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The Thin Blue Line
Directed by
Errol Morris
Not Rated
1988
1h 43m
Documentary
,
Crime
7.9
100%
90%
Add to Watchlist
A film that successfully argued that a man was wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas.
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Where to Watch The Thin Blue Line
Kanopy
Free
Tubi TV
Free
AMC+
Subscription
+8 more
Cast of The Thin Blue Line
Randall Adams
Self
David Harris
Self
Gus Rose
Self - Homicide Detective in Dallas
Jackie Johnson
Self - Homicide Detective in Dallas
Marshall Touchton
Self - Homicide Detective in Dallas
Dale Holt
Self - Internal Affairs Investigator in Dallas
Sam Kittrell
Self - Police Detective in Vidor
Hootie Nelson
Self - Friend of David Harris in Vidor
Dennis Johnson
Self - Friend of David Harris in Vidor
Floyd Jackson
Self - Friend of David Harris in Vidor
Edith James
Self - Defense Attorney
Dennis White
Self - Defense Attorney
Don Metcalfe
Self - The Judge
Emily Miller
Self - Surprise Eyewitness
R.L. Miller
Self - Surprise Eyewitness
Elba Carr
Self - Employee at Fas-Gas
Michael Randell
Self - Third Surprise Eyewitness
Melvyn Carson Bruder
Self - Appellate Attorney
Ron Adams
Self - Randall Adams' Brother (archive footage)
John Dillinger
Self - Gangster (archive footage)
James Grigson
Self - Texas Forensic Psychiatrist Prosecution (archive footage)
Mark Mays
Self - Murder Victim (archive footage)
Douglas Mulder
Self - Dallas Prosecutor (archive footage)
Anna Sage
Self - Informant in John Dillinger Case (archive footage)
Teresa Turko
Self - Dallas Police Officer (archive footage)
Henry M. Wade
Self - Texas District Attorney (archive footage)
Robert Wood
Self - Murdered Dallas Police Officer (archive footage)
Errol Morris
Self - Interviewer (voice) (uncredited) / Director / Writer
Amanda Caprio
Popcorn Lady at Drive-In - Re-Enactments
Michael Cirilla
2nd Interrogation Officer Jackie Johnson - Re-Enactments
Adam Goldfine
Randall Adams - Re-Enactments
Derek Horton
David Harris - Re-Enactments
Marianne Leone Cooper
Officer Teresa A. Turko - Re-Enactments
Michael Nicoll
Interrogation Officer Gus Rose - Re-Enactments
Phyllis Rodgers
Police Stenographer - Re-Enactments
Ron Thornhill
Officer Robert W. Wood - Re-Enactments
Mark Lipson
Producer
The Thin Blue Line Ratings & Reviews
TIME Magazine
Olivia B. Waxman
The film pioneered reenactments and demonstrated the use of true crime documentaries to point out and correct issues in the criminal justice system.
Filmmaker Magazine
Vadim Rizov
Noted as the investigative documentary that actually got a wrongly convicted man off of death row, Blue Line also inaugurated Morris' extreme-slo-mo and exploratory lyricism modes.
Deep Focus Review
Brian Eggert
A film that provides an exhilarating study into the subjectivity of its interviewees, and by proxy, or perhaps more intentionally so, the subjectivity of documentaries.
Stream on Demand
Sean Axmaker
Documentaries have changed minds, championed causes, and even reversed policy, but The Thin Blue Line (1988) may be the first film to free a man from prison.
LarsenOnFilm
Josh Larsen
...engaging as a procedural and compelling as a meditation on the nature of truth.
Q Network Film Desk
James Kendrick
Morris was working in a dangerous middle ground between the traditional documentary and the fictional feature film, and his merging of various techniques paid off in a film of singular uniqueness in both its aesthetic approach and its real-world impact.
The Dissolve
Noel Murray
The Thin Blue Line is one of the films that helped make documentaries a viable entertainment option for arthouse moviegoers during the indie-film boom of the 1980s and '90s.
House Next Door
Tina Hassannia
The Thin Blue Line is proof that sometimes, though rarely, the political impact of a film can be as tangible as an innocent man being freed from prison.
EmanuelLevy.Com
Emanuel Levy
Arguably no other film of the 1980s, fiction or non-fiction, was as significant in blurring the boundaries between what's reel and real and in demonstrating the remarkable impact a movie could have.
ColeSmithey.com
Cole Smithey
Errol Morris' breakout documentary is immaculate.
F5 (Wichita, KS)
Jake Euker
Accomplished but detached; you're pulled in, but you couldn't be blamed for resisting.
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Rumsey Taylor
Furthering its genre irregularity, it employs no narration to guide the viewer, and each shot is carefully static and composed. Its central scene, even, is a fabricated element in what is largely a non-fiction film.
Old School Reviews
John A. Nesbit
... sets a new standard
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Although The Thin Blue Line assembles an almost inassailable case... it is not a conventional documentary -- not a feature-length version of one of those 60 Minutes segments in which innocent men are rescued from Death Row.
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