USA,
1988, 115 min
Shown in 1988
CREDITS
- dir
-
Errol Morris
- prod
-
Mark Lipson
- cam
-
Stefan Czapsky
- premiere
-
World Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Errol Morris in person.
OTHER
Errol Morris, former Berkeley graduate student in philosophy and ex-private detective, is well-known to Bay Area audiences as maker of the skewed documentaries Gates of Heaven and Vernon, Florida. Morris has left behind funny-weird pet cemeteries and weird-funny small-town residents to work on an entirely different plane. His new film is about what he sees as a miscarriage of justice in a Dallas murder case that resulted in a capital conviction. Morris believes, and uses this film to try to prove, that the wrong man was found guilty in the killing of a policeman. Writer Anne Thompson notes; “What’s extraordinary and unique about The Thin Blue Line... is that , although many films chronicle murder investigations, Morris’ movie is a murder investigation.” Morris reenacts the crime for the camera and shows documents and newspaper clippings, interviews with principals from the trial and even old movie footage to make his argument. Whether or not Morris is convincing is up to the viewer, but it’s worth noting that evidence he uncovered was used in the filing of an appeal on behalf of the convicted man.
—Walter V. Addiego
FACTOID #191
The first screenwriter to receive a Festival tribute was Truman Capote in 1974. At the tribute he confessed that, in his opinion, Audrey Hepburn was too chic for the role of Holly Golightly. He would have preferred the then unknown Tammy Grimes for the role.
