The Thin Blue Line (1988) on Netflix
NR19881h 41mCrimeDocumentary
In 1976 a Dallas police officer, Robert Wood, is shot and killed. Randall Dale Adams is convicted of the murder. Interviews, testimony and reenactments take the case against him apart.
- Netflix4.5/5
- IMDb7.9/1026,404 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Randall Dale Adams is convicted of killing Dallas police officer Robert Wood in 1976 and receives a death sentence. Detectives who worked the case, among them Gus Rose, Jackie Johnson and Marshall Touchton, describe the investigation, as does Vidor detective Sam Kittrell. Edith James and Dennis White, who defended Adams at trial, talk about how the case was handled. Reenactments built from witnesses' statements present the shooting in several versions, and interviews and documents sit side by side with no narrator to sort them. The title comes from a prosecutor's closing argument calling the police the thin blue line between society and anarchy.
Cast
- Randall Adamsas Self
- David Harrisas Self
- Gus Roseas Self - Homicide Detective in Dallas
- Jackie Johnsonas Self - Homicide Detective in Dallas
- Marshall Touchtonas Self - Homicide Detective in Dallas
- Dale Holtas Self - Internal Affairs Investigator in Dallas
- Sam Kittrellas Self - Police Detective in Vidor
- Hootie Nelsonas Self - Friend of David Harris in Vidor
- Dennis Johnsonas Self - Friend of David Harris in Vidor
- Floyd Jacksonas Self - Friend of David Harris in Vidor
- Edith Jamesas Self - Defense Attorney
- Dennis Whiteas Self - Defense Attorney
Show all 20 cast
- Don Metcalfeas Self - The Judge
- Emily Milleras Self - Surprise Eyewitness
- R.L. Milleras Self - Surprise Eyewitness
- Elba Carras Self - Employee at Fas-Gas
- Michael Randellas Self - Third Surprise Eyewitness
- Melvyn Carson Bruderas Self - Appellate Attorney
- Ron Adamsas Self - Randall Adams' Brother (archive footage)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Thin Blue Line (1988)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Morris's investigation suggested five witnesses committed perjury; publicity around the film led to Randall Dale Adams's conviction being overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which returned the case to Dallas County for a retrial.
- The final scene, in which Errol Morris and David Harris are only heard over shots of a tape recorder, was not planned: Morris's camera broke down on the day of the interview and he had to record the dialogue on tape.
- Adams was wrongly imprisoned for 12 years but got no payment from Texas; under today's law he would have received $80,000 for each year, yet he was released because his case was dismissed rather than pardoned.
- David Harris was later tried, convicted and executed for the unrelated murder of Mark Walker Mays on September 1, 1985; Morris had an interview scheduled with Harris on the weekend of that murder.
- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences refused to consider The Thin Blue Line for Best Documentary because of its use of re-enactments, even though the film won several other awards.
- Morris's style of having subjects stare straight into the camera led to the "Interrotron", named by his wife and first used in Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997), which lets interviewees talk to Morris's image and so look directly into the lens.
- Before Philip Glass wrote the score, Morris had already cut The Thin Blue Line to a mix-tape of Glass's earlier music, including selections from Mishima, In the Upper Room and Glassworks.
Stills
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