The Thin Blue Line

Starring:Randall Adams, David Harris (III), Gus Rose, Jackie Johnson, Marshall Touchton, Dale Holt, Sam Kittrell, Hootie Nelson, Dennis Johnson (II), Floyd Jackson, Edith James, Dennis White (II), Don Metcalfe, Emily Miller, R.L. Miller, Elba Carr, Michael Randell, Melvyn Carson Bruder, Adam Goldfine (II), Derek Horton
Director: Errol Morris
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Great Rowan Atkinson
Simply wonderful
The Thin Blue Line - The Complete Line-Up
THE BEST BRITISH COMEDY I HAVE SEEN AND OWN
Thin Blue Line - Always Funny!

The Thin Blue Line - The Complete Line-Up
Starring: Thin Blue Line
Manufacturer: BBC Warner
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Television | Genres | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Comedy | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Television | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Black Adder - The Complete Collector's Set
Mr. Bean - The Whole Bean (Complete Set)
Fawlty Towers - The Complete Series
The Vicar of Dibley - The Divine Collection
Father Ted - The Holy Trilogy

ASIN: B0001JXP8E
Release Date: 2004-06-15

Amazon.com

Set in a fictitious British suburb, The Thin Blue Line is the wickedly funny story of a rather down-at-heel police station headed by Inspector Raymond Fowler (Rowan Atkinson, best known as Mr. Bean), a pompous, repressed but well-intentioned anachronism who wants to do the right thing but who is constantly hampered by his own shortcomings, not to mention his blundering Criminal Investigation Department colleagues. Atkinson expertly balances his character's inflated sense of self-importance with the insight born of old-school police values, for which his galumphing, shiny-suited CID counterpart, DI Grim (David Haig) has no time at all. Strongest among the supporting cast is Sgt. Pauline Dawkins (Serena Evans), who also happens to be Fowler's live-in lover--a moral dilemma that his traditional values won't allow him to resolve. He salves his conscience by avoiding sex with her whenever possible, an amusing subplot enhanced by Evans's brilliant performance--she positively vibrates with contained, ladylike lust in a manner only equaled by Penelope Keith in the classic sitcom To the Manor Born. Scripted by Ben Elton, this series manages to satirize provincialism, institutionalized pig-headedness, and dated moral values in one fell swoop, while also being chock-full of quick-fire, Black Adder-esque dialogue. --Roger Thomas

Description

Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean, Black Adder) stars as Inspector Raymond Fowler, leader of a dedicatedly incompetent squad of keystone kops in a tiny British town.

Customer Reviews:

Great Rowan Atkinson.......2007-04-11

This is a fun series. Atkinson (as Inspector Fowler) is the head of the uniformed division at a small police station. His crew consists of a goofy chocholic, a rather outspoken female officer, a Jamaican officer who speaks perhaps too much, and Atkinson's girlfriend, also an officer.
Fowler is fiercely for the Queen, against injustice, and pretty much a well meaning but quiet fool.
Fowler is blindly naive to the needs of his girlfriend.
Atkinson is joined by a cast of plainclothes officers who are goofier than anyone could believe. Fowler's plainclothes counterpart has one of the best jibberish lines you've ever seen and worth listening to over and over.
If you like Mr. Bean, you will like this series. If you like Rowan Atkinson, you will like this. If you like British comedy, you will like this

Simply wonderful.......2007-03-10

This series is so rich in its presentation of daily life in England that you get a real feel for being there. Wonderful characters played by wonderful actors. You will be glad you bought it so you can share it with others while you watch it over and over.

The Thin Blue Line - The Complete Line-Up.......2007-02-21

this item does not match our regional settings, and therefore I cannot view the DVDs on my machine

THE BEST BRITISH COMEDY I HAVE SEEN AND OWN.......2007-01-31

I love Fawlty Towers, I love Black Adder, I love the Vicar of Dibley, and I love Jeeves & Wooster. But none of these compare to the humor of The Thin Blue Line. My daughter thought nothing could be funnier than Chef and Jeeves & Wooster so I bought her The Thin Blue Line and we have watched it over and over and over and it is still funny!!!! I only regret that there were so few episodes. If I could rate it 10 stars I would.

Thin Blue Line - Always Funny!.......2007-01-15

Love this series - we watch it over and over. If anyone loves British humor, this one won't disappoint. We had several episodes recorded from BBC America, but love having the DVD because there are several we haven't seen. Wish they had made even more!

