Download Watch Movies

Year: 1952
Director: Richard Fleischer

Cast:

Charles McGraw (Det. Sgt. Walter Brown), Marie Windsor (Mrs. Frankie Neal), Jacqueline White (Ann Sinclair), Gordon Gebert (Tommy Sinclair), Queenie Leonard (Mrs. Troll), David Clarke (Joseph Kemp), Peter Virgo (Densel), Don Beddoe (Det. Sgt. Gus Forbes), Paul Maxey (Sam Jennings), Harry Harvey (Train Conductor), Peter Brocco (Vincent Yost (uncredited)), Ivan Browning (Waiter (uncredited)), George Chandler (Accomplice Running Newsstand (uncredited)), James Conaty (Tenant in Apartment House Hallway (uncredited)), Don Dillaway (Reporter (uncredited)), Franklyn Farnum (Club Car Extra (uncredited)), Don Haggerty (Det. Wilson (uncredited)), Clarence Hargrave (Waiter (uncredited)), Bobby Johnson (Redcap (uncredited)), Milton Kibbee (Tenant (uncredited))

Storyline:

Back in 1952, during the waning days of film noir, director Richard Fleischer made The Narrow Margin, a cheaply produced, tightly structured B movie thriller about a cop forced to protect a gangster's widow while on a train. While it's no work of art, Fleischer's noir features a shocking climax of mistaken identity, an ominous, claustrophobic atmosphere, and tough, nearly unlikable protagonists screwed by fate, who spout sharp-witted dialogue and feel little more than contempt for each other. When Hollywood remakes itself, all the understatement and charm is usually lost when the filmmakers try to "modernize" the subject matter. This is one of many problems with writer-director Peter Hyams's remake (given the slightly shorter title Narrow Margin). He's dumped the surprising plot twist (it's now an action set piece atop a moving train) and softened the characters (now played with sleepwalking intensity by Gene Hackman and Anne Archer) with preposterous motivations. All that seems to be intact is the train premise, but Hyams is more interested in its action potential than any kind of menacing atmosphere. He's dropped the ambiguous relationships and smart dialogue in favor of pumping up the action sequences and daredevil stunts to ridiculous levels. Instead of adding excitement, all Hyams's expensive tricks do is drain Narrow Margin of any tension it might've retained from the original. - Dave McCoy

Reviews:


----------------