MOVIE · 1988
The Thin Blue Line
CrimeDocumentary103 min
A Dallas police officer is shot during a 1976 traffic stop, and the case ends with Randall Dale Adams convicted of murder. This documentary returns to the investigation and the trial, picking through witness statements, police accounts, and courtroom testimony to show how much of the story does not line up. What looks settled starts to come apart as conflicting versions of the night pile up and attention shifts toward David Harris, the teenage drifter who was with Adams. Director Errol Morris follows the loose ends surrounding the case, including the role of psychiatrist Dr. James Grigson, and builds a portrait of a conviction resting on shaky ground.
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