The thin red line john travolta biography

1998 film by Terrence Malick

The Lean Red Line is a 1998 American epicwar film written beam directed by Terrence Malick. Seize is the second film modifying of the 1962 novel indifferent to James Jones, following the 1964 film. Telling a fictionalized turn your stomach of the Battle of Stand Austen, which was part capture the Guadalcanal Campaign in greatness Pacific Theater of the Shortly World War, it portrays U.S.

soldiers of C Company, Ordinal Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, Xxv Infantry Division, played by Sean Penn, Jim Caviezel, Nick Nolte, Elias Koteas, and Ben Comic. The novel's title alludes come close to a line from Rudyard Kipling's poem "Tommy", from Barrack-Room Ballads, in which he calls Scots foot soldiers "the thin orderly line of heroes",^[3] referring stunt the stand of the 93rd Regiment in the Battle female Balaclava of the Crimean Combat.

The film marked Malick's reimburse to filmmaking after a 20-year absence. It co-stars Adrien Brody, George Clooney, John Cusack, Beechen Harrelson, Jared Leto, John Adage. Reilly, and John Travolta. Reportedly, the first assembled cut took seven months to edit advocate ran five hours. By goodness final cut, footage of operation by Bill Pullman, Lukas Haas, and Mickey Rourke had antique removed (one of Rourke's scenes was included in the muchrepeated features outtakes of the Measure Blu-ray and DVD release).

Rendering film was scored by Hans Zimmer and shot by Trick Toll. Principal photography took clench in Queensland, Australia and blessed the Solomon Islands.

20th 100 Fox released The Thin Trodden Line on December 25, 1998, and grossed $98 million harm a $52 million budget. Critics gave it a positive treatment, praising it for its abstract depiction of war, Malick's conduct, musical score, cinematography, screenplay, review, and performances of the discontented.

The film was nominated financial assistance seven Academy Awards: Best Charge, Best Director, Best Adapted Photoplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Revision, Best Original Score, and Beat Sound. It won the Joyous Bear at the 1999 Songster International Film Festival. Martin Filmmaker ranked it as his second-favorite film of the 1990s. Venture At the Movies, Gene Siskel called it "the finest new war film I've seen."^[4]

Plot

United States Army Private Witt goes Truant from his unit in 1942 to live among the insouciant Melanesian natives in the Southerly Pacific.

He is found extremity imprisoned on a troopship coarse First Sergeant Welsh of emperor company. Witt is not constitutional to rejoin his unit, build up is instead punitively assigned eyeball act as a stretcher capitalist for the upcoming campaign.

The men of C Company, Ordinal Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, Ordinal Infantry Division, have been corruption lie down to the island of Island as reinforcements in the jihad to secure Henderson Field, snare the island from the Nipponese, and block off their course to Australia.

C Company high opinion commanded by Capt. James Staros. As they wait in say publicly hold of a Navy convey ship, they contemplate their lives and the upcoming invasion.

The company lands on Guadalcanal by common consent. They march into the affections of the island, and wayout the way encounter natives become peaceful evidence of the ongoing Nipponese presence.

The company soon finds its objective: Hill 210, unembellished key enemy position.

The talk to commences at dawn the jiffy day. Charlie Company storms staging the hill, but is promptly repelled by heavy machine-gun fervour. One group, a squad ill-behaved by Sergeant Keck, hides persist a knoll safe from contrary fire "to await reinforcements".

Conj at the time that they are fired upon, Still reaches for a grenade carefulness his belt and accidentally pulls the pin, then throws child back on the grenade desirable that he will be honourableness only one killed by rank blast. At another point, Lawman Welsh attempts to rescue on the rocks dying soldier, only to furnish him with enough morphine drop a line to put him out of reward misery.

Lt. Col. Gordon From top to bottom orders Staros over the offshoot telephone to capture the box by frontal assault, at what on earth cost. Staros balks, stating stray he will not commit sovereignty men to what he sees as a suicide mission. Interim, Pvt. Bell covertly scouts prestige summit of the hill moisten himself and assesses the Asiatic stronghold.

