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Movie: THE THIN RED LINE


Duffy
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I differ from some of the opinions expressed here as I thought portions of the film were brilliantly-executed. The scenes involving the landing of troops on Guadalcanal to their march inland up to Capt. Staros's assault were awesome. I've not seen another WWII film that depicts a company of troops on the move like that of the TRL. The one scene where the company is in line moving up a large hill evoked (within this viewer's mind) the metaphor of ants marching up an anthill, a metaphor that rings true with the frequent nature spots in the movie. I agree that none of the characters were ever developed and it seemed to me that Nick Nolte was the only actor in the movie who got the chance to show his chops; and, he did!

 

The pace of the movie was quite slow, overall, but its cinematography was great, its sound was awesome, and several of its scenes were well-done. It's kind of like an "encyclopedia" of a movie to me; it is not one that I prefer to watch straight through but instead to watch selected scenes.

 

John McP

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giconceptsjw

To be honest, it’s been over 10 years since I saw TRL. I do remember the scene where one of the guys is reading a “dear John” letter from his girlfriend. It was supposed to be very sad and tragic but I remember a number of people in the audience were actually giggling & laughing. It was that bad. Of course there is nothing wrong with liking or disliking “Thin Red Line” or any other movie. It’s like some people like to eat spinach and some people don’t. You can’t argue taste. It’s always good to hear other people’s opinions both pro & con.

 

I think the thing that turned me off to TRL was the feeling I got that it was just a vehicle for someone’s political agenda. Rather than presenting a film adaptation of the book or a nonfiction, fiction or semi-fiction recreation of the army on Guadalcanal, it came off as an ultra left-wing message. But that’s just me. It reminded me of the movie “Little Big Man”. Dustin Hoffman did a fantastic job in it and there are parts that are very funny. The exterior locations were great and it’s an epic 3 hour comedy-drama film that covers the life of a 112 year old man. In it the Indians are called Human Beings and the white Americans are called sub-human or non-humans. The Indians are benevolent, peaceful, helpless & completely defenseless while the Americans are shown in the worst possible light. Gen. George Custer is portrayed as a deranged babbling idiot who has a psychotic meltdown at the Little Big Horn. It’s only a slightly different version of the Thin Red Line. There is nothing wrong with anti-war films. I think they should all be anti-war. “Paths of Glory” with Kirk Douglas is as anti-war as you can get. However, it is a great movie. “Dr. Strangelove” is another very anti-war film but it’s also one of my favorites. They get away with a lot in that one only because it is presented as a dark comedy. If they had tried to make it serious it wouldn’t have worked at all.

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Some of you are using the "it's an acquired taste" argument. If it's an acquired taste, that means it sucked to begin with.

 

Wait, you're saying Islay single-malts suck?

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This movie is not the first. In 1964 "The Thin Red Line" with Keir Dullea (from 2001 space oddity) and Jack Warrden.

This one is based on the book Guadalcanal Diary. It took me a while to find it on line but it is out there.

Helmet guys will love this original movie. Take a look and let us know what you think.

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This movie is not the first. In 1964 "The Thin Red Line" with Keir Dullea (from 2001 space oddity) and Jack Warrden.

This one is based on the book Guadalcanal Diary. It took me a while to find it on line but it is out there.

Helmet guys will love this original movie. Take a look and let us know what you think.

My brother took me to see it when I was 9. Had a few real intense battle scenes. :thumbsup:

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fortworthgal

A Marine veteran friend said TRL was the only movie he'd ever walked out on because it was so bad.

 

Thin Red Line = A putrid turd

 

This post actually made me laugh out loud.

 

This movie is not the first. In 1964 "The Thin Red Line" with Keir Dullea (from 2001 space oddity) and Jack Warrden.

This one is based on the book Guadalcanal Diary. It took me a while to find it on line but it is out there.

Helmet guys will love this original movie. Take a look and let us know what you think.

 

This sounds interesting, I had no idea there was an "original" version. I will look for this!

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giconceptsjw
This movie is not the first. In 1964 "The Thin Red Line" with Keir Dullea (from 2001 space oddity) and Jack Warrden.

This one is based on the book Guadalcanal Diary. It took me a while to find it on line but it is out there.

Helmet guys will love this original movie. Take a look and let us know what you think.

 

LOL, I think it was “2001 A Space Odyssey” not Oddity. But I think Oddity would have been a better title.

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I worked on TRL. Until the producers were fired by the Director. They still owe me (and a lot of people) money.

 

Originally, the deal with the film was an agreement with the widow that iot had to follow the book - period. But that was with the original producers. Good Ol' Terrey Malick decides he doesn't want to, has the studio fire the producers who were trying to stick to the agreement, and they use legal tactics to go off on whatever tangents he wants.

 

I will admit the film ranges from total brilliance, to total rubbish. Some of it is pure genius, and makes me wonder what could have been...

 

I actually got to talk to Sissy Spacek on the phone once as she answered when I was calling the art director about something. In hindsight I would rather have gotten paid even half of what they owed me.

