Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Celia A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

shadow_blade-89459 "The Thin Blue Line" (1988) is a crime documentary about a man wrongfully convicted of murder in Dallas County, Texas. The film is shared from a multifaceted perspective while providing the key focus on the voice of the convicted, Randall Adams. This is a very heart-wrenching film that forces the viewer to pay attention and understand the details as to formulate their own opinion of Randall's innocence or guilt. The evidence is present and plentiful but leads the police and judicial system in what seems to be every direction but the right one because of their unfortunate blinders. This film is eye opening and assisted in the judicial system reopening the case for further evaluation.The director, Errol Morris, did an immaculate job with the pacing and shooting of this film. Every single shot and edit at just the right time serves a purpose even if the viewer doesn't understand it until the film is over. His creativeness in shooting for this film, for a documentary in the late 80s, is entrancing. The point of this film is very direct. There is a man convicted of murder who he and Randall's supporters believes to be innocent and is deserving of a fair retrial. The payoff is successful, but extremely infuriating because the coded truth comes out, but is it enough to garner a retrial. Overall, this is an outstanding documentary. The viewer will leave with hope in their heart and a burning desire to find out what happened to Mr. Randall Adams once the credits roll and the lights turn on.

roblesar99 There's no understating the importance of documentarian Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line. The documentary focuses on the November 1976 shooting death of Dallas police officer Robert Wood and his accused murderer Randall Dale Adams, who maintained his innocence throughout the duration of his trial and jail sentence. The trial itself was plagued with inconsistent statements from witnesses, but ultimately Adams was sentenced to death. Were it not for the Supreme Court case Adams v. Texas, which resulted in Texas Governor Bill Clements commuting Adams' sentence to life in prison, Adams would have been executed on May 8, 1979. Morris' documentary, however, single-handedly resulted in a review of Adams' case and he was subsequently exonerated for the crime a year after the film's release.Morris first came up with the idea for The Thin Blue Line while conducting research on Dr. James Grigson, known as Doctor Death, a psychologist whose testimony resulted in over 100 trials ending with a death sentence. But when Morris interviewed Adams in regards to Adams' experience with Grigson during his trial, Adams stated that he had been framed for Wood's murder. He told Morris that the murderer was actually David Harris, a sixteen-year-old drifter with whom Adams had spent the day with before heading back to his hotel a few hours before the shooting. Morris' dedication to bringing Adams' plight to the screen shows throughout the entirety of the feature. As the film presents the facts of the case, we listen to various interviewees, from detectives to lawyers to witnesses to Adams and Harris themselves, who all speak directly into the camera. The decision to have them face directly into the camera creates a disquieting feeling, forcing the audience to listen to their perspective and preventing them from becoming passive viewers.Indeed, Morris further forces his audience to be an active participant through his repetitive use of re-enactments that depict the shooting. Each time a piece of information is introduced that happens to contradict previously stated information, we once again watch the re- enactment of the shooting, which has now been tweaked to fit the most recent info. Morris forces the audience into deciphering the increasingly blurred line between fact and fiction as he presents the changing evidence from different angles. The depiction of the shooting using differing information from an array of conflicting witnesses reminded me of Rashomon. And just like Kurosawa, Morris finds himself exploring the idea of justice and how a crime can warp the perception of the truth.Morris' film also functions as an indictment of America's criminal justice system. It becomes painfully clear that the reason why Adams was ultimately convicted of the crime despite his innocence had to do with the fact that Harris could not be given the death penalty because he was underage. To hear that Doctor Death purposefully testified in over one hundred cases, including Adams', solely to recommend the death penalty serves as a stark, haunting reminder of the willingness of those in charge to favor death over rehabilitation. While I'm sure that some of the criminals that Adams deemed incurable sociopaths, who he was "one hundred percent certain" would kill again, would do so were they free, it's disturbing to think about how many of them fully deserved the death penalty rather than a lighter punishment.As a hometown Dallas resident, I couldn't help but smile when the film began, showcasing the Dallas skyline shining in all its glory. But over the next hour and a half, I was utterly transfixed by the cases of Randall Adams and David Harris, and the murder of Robert Wood. To think about how many other innocent men and women might be wrongfully imprisoned definitely makes for an unnerving thought. Morris' The Thin Blue Line makes for haunting yet necessary viewing, challenging seemingly established facts in the murder of Wood on that fateful November night. Mixing Philip Glass' incredible score, re-enactments of the murder, and a captivating array of interviews, the film not only makes for a riveting deconstruction of a heinous crime, but an exploration of justice in an unjust system that resulted in the exoneration of an innocent man.Rating: 8/10 (Great)

Niklas Pivic This film is marked by time, especially where things are dramatised by actors and some "suggestive" effects, e.g. a malt flying through the air. Despite that, the much more interesting stuff is caught from the interview objects, especially the Houston police at the beginning. I mean, first and foremost, the antifeministic approach from the white, middle-aged police who really wanted to nail the female police who failed to shoot her colleague's killers as they left.Still, the prosecutor and the judge is the real enigma; how the original verdict went the way they went is incredible but, as anybody who is into the legal system and its prejudices will tell you, some times a judge and prosecution just want to condemn a person and won't stop at anything to do so.Other interviews are quite something as well, especially one with the couple who semi-witnessed (or did they?) the shooting.Well worth a check, this one, despite being marred by time.

Tom Martin This is so powerful and well done! An unbelievable but true story.One of the best documentaries I've ever seen because it makes you both wonder and worry about how the justice system works. How many innocents are caught in the system and how difficult it must be when the authorities refuse to question their own judgment for fear of looking bad.Masterfully edited to hold your attention from start to finish with gripping interviews. Morris knows how to pace things just right. He doesn't belabor points that don't need it but doesn't rush through his interviews.Thank you Errol Morris for opening my eyes and feelings for the (probably many) innocents caught and still not freed. This is what a documentary should be.