Comments on: ‘The Thin Red Line’ DVD: First Look At Mickey Rourke & 8 Other Outtakes From Terrence Malick’s War Film

By: L. French

L. French — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 02:32:33 +0000

The "Bead volunteers his squad" scene was indeed mislabeled. It should have been labeled LT. BAND (Paul Gleeson) who is talking with Sgt. Becker.

A reading of the complete script certainly gives better insight on these brief snippets, as many of them are taken totally out of context of the larger picture Malick is presenting. For instance the scene of Bead killing the Japanese soldier is followed by a long sequence where he is questioned by Doll and Sgt. Welsh on what happened to him, and Bead is too frightened and ashamed to admit he killed an enemy soldier until Welsh forces it out of him.

By: goldfarb

goldfarb — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 03:01:39 +0000

there really should be a distinction between a 'cut of the film' and an 'assembly edit' – I'd bet just about every film that has a final running time of 2 hours+ has an assembly edit of 4+ hours…it doesn't mean anything, these edits contain everything, lots of it is crap when viewed in context…

By: Paul Maher Jr.

Paul Maher Jr. — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 20:45:43 +0000

Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Sheen, Gary Oldman, and Viggo Mortensen were never filmed. Thornton was hired to do some voiceover work which wasn't used. Sheen, Patric and Mortensen were present at Mike Medavoy's house for one of Malick's customary script reading sessions. This is where actors are brought in and the script is read out loud so Malick can detect whether or not the dialogue sounds credible/believable. They too were never filmed, never on set. Oldman was to have scenes written for him, but he was told to stay home after Medavoy convinced Malick that there were too many characters being strung along already.

By: olilyttelton

olilyttelton — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:51:19 +0000

In defense of Bill Pullman, he would have been coming straight off Independence Day. Plus, Zero Effect is brilliant, and Lake Placid is pretty good too. But, yeah, neither were big hits.

Also, I need to get a Region 1 player again, because I'm sick of Criterion releases never making it to the UK.

By: rodrigoperez

rodrigoperez — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:34:12 +0000

"I still can't even fathom a film that cuts all the scenes featuring Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Sheen, Gary Oldman, Bill Pullman, Lukas Haas, Jason Patric, Viggo Mortensen and Mickey Rourke. I mean that's a great cast for a movie in and of itself! Must give Malick credit, he makes the movie he wants to make. Even stars like John Travolta and George Clooney can't nab but a few minutes of screentime. "

You gotta think of it this way, it was Malick's first film in 20 years everyone was DYING to appear in the film in ANY capacity.

Big stars like Travolta (who was still relatively big then) made major concessions in their schedule just so they could appear for a day or two.

According to the commentary, actors would keep calling during the production and ask, "can i help, can i appear in some way," and it's not said outright, but it sounds like Clooney was one of those which is maybe the reason why he just pops up in the film suddenly and is gone.

But for Malick, all those actors just helped him get financing. Whether they appear in it or not -- once he's got his financing, what does it really matter to him? The film is king.

Also, it's not like actors like Haas, Mortensen or even Mickey Rourke (who was still personan non-grata back then) were big names back then and so cutting them didn't mean that much.

Bill Pullman was still making films like Zero Effect and Lake Placid and wasn't exactly a huge star.

Billy Bob and Oldman were definitely on the rise though so it must have sucked for them.

By: rodrigoperez

rodrigoperez — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:27:08 +0000

Agreed about Nolte being robbed for not receiving a Best Supporting Actor nom, aside from Caviezel, he's the best part of the picture.

By: cirkusfolk

cirkusfolk — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 01:46:01 +0000

I just picked this up today but haven't put it in yet. BluRay.com gave it a perfect score all the way around! From your description of the Mickey Rourke scene, it sounds like a shame it got cut. Responding to what you said, I find Rourke to be more powerful in shorter scenes a la The Pledge, so this sounds perfect.

I still can't even fathom a film that cuts all the scenes featuring Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Sheen, Gary Oldman, Bill Pullman, Lukas Haas, Jason Patric, Viggo Mortensen and Mickey Rourke. I mean that's a great cast for a movie in and of itself! Must give Malick credit, he makes the movie he wants to make. Even stars like John Travolta and George Clooney can't nab but a few minutes of screentime.

PS...Nick Nolte got robbed not getting a Best Supporting Actor nom for this.