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I have to laugh, as I am probably one of the very small handful who liked it. And conversely, I was one of the biggest critics of the Turd Locker that many like!!! Heh. :lol:

 

The actors aside, I have known guys over the years who remind me of the characters in the flick. The over ambitious, who was the cause of "blue on blue", or "friendly fire", which ain't so fuggin friendly let me tell you, in the dark confusion of battle. The ones whose care for their men overrode their ability to command when a command, a decision on the spot, is critical, etc.. I like all the inner retrospect narrative that you hear, as I have had my own versions of those numerous times in nasty places. The Dear John letter, the scenes playing over and over in your head until you want to scream, and the feelings of being betrayed,abandoned and helpless by the one person you thought would always be there for you, while so many thousands of miles away and facing mortal danger. And so on, and so forth.

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LOL, I think it was “2001 A Space Odyssey” not Oddity. But I think Oddity would have been a better title.

 

Yes, My spelling is ... :rolleyes:

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  • 3 weeks later...
agate hunter

i am currently watching this movie, and i think movies like this with such high profile actors are corny. John travolta as a brig. general? sean penn as a sgt. in the army (yet he's best bud's with hugo chavez)? give me a break. when shows have unknown actors, in my opinion (like band of brothers) attention is focused on the story instead of how well high rolling actors portray troops from WWII or any other war. just my humble opinion.

-agate hunter

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  • 2 weeks later...
marineamtracer
I have to laugh, as I am probably one of the very small handful who liked it. And conversely, I was one of the biggest critics of the Turd Locker that many like!!! Heh. :lol:

 

The actors aside, I have known guys over the years who remind me of the characters in the flick. The over ambitious, who was the cause of "blue on blue", or "friendly fire", which ain't so fuggin friendly let me tell you, in the dark confusion of battle. The ones whose care for their men overrode their ability to command when a command, a decision on the spot, is critical, etc.. I like all the inner retrospect narrative that you hear, as I have had my own versions of those numerous times in nasty places. The Dear John letter, the scenes playing over and over in your head until you want to scream, and the feelings of being betrayed,abandoned and helpless by the one person you thought would always be there for you, while so many thousands of miles away and facing mortal danger. And so on, and so forth.

 

 

Hoovie you took the words right out of my mouth on this one. I can relate to Koteas character deeply. He loved those men of his company as is own family as I did for my platoon. I'd do anything for every one of those men today if they called and needed me. The introspection is the key here fore if you've lived this life then you know. I personally know what it's like to be 6 thousand miles away and learn that the reason your wife isn't answering the phone when you're able to call is because she's cheating on you with a guy from college. And I know what it feels like the first time you know you have taken another life. It's the thankless life of a boots on the ground soldier or marine. I for one have always had a great like of this movie but after having been in the $hit more times than I care to think about it hits home more than ever now. I know that when it came out I expected another SPR but when I left the theater I was hit with the realization that this was the war my grandfather knew. Not the war in Europe. My grandpa was in action at Angaur, Peleliu, Leyte and Okinawa and not to discount the veterans of the eto but this was not the same war and I think this film couldn't have shown that point better to those of us who understand.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I have an old Black and White version of this, never watched it, seen the later version, wasnt bad I guess, Saving Private Ryan still flogs them all.

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I was talking to the actor Ben Chaplin who played Private Bell in a bar in London last week. He said it was a great film to work on and regards it as the best movie he's done.

 

He said he has had many good comments from vet's on the whole feel of the film. I agree and think it's a cracking film. Interesting enough i was out that night with the Warrant Officers and Sgts mess of 1 Royal Anglian who are all Afghan veterans and they all thought it captured the moral dilemma of war very well indeed.

 

Rich

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  • 4 weeks later...

If your a fan of this movie finally after 12 years of waiting a "special edition" has been released by "The Criterion Collection" last month loaded with bonus material.

 

Link:

http://www.criterion.com/films/27513-the-t...?q=autocomplete

 

It can also be purchased for less at Amazon, etc...

 

I just picked it up over the weekend and it is worth purchasing if you are a fan of this film. Some of the deleted scenes are really great, I do not want to spoil anything for anyone but the deleted scene entitled "Japanese POWs" is an extremely well-done, historically accurate, and intense scene well worth checking out and I wish it would have made it into the final-cut of the film. Also there is a documentary with James Jones' daughter, Kaylie Jones, and an essay written in the 60s by James Jones about "modern" war films that is just as relevant today and its arguments still hold true today just as they did when it was published in the 1960s. Both pieces are pretty interesting and put a lot of things into perspective. Numerous PTO veterans I have talked with stand by this film, just as veterans of the war in Europe stand by the first 15-30 minutes or so of SPR. In my opinion, "The Thin Red Line," "Kokoda" (Australian film), and episode 7 of "The Pacific" are the finest and most historically accurate depictions to date of the Pacific War ever put on film.

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  • 2 months later...

The best Movie I've ever seen hands down. Overall I think people don't like this film because they flatly don't understand it.