Average customer rating:

Beware, It CAN happy to YOU
The Thin Blue Line
Early Errol Morris film still packs a wallop
Incredible, gripping documentary film that exposes an extreme miscarriage of justice
It changed my position on the Death Penalty

The Thin Blue Line
Starring: Randall Adams , David Harris (III) , Gus Rose , Jackie Johnson , and Marshall Touchton
Director: Errol Morris
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Gates of Heaven
Capturing the Friedmans
Harlan County, U.S.A. - Criterion Collection
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control
The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

ASIN: B00094AS72
Release Date: 2005-07-26

Description

Academy AwardÂ(r)-winner* Errol Morris broke new ground with the "riveting" (LA Weekly) film that dramatically reenacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas. So powerful and convincing that it helped free an innocent man from prison, The Thin Blue Line is "one of the finest documentary features ever made" (Boxoffice). On November 28, 1976, when drifter Randall Dale Adams was picked up by teenage runaway David Harris, his fate was sealed. That night, a police officer was shot in cold blood. And though all the facts pointed to Harris, a sociopath with a lengthy rap sheet, Adams was convicted of capital murder. Was Adamsguilty? And if not, can Morris unlock the secrets of this baffling case? *2003: Documentary Feature, The Fog of War (with Michael Williams)

Customer Reviews:

Beware, It CAN happy to YOU.......2007-02-05

this is a must see documentary! investigative reporting at its best! this story assisted in setting Randall Adams, an innocent man, free. I can't help but think that Errol Morris also wanted to point out how our system has become a big game of wins and losses at any and all expense. unfortunately we have forgotten this lesson all too soon. speaking from experience. Get this documentary and beware. It could happen to you too!

The Thin Blue Line.......2006-11-10

Excellent. Best documentary I have seen. Very effective way of doing all the interviews just by getting comments without interviewer present asking questions. Don't have to get the interviewer's spin through the questions on the topic. Just the facts, ma'am.

Early Errol Morris film still packs a wallop .......2006-04-27

Errol Morris' documentary works are unique in that one often remembers the story telling and film making techniques employed as much as the subjects being examined. Here, for example, there's a moody Philip Glass score, artful slow-motion dramatizations of witness testimony, and- in what has evolved into a typical Morris trademark- inserts of props and old movie clips to underscore what interview subjects are saying. In one scene, for instance, we see a haunting image of a swinging watch on the end of a chain when one of the subjects discusses how the female police officer on the scene was ultimately hypnotized to help her recall details of the crime. To his credit, however, Mr. Morris never quite lets his showmanship, as memorable as it can often be, upstage the subject at hand. As a result, "The Thin Blue Line" ultimately resulted in an innocent man being set free.

Unfortunately, viewers won't learn that fact from this DVD, which includes just the movie and no further information about the wheels that were set in motion after the film was released. The only "extra" here is a 27-minute episode of Mr. Morris' "First Person" TV interview program, which features an interview with a man who is an expert on "extreme evil". The interview subject spends the show enthusiastically talking about lovely folks like the Boston Strangler and Hitler, then- in the best moment of the show- suddenly gets tongue tied and is at a loss for words when Morris asks him, "Now, what do you think there is about you that makes you so interested in heinous crimes and truly evil acts?" It's a hoot.

In any event, the TV episode is an interesting little addition to the DVD, and it does tie in somewhat to the theme of "The Thin Blue Line", but I would have preferred some specific, after-the-fact information about the movie itself rather than a sample of Mr. Morris' TV show.

Still, aficionados of true-crime stories and documentary film making shouldn't hesitate to pick up this DVD. More than fifteen years after the fact (yes, it's already been that long since this movie was in theaters), "The Thin Blue Line" remains powerful and engrossing, making you truly care about both the specific case in question and the larger criminal justice issues the case illuminates.

Incredible, gripping documentary film that exposes an extreme miscarriage of justice.......2006-03-29

This is a frightening look at how badly justice can miscarry.

It's the true story of Randall Dale Adams, who was wrongly convicted of murdering Dallas, Texas police officer Robert Wood. This gripping documentary lets the story tell itself, with the group of people that were directly involved in the case, witnesses, law enforcement officers, the judge and the lawyers. The film, with an incredible music score that sounds like musical teardrops, pulled me deeply into this real life drama to the point one wonders how in the world could something like this happen to an innocent man.

Notice what is stated about the prosecutors in Dallas.

First Assistant District Attorney Douglas Mulder, the prosecutor in this case, should have been interviewed for this Thin Blue Line DVD that was released.

What would have happened to Randall Dale Adams, if the public had not viewed this film?

The book, Adams V. Texas, tells the story of Randall Dale Adams.

It changed my position on the Death Penalty.......2006-02-04

After seeing this film, I am now opposed to the death penalty. I do not believe it is immoral for the state to take the life of a murderer, but where the possibility exists that an innocent person could be executed, there "life" should be taken by imprisonment until death, preserving the possibility of a repeal.

The film is shocking in recounting the conduct of the Dallas judicial system, which came within hours of executing a totally innocent person.

Cop-bashers will find much to cheer about in this film, but I believe that ordinary law-abiding people will be challenged by the innocent mistakes made by some individuals, as well as see first-hand that less-than-innocent "shortcuts" to justice as well as outright fraud that nearly took the life of Randall Adams.

See it for yourself. You will not be sorry you did.

The Errol Morris DVD Collection (Gates of Heaven/The Thin Blue Line/Vernon, Florida)

Average customer rating:

Dare to Change Your Views
One of the great documentary filmmakers
About freakin' time!

