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The Thin Blue Line

Documentary and Nonfiction Film

The Thin Blue Line is a 1988 American documentary directed by Errol Morris examining the 1976 murder of a Dallas police officer and the wrongful conviction of Randall Dale Adams, a man with no direct connection to the crime, based largely on the account of another man who was later shown to have likely committed it. Morris's investigation, presented through stylized re-enactments and extended interviews rather than a conventional documentary narration, uncovered evidence suggesting that several witnesses had committed perjury during the original trial. Publicity generated by the film contributed directly to Adams's conviction being overturned and to his release in 1989 after twelve years in prison, making The Thin Blue Line one of the clearest examples of a documentary film producing a concrete real-world legal outcome.

Facts
Release Year
1988 1
Country
United States 1
Classification
Original Language
English 1
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation
  • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Blue_Line_(1988_film), opening sentence
    The Thin Blue Line is a 1988 American documentary film by Errol Morris, about the trial and conviction of Randall Dale Adams for the 1976 shooting of Dallas police officer Robert W. Wood.
  • The Thin Blue Line, Description, original language
    The Thin Blue Line is a 1988 American documentary directed by Errol Morris examining the 1976 murder of a Dallas police officer and the wrongful conviction of Randall Dale Adams, a man with no direct connection to the crime, based largely on the account of another man who was later shown to have likely committed it.
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