Synopsis:

Anne Archer plays a woman who unwittingly witnesses a mob hit. Desperate to stay in hiding & avoid all possible connections with the murdered man, she retreats to a Canadian mountain top. However, her attempts prove to be in vain as an Los Angeles District Attorney, played by Gene Hackman, shows up on her doorstep. If "he" could find her, the mobsters definitely could, and so they do. Their race to freedom takes them through the countryside of Canada & ends up on a Vancouver-bound train. All efforts to shake the hit men prove fruitless as they are followed systematically through each car and then tracked from stateroom to stateroom until a climactic rooftop confrontation occurs. Who will win in this dangerous game of Cat & Mouse? Only time will tell in this narrow margin between life & death, justice & chaos.

Audio:

The audio for the feature is presented in Dolby 2.0 surround. Given the lack of any special audio effects, the audio as presented is sufficient for this dialogue driven film. The gunfire & track noise of the train do provide an element of audio effect but with the 2.0 platform, it's just lumped together with the dialogue. Nothing special here.

Video:

The widescreen presentation of Narrow Margin is generally clean however, there are a fair amount of transfer errors. Namely, dirt, pixelation in the darker scenes, scratches & flecks throughout the print. Not distracting enough to deter you from watching the film but, Annoying all the same. Admittedly, this is an older film & it has not been kept in the best of condition. Overall, it's very watchable but, those are transfer errors that needed to be noted.

Extras:

Artisan generally releases some pretty packed discs. Narrow Margin however was not produced as well as some of their other titles. I remember seeing interviews with Hackman & Archer when this was released. Sadly, they didn't make it onto the disc either. What did make it was the theatrical trailer for the film, which is presented in full frame & is in pretty poor condition. Static production notes on Peter Hyamns decision to have the actors provide their own stunts on top of the train as well as his decision to film the movie in the beautiful wilderness of Canada. Cast & Crew information is also included & it is equally static.

Overall:

Narrow margin is a very good thriller! It's rather dated in it's style & execution but Hackman & Archer put forth great performances. James Sikking puts in a slimy performance as a hitman & comes across sufficiently menacing. It was good to see old "Howard" back in action (Hill Street Blues fans will understand!) In any event Narrow Margin is an unexpected treat!