Directed by: Peter Hyams
Starring: Gene Hackman
Anne Archer
Released: 1990
Length: 99 minutes
Rated R for language and violence.

'Narrow Margin' starts out quiet enough, but the haunting, background music by Bruce Broughton is a promise of things to come.

Anne Archer plays a woman who goes on a 'blind date' (with J. T. Walsh) that is set up by a well-meaning friend. During the course of the evening, she witnesses his murder by a prominent mob boss. (This is where the movie title comes in: There's a narrow margin between the witness and the victim.)

Gene Hackman is the L.A. D.A. (Los Angeles District Attorney), who tries to convince her to testify against this guy, but in the process, he endangers her life even more.

To escape the hit men, the 2 hitch a train through the Canadian wilderness (yep, the D.A.'s idea), only to learn that the professional killers caught the same train. It becomes a jab-and-dodge, ropey dope strategy to survive.

Anne Archer has always played a victim with class. (Fatal Attraction, Patriot Games) and Narrow Margin is no exception. It's as if she knows that audiences would like to join the villains in getting rid of stupid heroines, and thereby refuses to participate in such carnage. She brings cool logic and compressed fear to the situation that draws reluctant admiration from her 'bodyguard'.

(We can, by the way, easily add her to our list of underrated, unappreciated actresses of our time, along with Diane Lane and Caroline Goodall.)

Gene Hackman appears as the big-mouth D. A. who's buzzing the train with a problem and a quest. Hackman walks through this part with his usual satirical flair, topped with a lemon twist of humor.

James B. Sikking (Hill Street Blues) is most enjoyable as a calm, collected, cowboy-boot-clad hit man, who loves his business.

You could easily enjoy the 96 minutes it takes to get to the final, courtroom scene and a thoroughly, satisfying ending.