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The Thin Blue Line [1988] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
![The Thin Blue Line [1988] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518AAR0X7HL._SL160_.jpg)
Our Price: £6.83 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
This landmark award-winning documentary, which revolutionised the form and helped acquit an innocent man of murder, came about almost by accident. Errol Morris had already directed such offbeat documentaries as Gates of Heaven (concerning pet cemeteries) and Vernon, Florida, which touchingly portrays the small town's eccentric inhabitants. He'd intended to travel to Texas to make a film about the criminal-psychiatry expert James Grigson, or "Dr. Death" as he came to be known for his frequent testimony against defendants, who were often then sent to death row. When Morris discovered that the doctor was involved in the trial of Randall Dale Adams, a man who, it seemed, had been falsely accused of the highway murder of a police officer, he decided that Adams's story was the real one to tell. Morris' innovative use of repeated dramatisation, multiple points of view, talking-head and phone interviews, and symbolism--in concert with Philip Glass's haunting music--establishes that a combination of communitarian zeal and overly eager testimony persuaded the jury to find Adams, a "drifter" from the Midwest, guilty of the crime, instead of his underage (and, for the death penalty, ineligible) acquaintance, David Harris, who had a criminal record. The "thin blue line" of police officers separating the public from chaos--as the judge, quoting the DA in the case, has it--destabilises in Morris's world and puts people at risk of injustice as often as it protects them. After serving time for a sentence commuted to life imprisonment, Adams was freed, making Errol Morris his most talented advocate. --Robert Burns Neveldine, Amazon.com
way-out of date edition
Review date: 2007-08-16 Rating: 4 out of 10
This DVD is of a VHS released in 1988, Randall Adams was released from prison less than 24 months after this documentary was made, almost wholly due to the making of this documentary . It is a shame that when you view the documentary, you gain the idea that Randall Adams is still behind bars. There should have been an epilogue to reveal to viewers the success that the film maker had on subsequent state review of the incarcerant's cirmumstances and evidence. Also, that the second figure in the program, David Harris, was found guilty and executed for a separate murder.
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Reviews
A real-life whodunnit
Review date: 2002-10-12 Rating: 10 out of 10
Errol Morris delivers an authentic murder mystery in this mesmerising study of the murder of a Texan police officer. Randall Adams is currently serving a life sentence for this crime, but Morris' investigation, which lasted 30 months, questions in the strongest terms whether justice has been served. Using similar dream-like sounds and images he used four years later to great effect in 'A Brief History of Time", Morris creates a surreal and enveloping atmosphere, drawing the viewer in so you will be glued to the screen from start to finish.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Gus Rose
Randall Adams
Jackie Johnson
Marshall Touchton
David Harris (III)
Director(s):
Recording label: MGM
Manufacturer: MGM
EAN: 0027616902320
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC,
Release date: 2005-07-26
Universal product code (UPC): 027616902320
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Region code: 1
Running time: 102 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1988-08-25
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)