The Thin Blue Line is a 1988
documentary filmDocumentary film is a broad category of visual expressions that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and digital productions that can...
about a man convicted and sentenced to die for a murder he did not commit.
The film concerns the November 28, 1976 murder of Dallas police officer, Robert W. Wood, during a traffic stop. The
Dallas Police DepartmentThe Dallas Police Department, established in 1881, is the principal law enforcement agency serving the city of Dallas, Texas.-Organization:The department is headed by a chief of police who is appointed by the city manager who, in turn, is hired by the Dallas City Council...
was unable to make an arrest until they learned of information given by a 16-year-old resident of
Vidor, TexasVidor is a city in western Orange County, Texas, United States. A city of Southeast Texas, it lies at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Farm Market Road 105, six miles east of Beaumont. The town is mainly a bedroom community for the nearby refining complexes in Beaumont and Port Arthur and is...
who had told friends that he was responsible for the crime.
The Thin Blue Line is a 1988
documentary filmDocumentary film is a broad category of visual expressions that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and digital productions that can...
about a man convicted and sentenced to die for a murder he did not commit.
Synopsis
The film concerns the November 28, 1976 murder of Dallas police officer, Robert W. Wood, during a traffic stop. The
Dallas Police DepartmentThe Dallas Police Department, established in 1881, is the principal law enforcement agency serving the city of Dallas, Texas.-Organization:The department is headed by a chief of police who is appointed by the city manager who, in turn, is hired by the Dallas City Council...
was unable to make an arrest until they learned of information given by a 16-year-old resident of
Vidor, TexasVidor is a city in western Orange County, Texas, United States. A city of Southeast Texas, it lies at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Farm Market Road 105, six miles east of Beaumont. The town is mainly a bedroom community for the nearby refining complexes in Beaumont and Port Arthur and is...
who had told friends that he was responsible for the crime. The juvenile, David Ray Harris, led police to the car driven from the scene of the crime, as well as a .22 caliber
revolverA revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. As the user cocks the hammer, the cylinder revolves to align the next chamber and round with the hammer and barrel, which gives this type of firearm its name...
he identified as the murder weapon. He subsequently identified 28-year-old
OhioOhio is a Midwestern state of the United States. The thirty-fourth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the seventh-most populous with nearly 11.5 million residents...
resident
Randall Dale AdamsRandall Dale Adams was falsely convicted of murdering a police officer and sentenced to death. He served more than 12 years in prison, at one point coming within 72 hours of being put to death. His death sentence was reduced through appeal to the United States Supreme Court, and eight years later...
as the murderer. Adams had been living in a motel in Dallas with his brother. The film presents a series of interviews about the investigation and reenactments of the shooting, based on the testimony and recollections of Adams, Harris, and various witnesses and detectives. Two attorneys who represented Adams at the trial where he was convicted of capital
murderMurder, as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
also appear: they suggest that Adams was charged with the crime despite the better evidence against Harris because, as Harris was a juvenile, Adams alone of the two could be sentenced to death under Texas law.
The film's title comes from the prosecutor's comment during his closing argument that the police are the "thin blue line" separating society from
anarchyLawlessness may be:* lack of law, in any of the various senses of that word ;* chaos;* randomness;* antinomianism;* anomie;* anarchy;* anarchism....
. This is a re-working of a line from
Rudyard KiplingRudyard Kipling was a British author and poet. Born in Bombay, British India, he is best known for his works of fiction The Jungle Book , Kim , many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King ; and his poems, including...
's poem
Tommy in which he describes soldiers as the "thin red line", from the colour of their uniforms.
Production
Morris was originally going to film a documentary about prosecution
psychologistA psychologist is someone who studies the human mind and behavior. Research psychologists study human perception, cognition, attention, emotion, motivation, personality, behavior and interpersonal relationships...
, Dr.
James GrigsonJames Paul Grigson, Jr. was a Texas-licensed psychiatrist who earned the derisive nickname of "Doctor Death" due to his high success rate in his frequent participation as an expert witness for the prosecution in Texas capital murder cases.Grigson was widely used as a medical expert in Texas,...
– known as Doctor Death, who testified in more than 100 trials that resulted in death sentences. Grigson told the jury that Adams would remain an ongoing menace if kept alive but Morris, after meeting Adams, became skeptical that he committed the crime.
