The Thin Red Line [Criterion Collection]

Director: Terrence Malick Terrence Malick

Overview

"Reclusive director Terrence Malick returned to the big screen after a 20-year absence to make an epic World War II movie the same year as Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. Malick's first two films, Badlands and Days of Heaven, were widely praised for beautifully capturing rich characters with grandiose ideals, and this theme is again explored in the tumultuous setting of wartime Pacific Islands. Using the old ""War is Hell"" adage, Malick uses an all-star cast to remind viewers that beauty and self-doubt still exist in times of horror and complex violence. Based on James Jones' novel of the same name, the story is more an intimate character drama than a loud action film. The story centers on an army unit called Charlie Company whose members are brought into the Pacific island of Guadalcanal. Filled with fear and self-doubt, these men have to prove their courage and abilities in an event that is bigger than all of them. Unlike Saving Private Ryan, the film is more an exploration of the inner dialogues instead of tactical maneuvering. They're not searching outwardly for a person (like Ryan) but inwardly for the courage to keep going. Like Malick's other films, it juxtaposes the beauty of its environments with the ugly realities of the time. The all-star cast includes many Hollywood heavies, including George Clooney, Woody Harrelson, John Cusack, and John Travolta, but the story really focuses on Nick Nolte as Colonel Tall and Sean Penn as First Sergeant Welsh, two tortured men dealing with the demons in their past as well as the ones on the battleground."

Product Details

Release Date:	09/28/2010
UPC:	0715515062312
Original Release:	1998
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:51:00
Sales rank:	14,106

Special Features

Audio commentary by director Terrence Malick and cinematographer John Toll; Audio commentary by Toll, production designer Jack Fish, and producer Grant Hill; Original theatrical trailer; Interviews with several of the film's actors, including Kirk Acevedo, Jim Caviezel, Thomas Jane, Ehas Koreas, Dash Mihok, and Sean Penn, composer Hans Zimmer, editors Billy Weber, Leslie Jones and Saar Kelin, and writer James Jone's daughter Kaylie Jones; New interview with casting director Dianne Crittenden, featuring archival audition footage; Fourteen minutes of outtakes; WWII newsreels from Guadaleanal and the Solomon Islands; Melanesian chants

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jimmy	Pvt. Robert Witt
Ben Chaplin	Pvt. Jack Bell
Dash Mihok	Pfc. Don Doll
Woody Harrelson	Sgt. William Keck
Nick Nolte	Lt. Col. Gordon Tall
Sean Penn	1st Sgt. Edward Welsh
John Cusack	Capt. John Gaff
Adrien Brody	Cpl. Geoffrey Fife
John Travolta	Brig. Gen. David Quintard
Jared Leto	2nd Lt. William Whyte
George Clooney	Capt. Charles Bosche
Elias Koteas	Capt. James Staros
John C. Reilly	Sgt. Maynard Storm
John Dee Smith	Pvt. Train
Kirk Acevedo	Pvt. Alfredo Tella
Mark Bonne Jr.	Pvt. Christopher Peale
Matt Doran	Pvt. Howard Coombs
Paul Gleeson	1st Lt. George "Brass" Band
Don Harvey	Sgt. Paul Becker
Arie Verveen	Pfc. Charlie Dale
Thomas Jane	Pvt. Ash
Donal Logue	Marl
Nick Stahl	Pfc. Edward Bead
Miranda Otto	Marty Bell
Tim Blake Nelson	Pvt. Brian Tills
Larry Romano	Pvt. Frank Mazzi
Penelope Allen	Witt's Mother
Danny Hoch	Pvt. Leonardo Carni
Benjamin Green	Melanesian Villager
Simon Billig	Lt. Col. Billig
Jarrod Dean	Cpl. Thorne
Travis Fine	Pvt. Weld
David Harrod	Cpl. Queen
Michael McGrady	Pvt. Floyd
Stephen Spacek	Cpl. Jenks
Steven Vidler	2nd Lt. Gore
Will Wallace	Pvt. Hoke,Pilot
Simon Westaway	First Scout
Daniel Wylie	Medic #1
Kick Gurry	Actor
Randall Craig Fleischer	Navy Gunner
Randall Duk Kim	Nisei Interpreter
Darrin Klimek	Actor
Dane Moreton	Pvt. Alexander
Ray Samuelson	Navy Soldier
Felix Williamson	Private Drake
Justin Ward	Navy Soldier
Norman Patrick Brown	Pvt. Henry
Sam Arnold	Sgt Mitchell
Hans Zimmer	Composer
John Savage	Sgt. McCron
Jim Caviezel	Actor

Technical Credits

Terrence Malick

Terrence Malick	Director,Screenwriter
Robert Michael Geisler	Producer
Sheila Davis Lawrence	Producer
John Roberdeau	Producer
Grant Hill	Producer
George Stevens Jr.	Executive Producer
Mark L. Mangino	Sound Effects
Christopher S. Aud	Sound Effects
Jayme S. Parker	Sound Effects
John Voss Bonds Jr.	Sound Effects
Andrew Somers	Sound Effects
Dianne Crittenden	Casting
Paul Brincat	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Reclusive director Terrence Malick's long-awaited return to filmmaking, The Thin Red Line is a beautifully rendered treatise on man and nature, revisiting World War II as few films have. Malick isn't interested in the traditional, linear rhythms of the James Jones novel on which the film is based; instead, he fashions an atypically unfocussed and philosophical war story, using the material as a blueprint. In the process, the director reveals the complex hopes and fears of men who are often portrayed as mere patriots in a fight they understand and accept. Some of the star cameos -- from John Travolta and George Clooney, among others -- may feel like just that: characters are intended to make transient but memorable appearances. Also uncharacteristic of war pictures is John Toll's lush cinematography, which offers the limitless beauty of the South Pacific as a startling backdrop to the folly of humanity. With The Thin Red Line, Malick creates an anti-war movie that is as intelligent and visually beautiful as it is unique.