The Thin Blue Line (1988)

Description

Since the premiere of his groundbreaking 1978 film, Gates of Heaven, Academy Award winner Errol Morris has indelibly Altered our perception of the non-fiction film, presenting to audiences the mundane, bizzare and history-making with his own distinctive style. The Thin Blue Line remains Morris' most controversial and well-known work. Evolving from an earlier project in which he interviewed death down inmates for a portriat of Dallas psychiatrist Dr James Grigson, The Thin Blue Line is the fascinating and controversial true story of Randall Dale Adams. A drifetr arrested and convicted for the 1976 murder of Dallas policeman Rober Wood, Dale Adama was sentenced to death for the crime. Billed as "the first movie mystery to actually solve a murder", Morris' film pieced together fresh evidence to eventually overturn the conviction. With its use of expressionistic re-enactments, riveting interview material and moody music by Phiip Glass, The Thin Blue Line - whose title recalls the prosecuting judge's comments regarding the thin blue line that maintains the sical fabric - pioneered a new kind of non-fiction filmmaking whose style has been copied in countless reality-based television programs and feature films. One of the most important movies of its decade, this untterly thrilling and captivating film's influence continues to reverberate.