Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

This film is made in Alfred Hitchcock's spirit. Carol Hunnicut (Anne Archer) is the only witness to a brutal murder. She becomes frightened and dare not tell anyone what she has seen. Robert Caulfield played by Gene Hackmann wants to find her so that the killer can be sentenced. But he is not the only one who seeks her. Rented killers is also looking for her. This is the beginning of this exciting movie, which has both action scenes, are dramatic and exciting to watch. Anne Archer plays convincingly as a scared witness, who does not want to come forward, but is forced to take a stand. Gene Hackmann is always good, convincing and fearless in this movie. I do not quite understand the relative low score here, I think the movie is a good one and is as exciting now as was when it came out in 1990.

In L.A., Carol Hunnicut (Anne Archer) goes on a blind date. She witnesses mobster Leo Watts kill his date which is actually a mob lawyer. She is unseen in the bathroom. Police detective Dominick Benti (M. Emmet Walsh) discovers Carol's fingerprints. Deputy district attorney Robert Caulfield (Gene Hackman) disobeys his superior and fly to Carol's remote cabin in Canada with Benti. Another helicopter arrives with mob hit men. They kill Benti and Caulfield escapes with Hunnicut. They climb on a train from the remote Alberta location heading for Vancouver.I don't completely buy Gene Hackman in this semi-action movie. He is an everyman kind of actor. Putting him in an action movie sometimes work. There are a few unbelievable moments. The action starts with a helicopter unable to stop a pick-up truck going through the woods. I expect those kinds of scenes from Schwarzenegger or Sly. It's a little odd in a Gene Hackman movie. I really wish the bad guys were in a truck and the truck crashed chasing them down the mountain. That would keep the action in realm of reality. This is an OK straight forward action movie on a train.

(Credit IMDb) A woman secretly witnesses the murder of her blind date for the evening by a top Mafia boss. She immediately goes into hiding without informing the authorities. When they finally catch up with her, she is unwilling to testify to what she has seen, but the Mafia are on her trail. Accompanied by a deputy district attorney, the woman boards a train travelling through a remote part of Canada. The Mafia know him but they have never seen her.Come on! It's Gene Hackman. Do you really need much more of a recommendation? It's rather derivative and nothing all that special, but Hackman can make the dullest of things come to life. With any other lead actor, this movie would have probably been very mediocre. With his presence, it becomes above average. I was surprised about the decent amount of suspense as well. Anne Archer makes for a great heroine, while the two Walsh's are solid as well. I've never seen the original, but I personally enjoyed this6.3/10

Carol Hunnicut inadvertently witnesses a mob hit, and her testimony can convict a very powerful gangster. Deputy district attorney Robert Caulfield is determined to put her on the stand and flies to a remote location in Canada where she is hiding out, but it's not long before the mob are on their trail. Frantically, they board a large passenger train going to Vancouver, but will they ever get off the train alive …This is a taut, dependable thriller; nothing special, but there isn't a dull scene anywhere and crucially Hyams has real gift for the rhythm of his movies - scenes flow effortlessly together and the atmosphere of tension is sustained from start to finish. The material is familiar but the execution is first rate, and reliable Hackman is the perfect anchor around which the film is built, an action hero without macho posturing or moralistic superiority. The film is as interesting when he's quietly negotiating with the bad guys as when they're chasing him in a helicopter, and that's the way it should be. There's also a terrific score by Bruce Broughton with a creepy four note piano motif, and fabulous stuntwork by Glenn Wilder - the finale atop the train is one of those rare scenes where the actors really look like they are in danger. A remake of the classic 1952 Richard Fleischer/Earl Felton film noir The Narrow Margin, this script isn't quite as clever (in the original the woman is the mobster's widow and there's a clever identity twist), but still has some surprises in store. Produced by Carolco Pictures (They Live, Shocker), with exteriors shot in beautiful British Columbia, this is a bad movie to be in if you're an actor called Walsh - both of them get killed in the first twenty minutes !