Thin Red Line

January 15, 1999

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An historic movie that would have been better if more of it had been left on the cutting room floor is Thin Red Line. This film shows the courage, bravery and fear of the men who fought at Guadalcanal during World War II. This movie accurately depicts the conflict and confusion of the men on the front line of battle. In one scenario, Lt. Colonel Gordon Tall and Captain John Goff played by Nick Nolte and John Cusack, respectively. In the middle of the battle, Colonel Tall used his radio and orders Captain Goff and his men to charge up a hill and destroy a Japanese bunker. Captain Goff refused to follow the order because he believed his men would be slaughtered, but he offered to flank to the right around the bottom of the hill and take the bunker from the rear. The Colonel is upset and says when he arrives at the front lines he will take command of the Captains outfit and lead them up the hill himself. It’s a good thing I wasn’t there – I would have given him my machine gun and said, “Go ahead! Attack that hill!” When the Colonel arrived, he started giving orders and within minutes the men had taken the hill. This film is full of action and dramatic scenes of men before, during, and after the battle. Lt. Whyte, played by Jared Leto, had flashbacks of his beautiful wife throughout the movie. As if that were not bad enough, he narrated his flashbacks! The pain was excruciating! About one hour into this three hour fun-fest, I found myself thinking, “Is this about over or should I seek out the concession stand for another bag of popcorn?” If this movie had been shorter I would have given it something higher than a C rating.

This movie has been given an R rating by the MPAA

Although I am blind, I can appreciate a good movie as well as sighted individuals.
I rely more on a good story line than special effects.