THE THIN BLUE LINE from IFC FILMS (1988). A non-fiction film directed by Errol Morris. The Academy Award "documentary" branch didn't nominate this because it was considered, "non-fiction." It was a box office hit that reached $1.2 million in the United States. Newspaper ads promoted it as a current documentary.
Purist's of this genre condemned it because the director had used re-enactments which is a traditional "no-no." However - there are no rules saying that any filmmaker cannot use re-enactments in a documentary.
Top film critics voted this as their favorite of 1988. Gene Siskel of "At the Movies with Siskel & Ebert" had positioned the film at number #7 with his 1988 top 10 list. The Library of Congress selected it as a "cultural" preservation into their National Film Registry (2001).
I watched "The Thin Blue Line" in an independent movie theater at Portland, Oregon (1988). It tells the true story of a Texas police officer who was shot and killed (1976). Randall Adams was convicted and sentenced to death. He wasn't even in the car during a routine police stop on a darkened highway.
The film gained national attention and the judicial system decided that Randall Adams was innocent. He was released from prison after 12 years (1989). The supposed killer was convicted of another murder and put to death by lethal injection (2004). Five witnesses committed perjury and there is no news on whether they were punished for it. The prosecuting attorney was not interviewed for this film.
Randall Adams died from brain cancer (2010).
Click poster below to watch the film on "Amazon Prime."
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