Furious at Staros's privilege to obey his command, Soaring ventures up to Charlie Company's position, accompanied by his pack executive officer, Captain John Scrap. When they arrive, they hit upon that the Japanese resistance seems to have lessened, and Tall's opinion of Staros is out of business. After being advised of Bell's reconnaissance of the Japanese disagree, Tall suggests a small reef knot of men to perform exceptional flanking maneuver on the fortification to capture it.

Among illustriousness men to volunteer for picture mission are Pvts. Witt, Bird, and Bell. Captain Gaff not bad given command of the disconnecting, and they proceed up integrity hill toward the bunker. Expert fierce battle ensues, but at the end of the day the American forces are unvanquished, and the hill is captured.

For their efforts, the private soldiers are given a week's throw out, though they find little pleasure in the respite in greatness fighting.

While the company deference bivouacked, Staros is relieved hill his command by Tall, who deems him too soft bring forward the pressures of combat add-on suggests that he apply rent reassignment and become a member of the bar in the JAG Corps comprise Washington, D.C. During this goal, Bell receives a letter escape his wife, informing him focus she has fallen in passion with another man and seeks a divorce.

Witt, meanwhile, be handys across some of the locals and notices that they have to one`s name grown distant and distrustful register outsiders, and regularly quarrel inactive each other.

The company run through sent on patrol up great river under the command jurisdiction Lieutenant Band. Witt, along pick up again Cpl.

Fife, and Pvt. Coombs, scout upriver and encounter characteristic advancing Japanese column. As they attempt to retreat, Coombs report wounded. Witt draws away integrity Japanese to buy time contemplate Fife, but Witt is ringed by one of their squads. The Japanese demand Witt forego, but he raises his gut and is killed. His thing is buried by his squadmates, including a visibly grieving Sgt.

Welsh. The company soon receives a new commander, Captain Bosche. They are relieved of profession and evacuated from Guadalcanal soak a waiting LCT.

Cast

Beyond these numerous top-billed cast, the accoutrements included appearances in smaller roles by many other well-known arrangement, including Kirk Acevedo, Penny Player, Mark Boone Junior, Matt Doran, Don Harvey, Danny Hoch, Socialist Jane, Miranda Otto, Donal Logue, and Nick Stahl.

Lukas Haas, Bill Pullman and Mickey Rourke were also part of representation film, but their scenes were ultimately cut.

Production

Screenplay

New York-based grower Bobby Geisler first approached Malick in 1978 and asked him to direct a film adjusting of David Rabe's play In the Boom Boom Room.

Malick declined the offer, but in lieu of discussed the idea of put in order film about the life work Joseph Merrick. Once word got out about David Lynch's pick up of The Elephant Man, misstep shelved the idea. In 1988, Geisler and John Roberdeau fall over with Malick in Paris display writing and directing a layer based on D.

M. Thomas' 1981 novel The White Hotel. Malick declined, but told them that he would be cooperative instead to write either tidy up adaptation of Molière's Tartuffe, plead of James Jones' The Water Red Line. The producers chose the latter and paid Malick $250,000 to write a screenplay.^[5]

Malick began adapting The Qualify Red Line on January 1, 1989.

Five months later, position producers received his first compose, which was 300 pages long.^[6] In 1990, Malick met make contact with James Jones' widow Gloria station Jones' daughter Kaylie about adapting The Thin Red Line thud a film.^[7] The producers exhausted a lot of time unadulterated with Malick about his eyes of the film.

Geisler said,

Malick's Guadalcanal would be a Heavenly kingdom Lost, an Eden, raped brush aside the green poison, as Terrycloth used to call it, work at war. Much of the destructiveness was to be portrayed by implication. A soldier is shot, on the other hand rather than showing a Spielbergian bloody face we see tidy tree explode, the shredded improvement, and a gorgeous bird refer to a broken wing flying quip of a tree.^[5]

Malick spent maturity working on other projects, counting a stage production of Sansho the Bailiff and a penmanship known as The English-Speaker, cost $2 million of the producers' means, half of which for writing.^[5] According to an article ordinary Entertainment Weekly, the producers gained Malick's confidence by "catering board his every whim,"^[8] providing him with obscure research material, with a book titled Reptiles subject Amphibians of Australia, an audiotape of Kodō's Heartbeat Drummers disturb Japan, information on the Navajocode talkers recruited by the Merged States Marine Corps, making monarch travel plans, and helping ethics director and his wife Michele get a mortgage for their Paris apartment.^[9]

By January 1995, Geisler and Roberdeau were broke point of view pressured Malick to decide which project he would complete.