The film contained re-enactment scenes built carefully from witnesses' statements, which became common in later documentaries. Interestingly, while the film recreates several versions of the shooting, it does not recreate one in which David Harris shoots the officer, the interpretation which it argues is true.
Aftermath
The film was directed by
Errol MorrisErrol Morris is an American Academy Award winning documentary film director. In 2003 The Guardian listed him as number seven in their list of the world's 40 best directors.-Early life and education:...
and scored by
Philip GlassPhilip Morris Glass is an American music composer. He is considered one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .Although his music is often, though controversially, described as...
. The film was marketed as "nonfiction" rather than as a documentary which disqualified it from being considered in that category for an
Academy AwardThe Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is...
. The
Corporation for Public BroadcastingThe Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a private non-profit corporation created by an act of the United States Congress and largely funded by the United States Federal Government to promote public broadcasting...
,
National Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, Program Development Company Productions Inc., public television stations, and The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies funded the documentary.
The Thin Blue Line has domestically grossed $1,209,846.00. On its opening weekend, which included only one theatre, it took in $17,814.00. Although
The Thin Blue Line is the 72nd highest grossing documentary film released since 1982 Morris says he lost money on the production. The film has had a considerable influence on later television and documentary film and is often credited with pioneering the style of modern crime-scene reenactments.
Morris' investigation demonstrated that five witnesses had committed perjury. As a result of publicity around the film, Adams (whose death sentence had been overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1980 and commuted to life in prison) had his conviction overturned by the
Texas Court of Criminal AppealsThe Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is the court of last resort for all criminal matters in the State of Texas, United States. The Court, which is based in the Supreme Court Building in the state capital, Austin, is composed of a Presiding Judge and eight Judges. vests the judicial power of the...
and the case returned to
Dallas CountyDallas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas within the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area...
for a retrial. The district attorney's office declined to prosecute the case again and Adams was subsequently ordered released as a result of a
habeas corpusHabeas corpus is a legal action, or writ, through which a person can seek relief from the unlawful detention of him or herself, or of another person. It protects the individual from harming him or herself, or from being harmed by the judicial system...
hearing in 1989.
Harris had testified in the original trial that he was the passenger in the stolen car that he allowed Adams to drive and that Adams committed the murder. He recanted this testimony at Adams' habeas corpus hearing, but never admitted guilt in a judicial setting and was never charged in the case. In 2004, Harris was executed by
lethal injectionLethal injection refers to the practice of injecting a criminal with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of executing the subject...
for the unrelated 1985 murder of Mark Mays in
Beaumont, TexasBeaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 113,866 at the 2000 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the Gulf...
, which occurred during an attempted abduction of Mays' girlfriend.
After Adams' release from prison, he ended up in a legal battle with Morris concerning the rights to his story. The matter was settled out of court after Adams was granted sole use of anything written or made on the subject of his life. Adams himself said of the matter: "Mr. Morris felt he had the exclusive rights to my life story. ... I did not sue Errol Morris for any money or any percentages of
The Thin Blue Line, though the media portrayed it that way."
Morris, for his part, remembers: "When he got out, he became very angry at the fact that he had signed a release giving me rights to his life story. And he felt as though I had stolen something from him. Maybe I had, maybe I just don't understand what it's like to be in prison for that long, for a crime you hadn't committed. In a certain sense, the whole crazy deal with the release was fueled by my relationship with his attorney. And it's a long, complicated story, but I guess when people are involved, there's always a mess somewhere."
Awards
The Thin Blue Line won Best Documentary honors from the
New York Film Critics CircleNew York Film Critics Circle Awards are given annually to honor excellence in cinema worldwide by an organization of film reviewers from New York City-based publications. It is considered one of the most important precursors to the Academy Awards....
, the
Kansas City Film Critics CircleThe Kansas City Film Critics Circle is a group of media film critics and one of the oldest recognized voting groups in the country. It was founded by the late Dr. Loutzenhiser....
, the
National Board of ReviewThe National Board of Review of Motion Pictures was founded in 1909 in New York City, just 13 years after the birth of cinema, to protest New York City Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr.'s revocation of moving-picture exhibition licenses on Christmas Eve 1908. The mayor believed that the new medium...
, and the
National Society of Film CriticsThe National Society of Film Critics or NSFC is an American film critic organization. The NSFC currently consists of approximately 60 members who write for a variety of weekly and daily newspapers as of December 2007.-History:...
. Morris himself won an
International Documentary Association Award and an
Edgar AwardThe Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
. In 2001, the film was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
External links