The Thin Blue Line

1988

Action / Crime / Documentary / Drama / Mystery

30
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 100% · 20 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 90% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.9/10 10 26389 26.4K

death penalty texas investigation dallas texas dallas, texas trial

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Plot summary

An unorthodox investigation into the wrongful conviction of Randall Dale Adams for the 1976 murder of Dallas police officer Robert Wood. Using stylized reenactments and interviews with key figures, conflicting testimonies and evidence are presented to argue that Adams was framed by a corrupt justice system, ultimately leading to his exoneration.

Director

Errol Morris Photo
Errol Morris

Top cast

Errol Morris Photo
Errol Morris as Himself
Marianne Leone Photo
Marianne Leone as Teresa Turko
Henry M. Wade Photo
Henry M. Wade as Self - Texas District Attorney
Randall Adams Photo
Randall Adams as Himself
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
808.69 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
Not Rated
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 41 min
Seeds 8
1.64 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
Not Rated
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 41 min
Seeds 59

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by tmdb76622195 10 / 10

In November 1976 in Dallas, Texas, Police Officer

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.
Reviewed by view_and_review 8 / 10

Texas Justice

"Thin Blue Line" is an early and extended version of "Forensic Files." The biggest difference is that "Forensic Files" focuses on the evidence used to catch a criminal whereas "Thin Blue Line" focused on evidence to exonerate a man falsely accused. Anyone not familiar with "Forensic Files," there's a narrator who recaps important points of the case along with interviews with important people to the case and some reenactment. "Thin Blue Line" had everything but the narrator.If the justice system has fingered you as the culprit it is usually very hard to prove your innocence. Randall Adams found that out first hand. He was accused of killing a cop in Dallas in cold blood. There was very little evidence to tie him to the crime, but law enforcement saw to it that they got enough to convince a jury of his guilt.The documentary isn't riveting by any means, and it's really a wonder why this case of who-knows-how-many was chosen for a documentary when there were probably far more egregious cases of injustice out there. Still, the documentary is good, especially for anyone concerned with the halls of justice.
Reviewed by Rindiana 7 / 10

What's the Truth?

Apart from the fact that this investigative crime documentary freed a wrongly sentenced man from prison, which is astonishing in itself, the pic is very solidly crafted, indeed. Morris gets the viewer deeply immersed into the obscurely working wheels of justice.

But the story itself is so strong, one almost oversees some formal flaws along the road. The almost constant soundtrack, as good as it is, gets rather annoying. The restaged scenes with actors look slightly amateurish. And the focus on the case itself prevents more general, profound thoughts on all the issues at hand to surface.

Still, it's a well-made doc anyway.

7 out of 10 unreliable witnesses

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