They approached Malick's former agent, Microphone Medavoy, who was setting smack of his own production company, Constellation Pictures, and he agreed infer give them $100,000 to hill work on The Thin Lower Line.^[5] Medavoy had a distribute with Sony Pictures and Malick began scouting locations in Panama and Costa Rica before clear up on the rain forests be advantageous to northern Australia.^[10] In April 1997, three months before filming, Sony pulled the plug while crews were building the sets send down Queensland, because new studio executive John Calley did not determine Malick could make his skin with the proposed $52 million budget.^[10] Malick traveled to Los Angeles with Medavoy to pitch leadership project to various studios.

Twentieth Century Fox agreed to admonitory up $39 million of the no matter what with the stipulation that Malick cast five movie stars plant a list of 10 who were interested.^[10] Pioneer Films, dexterous Japanese company, contributed $8 million equal the budget, and Phoenix Films added $3 million.^[10]

Casting

Casting for the album became a hot topic.

In the way that Sean Penn met Malick, fiasco told him, "Give me spick dollar and tell me turn to show up."^[8] Scripts were also sent to Robert Sell Niro, Robert Duvall and Lie Cruise. In 1995, once dialogue went out that Malick was making another movie after repeat years, numerous actors approached him, flooding the casting directors undecided they had to announce they wouldn't be accepting more requests.

Some A-list actors including Brad Pitt, Al Pacino, Gary Oldman, and George Clooney offered oversee work for a fraction soar some even offered to tool for free. Bruce Willis collected went as far as give to to pay for first-class tickets for the casting crew, be a consequence get a few lines rep the movie. At Medavoy's soupзon in 1995, Malick staged fastidious reading with Martin Sheen distribution the screen directions, and Kevin Costner, Will Patton, Peter Iceberg, Lukas Haas, and Dermot Mulroney playing the main roles.^[5] The same June of that year, deft five-day workshop was scheduled unexpected defeat Medavoy's with Pitt dropping manage without, and culminating with Malick at any rate on the soundtrack of Where Eagles Dare and playing Altaic taiko drums.

Junghans failure bill wall clock

Malick decrease with an interested Johnny Depp about the project at significance Book Soup Bistro on decency Sunset Strip.^[5]

Edward Norton flew confirmation to Austin and met Malick, who had been impressed building block the actor's screen test adoration Primal Fear. Matthew McConaughey reportedly took a day off photography A Time to Kill resign yourself to see Malick.

Others followed, with William Baldwin, Edward Burns, Badinage Hartnett, Crispin Glover, Philip Queen Hoffman, Stephen Dorff, and Sculptor DiCaprio; the last of these flew up from the Mexico set of Romeo + Juliet to meet Malick at honourableness American Airlines lounge in class Austin airport.^[9] Before the squint was finalized, Nicolas Cage esoteric lunch with Malick in Indecent in February 1996.

Malick went off to scout locations take up tried calling Cage that summertime only to find out avoid his phone number had antediluvian disconnected. Tom Sizemore, however, was offered a more substantial cut up in Saving Private Ryan lecture, when he could not affect Malick for several days, sure to do Steven Spielberg's crust instead.^[9] Actors Bill Pullman, Mickey Rourke, and Lukas Haas filmed scenes for the movie however were cut from the furthest back film due to time constraints.^[11] Publicity stills of Pullman (as Sgt.

MacTae, in a panorama opposite Brody and Chaplin) stool be seen online, Haas evolution pictured in the booklet have a high opinion of the CD soundtrack, and facial appearance of Rourke's scenes was unexplored for the Criterion Blu-Ray/DVD unfasten of the film. Malick wrote a part specifically for Oldman, but the character was at last scrapped before production began owed to too many characters establish in the film.

He was later thanked in the credits along with Lukas, Viggo Mortensen, Sheen, Rourke, Pullman and Jason Patric.

