1964's "The Thin Red Line" was unfairly neglected for too long, US troops fighting the Japanese during WW2, Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands to be specific, just over 2000 miles northeast of Australia (perhaps due to its being released by a small distribution outfit, Allied Artists, rather than one of the major studios). The 1962 novel was the second in a trilogy of war stories authored by James Jones, preceded by "From Here to Eternity," all based on personal experience and the admission that it would be all he had to say on 'the human condition of war' (the arid shooting locations took place in Spain). The all or nothing Colonel (James Philbrook) looks disapprovingly on the Charlie Company Captain (Ray Daley) who questions the odds of battle in a conscious attempt to save lives rather than risk everything no matter the cost. The central focus lies upon raw recruit Private Doll (Keir Dullea), endeavoring to steal an officer's pistol to give himself an edge to survive, against battle tested Sgt. Welsh (Jack Warden), attempting to bully, shame or even lie to toughen his men into a stronger fighting force. Doll's first encounter with a Jap assassin results in his killing the enemy several times over, evidently crossing the 'thin red line' between sanity and madness but indeed giving him greater resolve to accompish his task even when obstinately going head to head against Welsh. Those accustomed to the usual fantasy horror titles so popular on screen may want to turn a blind eye to the real life horror presented so bluntly in this almost forgotten gem, later remade in bloated fashion in 1998, but so far removed from the brutal original that viewers proceed at a discreet distance. The sight of a screaming soldier with his insides blown up is not likely to be forgotten, nor is the compassion shown by Warden's hard nosed sergeant, using three injections of morphine just to keep the dying man quiet (the actor had been an experienced paratrooper during the war). Various booby traps left by the crafty Japanese, in a bejeweled burial plot meant to lure the greedy to their doom, or lying beneath carefully concealed camouflage, one never knows where the enemy may be hiding, nor just how heavy the cost to our incredibly brave troops. Director Andrew Marton was the maestro behind epic battle scenes from 1962's THE LONGEST DAY, and would work again with producer Philip Yordan on Dana Andrews' CRACK IN THE WORLD before switching to television's DAKTARI and COWBOY IN AFRICA. Cleveland-born Keir Dullea went on to earn screen immortality in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey," later sticking to Canadian horror with "Black Christmas," "Welcome to Blood City," or "The Haunting of Julia."
Review of The Thin Red Line
