The Thin Blue Line
The Thin Blue Line

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- 80/100 based on 25,291 votes

Errol Morris's unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas, Texas. Briefly, a drifter (Randall Adams) ran out of gas and was picked up by a 16-year-old runaway (David Harris). Later that night, they drank some beer, smoked some marijuana, and went to the movies. Then, their stories diverged. Adams claimed that he left for his motel, where he was staying with his brother, and went to sleep. Harris, however,... (Full plot summary below)

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Actors in The Thin Blue Line:

Randall Adams
David Harris
Gus Rose
Jackie Johnson
Marshall Touchton
Dale Holt

Full Plot Details

Errol Morris's unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas, Texas. Briefly, a drifter (Randall Adams) ran out of gas and was picked up by a 16-year-old runaway (David Harris). Later that night, they drank some beer, smoked some marijuana, and went to the movies. Then, their stories diverged. Adams claimed that he left for his motel, where he was staying with his brother, and went to sleep. Harris, however, said that they were stopped by police late that night, and Adams suddenly shot the officer approaching their car. The film shows the audience the evidence gathered by the police, who were under extreme pressure to clear the case. It strongly makes a point that the circumstantial evidence was very flimsy. In fact, it becomes apparent that Harris was a much more likely suspect and was in the middle of a crime spree, eventually ending up on Death Row himself for the later commission of other crimes. Morris implies that the DA's and the judge's desire for the death penalty in this case (for which Harris would have been ineligible because of his youth) made Adams a scapegoat on whom to pin this heinous crime.

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Movie Reviews

The Dissolve - 10/10 by Noel MurrayThe Thin Blue Line is one of the films that helped make documentaries a viable entertainment option for arthouse moviegoers during the indie-film boom of the 1980s and '90s.
Washington Post - 10/10 by Desson ThomsonMore like a waking nightmare than a docudrama. A true story of murder and justice evidently miscarried, wrapped in the fictional haze of a surrealistic whodunit, it will leave you in a trance for days. [2 Sept 1988]
Creative Loafing - 10/10 by Matt BrunsonA magnificent example of the worth of cinema.
Q Network Film Desk - 10/10 by James KendrickMorris was working in a dangerous middle ground between the traditional documentary and the fictional feature film, and his merging of various techniques paid off in a film of singular uniqueness in both its aesthetic approach and its real-world impact.
Christian Science Monitor - 10/10 by David SterrittA mesmerizing reconstruction and investigation of a senseless murder. It employs strikingly original formal devices to pull together diverse interviews.
The New York Times - 9/10 by Elvis MitchellMorris' visual style in The Thin Blue Line is unlike any conventional documentary approach. Although his interviews are shot straight on, head and shoulders, there is a way his camera has of framing his subjects so that we look at them very carefully, learning as much by what we see as by what we hear.
EmanuelLevy.Com - 9/10 by Emanuel LevyArguably no other film of the 1980s, fiction or non-fiction, was as significant in blurring the boundaries between what's reel and real and in demonstrating the remarkable impact a movie could have.
Stream on Demand - 8/10 by Sean AxmakerDocumentaries have changed minds, championed causes, and even reversed policy, but The Thin Blue Line (1988) may be the first film to free a man from prison.
San Francisco Chronicle - 8/10 by Judy StoneActually a moody horror story disguised as a documentary, designed to make the viewer feel how arbitrary and fragile the world of law and society really is.
LarsenOnFilm - 8/10 by Josh Larsen...engaging as a procedural and compelling as a meditation on the nature of truth.

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