I have had this on DVD since it was available, and loved it. I have told so many people about this movie, and they have no idea what I am talking about. Most underrated film. Every time I face a challenge in life, I just picture Nolte yelling into that phone "Stiles! We're gonna take that hill! There will be no flanking maneuver".
Probably best and most profound war film I’ve ever seen. Watched again for a second time in my mid life. First time in my early twenties…when I was too young to understand the depths being portrayed. What a masterpiece.
My older brother was an extra in this movie as one of (obviously) a Japanese soldier. He was in his early 20s. He got to meet all the greats in this underappreciated cast.
That’s amazing! The Japanese actors were phenomenal! By chance, could you tell us what the Japanese soldier is saying to James Caviesel when he is surrounded at the end?
@@taylor.rafferty the is a translation video of that scene some on yt. The japanese soldier says something about not wanting to kill witt but he killed japanese soldiers
I remember Nick nolte rocking up to Port Douglas in long grey hair and rainbow long pants and 4 body guards hahahaha he lost them the day after! I worked on the film for 4 months and had a ball with the actors and Extras , We would have lunch and Terry would get up halfway eating dinner and grab a cameraman and go film a bird in a tree lol great man!!! ..Private Pj Jackson core 2 TRL...
Seeing this movie for the first time in the theatre a brief set-up scene towards the beginning brought to me a strong sense of deja vu. My experience as a Vietnam infantry veteran bore little resemblance to that of the movie characters but for I again felt the heat, tasted the dust, could smell the smells...I was there for a brief moment. A beautiful movie.
It is what a great film can do. Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space beyond earth, said he went a second time after seeing Kubrick's '2001'. I think 'Red Line' is beautiful, too.
Greatest "Movies" of all time. This really was a poem, one of the absolute most legendary things ever captured on film... Wow. ❤ I will *ALWAYS* remember this as one of the most emotional times I have ever felt in my life and every time I watch it. Incredibly visceral, gripping, and feeling like I'm actually there with them.
I found it incredible that saving private ryan won the awards that year, and it was up against this.... This is a masterpiece, spr is an alright hollywood action film... what the hell!
The oscars are bought and paid for. Studios spend millions holding banquets to win these awards. The studio that produced the thin red line probably wasnt willing to shell out for votes. Shakespeare in love won because weinstein campaigned and wined and dined the voters
A Masterpiece. Don't forget the source material: “This great evil, where's it come from? How'd it steal into the world? What seed, what root did it grow from? Who's doing this? Who's killing us, robbing us of life and light, mocking us with the sight of what we might've known? Does our ruin benefit the earth, does it help the grass to grow, the sun to shine? Is this darkness in you, too? Have you passed through this night?”
I've tried to watch "Thin Red Line" twice, but failed because it felt too traumatic and my childhood taught me only blind obedience to stay alive, and not courage. After watching you men talk about it, I am going to try once again tonight. You feel worth it.
It is not a film for entertainment. The film and the book are for thinking. Thinking is hard sometimes. "Thinking, existentially speaking, is a solitary but not a lonely business; solitude is that human situation in which I keep myself company." Arendt "The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil." More Hannah Arendt.
I worked this movie (art department; credited) & can tell you they were actually international exchange students from James Cook University. They were amazingly enthusiastic & big time practical jokers.
Saw it in the theatre and was somewhat disappointed. I didn't quite understand what I had seen. It was simply too much to comprehend in one viewing. I bought the DVD and THEN it began to make sense... Perhaps, the most beautiful film ever made. An absolute masterpiece of emotion. Now, I get it. Thank you, Terry.
The novel the film is based on is amazing and captures so many nuances of military life on operations. As a thirty year veteran it really struck a cord, I read it whilst actually at war in Iraq.
If you get a chance read the book "The Thin Red Line". It is the second book in a trilogy written by James Jones. The first book was "From Here to Eternity" and the third was called "Whistle".
James Ramon Jones was an American novelist known for his explorations of World War II and its aftermath. He won the 1952 National Book Award for his first published novel, From Here to Eternity, which was adapted for the big screen immediately and made into a television series a generation later. He witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which led to his first published novel, From Here to Eternity (1951). The Thin Red Line (1962) reflected his combat experiences on Guadalcanal and Whistle (posthumous, 1978) was based on his hospital stay in Memphis, Tennessee, recovering from surgery on an ankle he had reinjured on the island.[3]
Hugely underrated masterpiece. Not your typical action/war movie especially given its meditative and philosophical elements and its questioning of life and the meaning of life. Beautifully poetic! I have friends of mine who are action fans and they just didn't get this movie. Little wonder Private Ryan took out the Oscars.
