The Thin Red Line

Last night at work I decided to watch The Thin Red Line. Now I had seen this movie a long time ago, probably the year after it came out. My mom decided to rent it because she loves George Clooney (sadly for her Clooneys role is no longer than a minuet and a half and you can barely make out what hes saying because Sean Penns character is talking over it.) I didn't remember too much about the movie since I was maybe nine when I saw it. However, I knew it is one of the greater war films out there and I had to see it again. Anyways, The Thin Red Line tells the story of a group of American soldiers fighting in the Pacific Theater. The cast is one that is quite remarkable including Sean Penn, Adrian Brody, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Nick Nolte, and Elias Koteas. After watching the film I do what I always do, I went on IMDB to find more information about the film. I found out that when the movie was finished filming and had been through the editing process the total screen time was just about six hours. Of course the six hour version was not going to be played in theaters because most audiences would not have the attention span to pay mind to the entire film. The film was then cut down to just under three hours. This fact kind of bothered me. The three hour version of the film was great but because of how dense the story was I felt as those I was robbed of some of the character development. Adrian Brodys character had one line in the entire film. John Cusack had one major scene and then was barely seen through out the rest of the film. The only characters that were really consistent in the film was that of Sean Penns, Elis Koteas and James Cavizels.



Basically what I'm saying is that this film was so well done in every aspect, especially the cinematography, that I feel like fans of the film deserve to see the six hour version. It would be fantastic if they release this version on DVD for people to see. I dont think its right that Hollywood robbed fans of a version that would be more intuitive and exciting.