CrimeDocumentary

The Thin Blue Line

Errol Morris's unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas.

Release Date : 1988-08-28

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : American PlayhouseThird Floor Productions

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Randall Adams

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self

Original Name : David Harris

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Homicide Detective in Dallas

Original Name : Gus Rose

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Homicide Detective in Dallas

Original Name : Jackie Johnson

Gender : Female

Character Name : Self - Homicide Detective in Dallas

Original Name : Marshall Touchton

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Internal Affairs Investigator in Dallas

Original Name : Dale Holt

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Police Detective in Vidor

Original Name : Sam Kittrell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Friend of David Harris in Vidor

Original Name : Hootie Nelson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Friend of David Harris in Vidor

Original Name : Dennis Johnson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Friend of David Harris in Vidor

Original Name : Floyd Jackson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Defense Attorney

Original Name : Edith James

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Defense Attorney

Original Name : Dennis White

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - The Judge

Original Name : Don Metcalfe

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Surprise Eyewitness

Original Name : Emily Miller

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Surprise Eyewitness

Original Name : R.L. Miller

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Employee at Fas-Gas

Original Name : Elba Carr

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Third Surprise Eyewitness

Original Name : Michael Randell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Appellate Attorney

Original Name : Melvyn Carson Bruder

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Randall Adams' Brother (archive footage)

Original Name : Ron Adams

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Gangster (archive footage)

Original Name : John Dillinger

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Texas Forensic Psychiatrist Prosecution (archive footage)

Original Name : James Grigson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Murder Victim (archive footage)

Original Name : Mark Mays

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Dallas Prosecutor (archive footage)

Original Name : Douglas Mulder

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Informant in John Dillinger Case (archive footage)

Original Name : Anna Sage

Gender : Female

Character Name : Self - Dallas Police Officer (archive footage)

Original Name : Teresa Turko

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Texas District Attorney (archive footage)

Original Name : Henry M. Wade

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Murdered Dallas Police Officer (archive footage)

Original Name : Robert Wood

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Interviewer (voice) (uncredited)

Original Name : Errol Morris

Gender : Male

Character Name : Popcorn Lady at Drive-In - Re-Enactments

Original Name : Amanda Caprio

Gender : Male

Character Name : 2nd Interrogation Officer Jackie Johnson - Re-Enactments

Original Name : Michael Cirilla

Gender : Male

Character Name : Randall Adams - Re-Enactments

Original Name : Adam Goldfine

Gender : Male

Character Name : David Harris - Re-Enactments

Original Name : Derek Horton

Gender : Male

Character Name : Officer Teresa A. Turko - Re-Enactments

Original Name : Marianne Leone Cooper

Gender : Female

Character Name : Interrogation Officer Gus Rose - Re-Enactments

Original Name : Michael Nicoll

Gender : Male

Character Name : Police Stenographer - Re-Enactments

Original Name : Phyllis Rodgers

Gender : Male

Character Name : Officer Robert W. Wood - Re-Enactments

Original Name : Ron Thornhill

Gender : Male

Reviews

Charles Tatum

@CharlesTatum

2023-09-29

In November 1976 in Dallas, Texas, Police Officer Robert Wood was shot and killed while making an otherwise routine traffic stop. One man was arrested and sentenced to death for the crime, based on the testimony of a sixteen year old acquaintance. These basic facts are covered in one of the most brilliant films to come out of the 1980's. Randall Adams was no drifter. He was moving from Ohio and was staying in Dallas with his brother. He found a good job, and planned on living there a while. Then he met David Harris, a punk from a Klan-infested small town in southern Texas. The officer is murdered, and Harris blames Adams, even though Harris gloated about shooting the young cop to his friends. Adams was railroaded into prison while Harris embarked on a petty crime spree. He continued his misdemeanor ways until he actually killed a man during a botched kidnapping. Now Harris was in jail, and Adams was still appealing his conviction. Witnesses came forward claiming to have seen Adams shoot Wood, yet none of them have a gleam of credibility. Finally, Adams gets some decent lawyers, who begin working to get him out. He is granted an appeal by the U.S. Supreme Court, but as of the making of the film, he was still serving life in prison. A little research shows what happened to Randall Adams. Errol Morris goes where few documentary makers go. He films convincing reenactments of the crime. These are not "Unsolved Mysteries"-type reenactments, Morris has a real director's eye, and gives the audience every detail needed- from a tossed milkshake to the number of people spotted in the killer's car. Philip Glass adds a haunting musical score that gets under your skin and hypnotizes you. The convict Adams is a sincere man, and the film makers are obviously rooting for his cause. Harris is an ignorant punk, enjoying playing games with people's lives. If the Dallas County prosecutors had done their job, Harris would not have committed his second murder: food for thought. Harris' final interview, done on audio cassette, is chilling, and will make a believer of anyone who otherwise thought "this could never happen to me." The three "witnesses" to the slaying are a joke, two in it for the reward, and a salesman who boasts of his photographic memory but cannot recall if Wood's patrol car was in front of or behind Harris' stolen vehicle. "The Thin Blue Line" is more than talking heads, this is a searing story that puts to shame any fiction that tries to cover the same ground. For this kind of thing to happen to an innocent man, it is also very scary.