 

This film did the best job I've ever seen in exploring many diverse philosophical perspectives and the questions of different people when placed in a war zone.

It was a long film, yes but I think it needed to be to adequately explore all the characters effectively. I can't understand people who say they were bored by this film.

There was just so much there to really think about. If you want mindless shooting and killing (Action) with no point at all there are plenty of other films out there to fill that void but this one stands all by itself.

I saw SPR first and then this film when they were first released and I have to say that the TRL was way better. SPR's selling point to me was its effects but its story line was the same as all other war movies

and the characters in that film were extremely stereotypical. Effects become dated but a good story with good characters never dies. Witt's struggle with the meaning of life / death and his search for immortality was probably

the most touching and overall "human" aspect of the film as it portrays questions everyone deals with on a day to day basis, but more so I would imagine on a battlefield.

Finally the soundtrack was absolutely outstanding. The best soundtrack Zimmer has ever done for a motion picture. It really captured the emotions and thoughts that were portrayed by the actors. Indeed the soundtrack was so successful that elements of it can be heard to be recycled in the movie "Pear Harbor" which I think tried to recapture the emotions stirred by the original score.

 

Thats it...Sorry if I stepped on anybodies toes but that was my 5 minutes.

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Honestly, before I just thought this movie was 'ok' or 'pretty good'. But the more I think about it, I really really loved it. It's not something I'd buy but I sure as hell can't wait for it to come back on TV. Tivo is warm and ready

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Sgt_Rock_EasyCo

I hated this movie. Soldiers act like soldiers in all conditions of peace and war. If you look at movies/series like BOB and Pacific, you see actors that were trained to replicate the behavior of real military men. They did a pretty good job in those series' compared to rotten movies like Thin Red Line and Full Metal Jacket. You can tell in TRL and FMJ that these are civilian actors with an anti-war agenda. Particularly in TRL, where the American Troops were disorganized, motley, undiciplined, evil doers. Compare that with their Japanese counterparts, who were professional, diciplined, morale, religious, and somehow benign. It was just too much to swallow.

 

It's frustrating to watch a bunch of anti war activists portraying American Soldiers. Although there were examples of these negative traits on a few individuals throughout a theatre of war, placing every negative stereotype into one movie was ridiculous. For me, this made the movie totally unbelievable. In each story there should be a bad guy or antagonist- in this story the entire US Military was the antagonist. Funny thing, the rewriting of history to show that the Japanese were somehow the "good guys" and "victims". Talk about fiction.

 

The victims were the Civilian Populace, as well as soldiers on both sides. The antagonists to the civilians were the Japanese (slavery, torture, rape, murder, theft). It is totally well documented how almost purely evil the Japanese were to indigenous populations of occupied Islands and Countries; and yet, that was somehow ommitted by the production team of the Thin Red Line. Not to mention that the Japanese were torturous to their own troops.

 

They were not the "experts of the jungle" as touted by many. If you read "They Fought Alone", a book written by a US Army Officer that did not surrender in the Phillipines, but rather organized the resistance on the island of Mindanao- you will see that the Japanese were smelly, loud, mean, evil, immoral- and not so self sufficient. They rarely strayed from the coastal supply areas, were poor jungle fighters, but did excel in brutality to civilians ad POW's. The Americans did their damage to the Phillipinos after the war.

 

So I reject the Thin Red Line as anti-war (who isn't?) garbage based on fiction. I've seen some bad military units but to have this much incompetence was too much to accept. Same goes for the second half of Full Metal Jacket- Civilian Actors poorly portraying Marines. Long hair and non military behavior. Take a look at actual combat footage of Hue City and An Khe- Marines is Marines.

 

Rock

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I like the Thin Red Line, it is one of my favorite movie. This is not a war movie, it is a movie about human nature.

It is not anti-american neither pro-japanese, in my humble opinion. People who doesn't like it expected another war movie but it's not.

The war is just a background to portrays the human characters when confronted to critical situations.

I have never been to war so I can't talk about the aspects that relate to combat situation dilemma, the weight of command but the USMF members who did seem to have recognized situations they have been involved in and real life characters they have met when in the service.

I am with Hoovie, Jon Prince, Marineamtracer, Konig and all those who like this great movie.

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Some of you guys are using the "...it's an acquired taste..." argument. It's not that I don't understand the film. It's just that it sucked.

 

I don't have to watch it over and over to become enlightened by the layers of hidden meanings.

 

I can watch it once with the Hollywood scumbag actors in it......who all have their own issues.........and the movie director on crack who was in charge of the filming.........and knoweth that it doest suck.

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Sgt_Rock_EasyCo
Some of you guys are using the "...it's an acquired taste..." argument. It's not that I don't understand the film. It's just that it sucked.

 

I don't have to watch it over and over to become enlightened by the layers of hidden meanings.

 

I can watch it once with the Hollywood scumbag actors in it......who all have their own issues.........and the movie director on crack who was in charge of the filming.........and knoweth that it doest suck.

 

Exactly.

 

Rock

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