The Thin Red Line - A True Perspective from maybe one of many stories of this gruesome time. . My Father was 27 years old when he enlisted in the Marines. He did not have to go to war because of his age, but he considered it his duty to serve his country. On the Navy ship that took his battalion to Guadalcanal, he met a young 17 year old Marine private named William Cameron. They became friends and Dad took him under his wing. William was young and scared. As the landing craft transported the Marines to shore they did not know what they would face. My Dad winked at William and said “It will be all right kid.” The landing was safe, but the jungles and mountains were formidable. The heat and humidity were intense. Shortly after they came ashore there were airstrikes on the American fleet by Japanese fighter pilots. Several of our ships were sunk and the Navy pulled away from the area leaving our men on the island without rations and supplies. For weeks and months they subsisted on rice and what rations they had. Jungle combat with the Japanese was fierce and brutal. In the end, they secured the airstrip and defeated the Japanese. The movie, The Thin Red Line recounts the events that took place there. I have seen it but do not want to see it again. He was a member of Rocky’s Raiders, a group of brave Marines who stormed the beaches of Guadalcanal in The Soloman Islands, north of Australia and south of Japan. It was one of the first offensive moves of the United States against the Japanese. It was important to secure the island for it’s airstrip so that we could be within striking distance of the Japanese nation. Michael Bobik
I saw it at the Ziegfeld in nyc 3x and then on small screen another 4x. For me, it's in the top echelon of war films with Come and See by Klimov, Shame by Bergman, Apocalypse Now and Dr. Strangelove.
Always felt true sorrow for the captain getting relieved of command just because he wouldn't send his men to death that shows balls in the theatre of war a decision like that, doing the right thing and was punished for his moral standing. I can't imagine how he'd feel and I don't want to. Thankless is the right word but just cuz it's the right word doesn't make it the right thing....
This reminds me of how Heaven's Gate was made, arguably the best Western movie ever. It also focussed on characters and environment and mise en scène rather than on action spectacle and rushed plot line and symbolistic visual effects.
I always felt that Jim Caviezel should have had the role of Inman in Cold Mountain. When I read the book it was his voice I heard, or at least the voice of Pvt Witt. Just my opinion.
He’s a good actor. I watched Dejavu after I saw TTRL and it was really unsettling to see him play an evil person. He outshines most of the A listers in this movie. The Japanese actors, Ben chaplain, and Sean Penn were also good.
The movie was great but so is the book. I recommend it. You learn more about the characters. Then when you watch the movie you see the little details they preserved in the movie. Example - In the book they steal Thompson machine guns from the Marines. One of the ones who gets a Thompson was Sgt. Storm (John C Reilly's character). In the movie you see he is one of the few guys with a Thompson.
@@thomasmckeon9683 It's a true story.The background to the story is the battle that author James Jones was in on Guadalcanal. For that reason, it's also more of a narrative than his earlier book, From here to eternity. Both films are better than their books, which are all over the place. The screenplays are much tighter and more dramatic.
If they interviewed every actor who worked on this movie (whether they were in the final cut or not) then this documentary would be longer than World War II.
War movies have a way of teaching you something beautiful about life. What Terry did in a way was take what he knows those war movies teach an intelligent audience, define the feelings behind those lessons, and make a movie about that entirely. The war is just the backdrop.
having been an extra (not on TRL) and fairly well paid for doing next to nothing, I always wondered how much the support actors made, in this case guys like Acevedo, Jane and Koteas.
It is rumored to have been scale pay ($10k) for the supporting actors including Clooney and Travolta. Actors were begging to be in this movie and willing to be in it for free to work with Mallick. Mallick was considered a legend that retired from filmmaking for over 20 years. He came back for this film and no one knew if this would be his only film so a lot of actors were dying to be in it
I'm sorry they didn't include the short guy who provides the narration for the film; I thought he did such a magnificent job, both on-screen and in voice-over. Don't know his name.
It’s interesting how Malik focused so much on Dash Mihok over some of the more prominent actors in the movie. I think Adrian Brody was nearly cut entirely from the film. I wonder if it was because Malik viewed him as a better actor or just focused on him by default in the editing room
Leto had been in quite a bit before the movie, and his character was going to die early anyway. I think one of Malik’s devices to create realism was that he killed a few of his big name actors right off the bat, along with Woody Harrelson. He also kept two massive heavy hitters, John Travolta and George Clooney largely out of the film.
Not many ticks, it's too wet, but the leeches, scorpions, snakes & centipedes were abundant. I was crew (art department) on this & lived in the area for 6 years.
Great pity SPR coincided with this movie. A far better film, more meaningful. Everyones personal dilemmas as they are swept up in events beyond their control. And trying to find a meaning to it. Always go back for a viewing when kitch threatens to take over! Some memorable and intense scenes that are hard to forget
SPR got to Dramatic for me, some over acting. The Thin Red Line was more to my liking. I suppose 20 years in the light Infantry and many years of that 20 done down in the Jungles of Central America. I know how that Jungle ain't no joke, the creepy crawlers, cuna grass, vampire bats, African bee's. Who is the most Valuable man in a unit down in the Jungle? The Navigators, those oh so few who had the nack, who had that GIFT, saved the rest of the men So Much Pain in those unforgiving Jungles.
Its a very good movie..it really is.. but war is not a poem. Nor should it be presented as such. War is way more dull and boring, and far less visually appealing than we as the audience are use to by now. All this philosophical dialogue makes for a great screen play and is admittedly very engaging and character building... but it just really leaves us with a rather distorted idea of how people behaved and talked back then
This movie was a bit too introspective and painful to watch. It wasn't entertaining to me. God bless thos poor young mens souls who's lives were snuffed out because of evil old men.
This movie sucks so bad. I love Tom Jane as much as the next guy and Woody Harrelson is normally a solid actor. But this movie is a joke. Can't believe that they actually shot it at the right islands. Nolte is the only one who understands what movie he is in. This is philosphy, acting and a war movie for people who are mentally challenged.
