The Thin Red Line (1964)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Andrew Marton

Writers:

Bernard Gordon (writer)
James Jones (novel)

Release Date:

2 May 1964 (USA)

Genre:

War | Drama

Tagline:

Great Books Make Great Motion Pictures!

Plot:

In Guadalcanal during World War II, a private and his sergeant clash during the heat of battle with the Japanese.

Plot Keywords:

Anti War | Based On Novel | Independent Film

Cast

Keir Dullea	...	Pvt. Doll
Jack Warden	...	First Sgt. Welsh
James Philbrook	...	Col. Tall
Bob Kanter	...	Fife (as Robert Kanter)
Ray Daley	...	Capt. Stone
Merlyn Yordan	...	Judy
Kieron Moore	...	Lt. Band
Jim Gillen	...	Capt. Gaff
Charles Stalmaker		(as Charles Stalnaker)
Steve Rowland	...	Mazzi
Gary Lasdun
Eddy King		(as Edward King)
Jeffrey O'Kelly
Jack Gaskins
Joe Collins

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company:

A.C.E. Films

Movie Connections:

Version of The Thin Red Line (1998)

Not at All What James Jones was writing about

The last line in the novel reads as follows:"One day one of their number would write a book about it all, but none of them would believe it, because none of them would remember it that way."

Jones was saying that their is a tendency to (for lack of a better term) gloss over what happened in war, and the way people write about war, and the way people film war, is not at all how veterans remember it.

This film is not really at all what Jones was writing about. The film fails to find any horror in the war-- it fails to show the war as written by James Jones.

It is rather interesting to watch, because it shares many scenes with the Terrence Malick film (which is the far superior work), and it is fun to compare the scenes.

That said, the two actors who play Col. Tall and Stone (Stein in the book, Staros in the Malick film) are both laugh out loud bad, and seem to be completely ignorant of how to effectively portray their characters (Nolte and Koteas, on the other hand, aren't).

But to give the film some credit, it features a great performance by Kier Dullea or 2001: A Space Oddyssey fame, and an interesting one from Jack Warden as Welsh.

I think that the film tries to show the horror, but the production code, the script, or director didn't want to or couldn't figure out how to. I appreciated this film more for what it tried to say than what it actually said or HOW it said it. I would marginally reccommend it, mainly to those unfamiliar with the superior Malick film.