The Thin Red Line
The Thin Red Line is a 1998 American epic war film written and directed by Terrence Malick. It is the second film adaptation of the 1962 novel by James Jones, following the 1964 film. Telling a fictionalized version of the Battle of Mount Austen, which was part of the Guadalcanal Campaign in the Pacific Theater of the Second World War, it portrays U.S. soldiers of C Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, played by Sean Penn, Jim Caviezel, Nick Nolte, Elias Koteas, and Ben Chaplin. The novel's title alludes to a line from Rudyard Kipling's poem "Tommy", from Barrack-Room Ballads, in which he calls British foot soldiers "the thin red line of heroes", referring to the stand of the 93rd Regiment in the Battle of Balaclava of the Crimean War.
Plot
United States Army Private Witt goes AWOL from his unit in 1942 to live among the carefree Melanesian natives in the South Pacific. He is found and imprisoned on a troopship by First Sergeant Welsh of his company. Witt is not allowed to rejoin his unit, and is instead punitively assigned to act as a stretcher bearer for the upcoming campaign.
Awards
Cast
- Adrien Brody
- Arie Verveen
- Ben Chaplin
- Danny Hoch
- Darrin Klimek
- Dash Mihok
- Donal Logue
- Donald Patrick Harvey
- Elias Koteas
- George Clooney
- Jared Leto
- Jim Caviezel
- John C. Reilly
- John Cusack
- John Savage
- John Travolta
- Ken Mitsuishi
- Kirk Acevedo
- Larry Romano
- Mark Boone Junior
- Matt Doran
- Miranda Otto
- Nick Nolte
- Nick Stahl
- Paul Gleeson
- Penelope Allen
- Randall Duk Kim
- Sean Penn
- Thomas Jane
- Tim Blake Nelson
- Travis Fine
- Will Wallace
- Woody Harrelson