J.T. Walsh

Michael Tarlow

M. Emmet Walsh

Sergeant Dominick Benti

Susan Hogan

Kathryn Weller

Nigel Bennett

Jack Wootton

J.A. Preston

Martin Larner

Codie Lucas Wilbee

Nicholas

Antony Holland

Elderly Man

Kevin McNulty

James Dahlbeck

Lesley Ewen

Larner's Secretary

Robert Rozen

Dining Car Waiter

Tom McBeath

Conductor #2

Ron Cummins

Hotel Valet

Crew 19

Peter Hyams

Director of Photography

John Hyams

Grip

Ellen Mirojnick

Costume Design

Glenn R. Wilder

Stunt Coordinator

Scott Wilder

Stunt Coordinator

Melissa R. Stubbs

Stunt Double

Doc Duhame

Stunts

Scott Nicholson

Stunts

Peter Hyams

Director

Andrew G. Vajna

Executive Producer

Mario Kassar

Executive Producer

Karen Baker Landers

Assistant Sound Editor

Gary A. Hecker

Foley Artist

Doc Kane

Foley Mixer

Bruce Broughton

Original Music Composer

Kevin Hearst

Sound Editor

Scott Martin Gershin

Sound Editor

Wylie Stateman

Supervising Sound Editor

Peter Hyams

Writer

Gallery

Videos

Similar Movies

The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980

★ 8.9 1992

The Korean from Seoul

Strangers on a Train

The Train

The Silent One

Night Train to Munich

The 39 Steps

Bullitt

The Chase

Before Your Father Finds Us

Footsteps in the Fog

Madame Tutli-Putli

The Tall Target

Bad Boys

Emperor of the North

Human Desire

Mission of Justice

The Client

Breakheart Pass

F/X

Cohen and Tate

The Gauntlet

The Grifters

The Manchurian Candidate

Visible Secret

The Family

Sleep, My Love

The Great Locomotive Chase

The Clouded Yellow

Anthony Zimmer

Eraser: Reborn

Blackout

Berlin Express

We're No Angels

Blues in the Night

Madea's Witness Protection

My Blue Heaven

Eraser

Illusive Tracks

Night Is the Time for Killing

★ 6.0 1975

Nowhere to Hide

★ 6.0 1994

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later

★ 6.0 1998

Our Lips Are Sealed

★ 6.0 2000

Murder Is My Beat

★ 6.0 1955

The Man Who Watched Trains Go By

The Old Dark House

Hiding Out

Short Cut to Hell

Experiment Perilous

The Girl on the Train

Hit & Run

Hot Pursuit

Kiss of Death

Last Train to Freo

Flaxy Martin

Fall

Finders Keepers

On the Night of the Fire

Route 666

Maternal Instinct

Nowhere Land

Avalanche Express

The Dawn Rider

Night Ride

Recommended

Hunting Season

Frank and Penelope

Barron's Cove

Grindhouse

Hostile Takeover

Harry Brown

Blindfire

Trap House

Farewell, My Lovely

Colombiana

Savaged

Awake

Coffy

Red Right Hand

Close Range

War

The Dogs

Rise of the Footsoldier 3

★ 6.4 2017

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

State Property

The Commuter

Security

Accident Man

6 Bullets

The Substitute 2: School's Out

The International

The Killer

The Infernal Machine

Stretch

Cotton Comes to Harlem

Eraser: Reborn

Misdirection

Shade

God Is a Bullet

The Dream Team

Night of the Hunted

A Good Woman Is Hard to Find

★ 6.1 2019

Murphy's Law

★ 6.1 1986

Rampage: Capital Punishment

Black Site

Stowaway

The Courier

Black Caesar

Until Death

Money Train

Night Train

Ca$h

Brake

The Double

American Yakuza

SAS: Red Notice

In the Blood

Walking Tall: Lone Justice

★ 5.8 2007

Squealer

★ 5.8 2023

White Elephant

★ 5.8 2022

US Release Dates 2

Sep 21, 1990

R Theatrical

Nov 10, 1998

R Physical