The Errol Morris DVD Collection (Gates of Heaven/The Thin Blue Line/Vernon, Florida)
Starring: Joe Payne , Snake Reynolds , Claude Register , Howard Pettis , and George Harris (VI)
Director: Errol Morris
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Television | Genres | DVD | Video

Television | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( E ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Errol Morris' First Person - The Complete Series
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control
Salesman - Criterion Collection
Mr. Death: The Rise & Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr.
Grizzly Man

ASIN: B00094AS8G
Release Date: 2005-07-26

Amazon.com

These are the three films that first made Errol Morris's name as a documentary filmmaker, defining a unique artist with an unsparing eye for the truth--the truth of human behavior or legal authority. His first feature, 1978's Gates of Heaven, is a wildly funny and surprisingly moving look at pet cemeteries, and the people who invest an extraordinary degree of emotion in their little darlings. Already Morris is locked into his straight-on camera style, which allows his subjects to soliloquize at length about their most obsessive notions.

Listen to our interview with Errol Morris.

Vernon, Florida (1981) is very much of a piece with Gates, as Morris travels to a small town in Florida's panhandle and allows the oddball denizens to babble on about anything. It has always been an open question whether Morris's blank stare encourages laughter at the expense of his subjects or simply wide-eyed wonder that folks like this carry on in the world, but Vernon viewers will likely be both amused and astonished.

The Thin Blue Line is like In Cold Blood in the sense that it examines a real-life murder case, but it goes much further than reportage: Morris's investigations actually helped alter the judgments in the Texas case, especially affecting the conviction of a hitchhiker named Randall Adams. And the movie is a work of art: a hypnotic bad dream with surreal images and a lulling rhythmic movement (enhanced by Philip Glass's music). It's the kind of movie that might have taken place in Adams's mind as he sat on Death Row, replaying the events that made his life go wrong. --Robert Horton

Errol Morris and the Art of the Documentary

More Errol Morris DVDs
Documentaries
Documentary Essentials

Description

The Thin Blue Line On November 28, 1976, when drifter Randall Dale Adams was picked up by teenage runaway David Harris, his fate was sealed. That night, a police officer was shot in cold blood. And though all the facts pointed to Harris, a sociopath with a lengthy rap sheet, Adams was convicted of capital murder. Was Adams guilty? And if not, does Morris unlock the secrets of this baffling case?
Vernon, Florida For the inhabitants of this Southern town, there's no place like home... for the rest of us, there's no place like Vernon, Florida! From the passionate turkey-hunter to the peculiar pet collector, each member of this motley crew has a story to tell. And in the masterful hands of Morris, their obsessions and eccentricities reveal the heart and soul of an unabashedly unique slice of the American pie.
Gates Of Heaven When financial hardship forces California's Foothill Pet Cemetery to close its pearly gates, its dearly departed loved ones are relocated to the nearby Bubbling Well Pet Memorial Park. During this tense transition, filmmaker Morris meets a collection of eccentric cemetery operators and anguished animal-lovers and elicits a meditation on love and loneliness that's "strange, chilling [and] appallingly funny" (Newsweek).

Customer Reviews:

Dare to Change Your Views.......2005-12-28

Great documentaries change your views.

In law school, I watched 'The Thin Blue Line' in one of my first classes on capital punishment jurisprudence. It changed my views, as it demonstrates how our justice system can "do it's job" and still get it completely and tragically wrong. Although I am not a fan of Philip Glass, I do have to admit that even the soundtrack urges the viewers contemplation of the material.

I am very much looking forward to the previously unavailable 'Gates of Heaven' (because I am a pet person) and 'Vernon, Florida' (because I escaped from a small Florida town after high school).

One of the great documentary filmmakers.......2005-09-19

Errol Morris has a real knack for getting people to just talk, and talk, and talk for long periods of time. And the things that come out of people's mouths is remarkable. Gates of Heaven is one of my favorite movies of all time. It's funny but also thought provoking in its humor. The Thin Blue Line is quite convincing, and is so convincing that the film helped exonerate a man convicted for murder in Texas. Vernon, FL is interesting, but doesn't quite measure up to the previous two films in my opinion. In any event, this collection is well worth a look.

About freakin' time!.......2005-08-02

I have waited for these films to finally be released on DVD, and was rewarded with three at once. There's not a lot to say about "Gates of Heaven" or "Vernon, Florida" other than they showcase Morris' curiosity and fascination with finding wonder in the mundane. Morris just plants his camera and listens as people go off on tangents that are seemingly unrelated to the subject of the documentary but are mini-films unto themselves (e.g. the elderly woman in "Gates of Heaven" who briefly touches on the pet cemetary being rlocated and then goes into this long monologue about her grandson, his failed relationships and her heartbreak at his never coming to visit).

"Thin Blue Line" is to documentary what "In Cold Blood" was to non-fiction writing. Morris uses re-enactments along with his interviews to tell the story of a murdered policeman and the man arrested for the crime. Morris' investigative work led to the convicted man's release and the conviction of the real killer.

This is some of the best documentary work ever filmed.

Average customer rating:

The Thin Blue Line [Region 2]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

The Thin Blue Line - The Complete Line-Up

ASIN: B000050GOW

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

The Brooke Ellison Story

Face to Face: The First Seven Years : DVD

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (REGION 1) (N

DVD: The Enemy Below

Spuren von Rot