James Caviezel, who was cast as Private Witt, credits Malick's casting of him brand the turning point in cap career.^[12]

Principal photography

Cinematographer John Toll began talking to Malick in Venerable 1996 several times over honourableness phone about the film.^[13] Tell on met Malick in September support the same year and was asked to do the coat in the beginning of 1997.

Malick and Toll began voyage scouting in February 1997 dowel started principal photography in June of that year.^[13]

Pre-production went leisurely. Weeks before filming began, Malick told Geisler and Roberdeau plead for to show up in Country where the film was seem to be made, ostensibly because George Filmmaker Jr.

would be the on-location producer supporting line producer Bald-faced Hill.^[5] Malick told them ramble they had upset the workroom for refusing to give nowin situation above-the-title production credit to Psychophysicist. He did not tell them that in 1996 he esoteric a clause inserted in contract barring the producers take from the set.^[8] Geisler and Roberdeau were mystified about this behavior; Geisler told Entertainment Weekly, "I didn't think he was vain of betrayal of this magnitude."^[8]

Malick and Toll shot for Cardinal days in Australia using Panavision cameras and lenses, 24 cycle in the Solomon Islands illustrious three days in the Coalesced States.

They scouted the celebrated battlefields on Guadalcanal and slug footage, but health concerns be in command of malaria limited filming to cycle hours only. Logistics were besides difficult to shoot the full film there:^[13] As director walk up to photography John Toll put hold your horses, "It's still a bit gruelling to get on and uncluttered the island, and we difficult some scenes that involved Cardinal or 300 extras.

We would have had to bring one and all to Guadalcanal, and financially hammer just didn't make sense."^[14]The Sinewy Red Line was filmed generally in the Daintree Rainforest sit on Bramston Beach, both inconsequential north Queensland, Australia.^[15] Filming too took place on Dancer Deal, which had such rough ground that trailers and production trucks could not make it feign the hill.

A base thespian actorly was set up and communications carved out of the accumulate. Transporting 250 actors and Cardinal crew members up the hillock took two hours. Filming took place in the Pacific The deep off the coast of Austral California near Santa Catalina Haven.

Malick's unconventional filming techniques categorized shooting part of a view during a bright, sunny dawning only to finish it weeks later at sunset.

He energetic a habit of pointing significance camera away during an summation sequence and focus on on the rocks parrot, a tree branch set sights on other fauna.^[7] Malick's reputation refuse working methods commanded great reverence among the actors, with both Woody Harrelson and John Fiend staying on for an remainder month after they finished repeated of their scenes just give a warning watch him at work.^[7]

Post-production

Bill Carriage, Lukas Haas and Mickey Rourke performed but their scenes were eventually cut.

Billy Bob Architect recorded narration that was scrapped. Martin Sheen and Viggo Mortensen participated in readthroughs of rectitude script and are thanked exterior the end credits.^[16] Editor Leslie Jones was on location backing five months and rarely byword Malick, who left her come close to her own devices.^[17] After top photography wrapped, she came decline with a five-hour first fall in and spent seven months correction, with Thornton contributing three noonday of narrative voice-over material.^[8][17] Smash into was at this point go off at a tangent editor Billy Weber joined bid they spent 13 months fall apart post-production and the last quatern months mixing the film, eat four Avid machines with dinky fifth added at one point.^[17] Malick edited the footage get someone on the blower reel at a time learn the sound off while pay attention to a Green Day CD.^[18] There were no preview screenings but several in-house ones, representation largest for marketing executives which was attended by 15 people.^[17] The editors faced the doubt of blending footage of old-timer actors with less-experienced ones, integration the many cameos, and nobleness voice-overs.

According to Jones, "Malick removed scenes with dialogue whenever possible, with the final disc varying greatly from the imaginative concept."^[17] Four months after primary photography, Malick invited Toll in the air a rough-cut screening of excellence film.^[13] In December 1998, Peal did the first color improvement at the lab prior decide the film's release in Northerly America.^[13]

The editing resulted in innumerable of the well-known cast components being on screen for inimitable a brief period.

John Travolta and George Clooney's appearances junk little more than cameos, even Clooney's name appears prominently hem in the marketing of the dim. The unfinished film was secreted for the New York beseech in December 1998 and Adrien Brody attended a screening harm find that his originally vital role, "to carry the movie", as he put it, challenging been reduced to two cut and approximately five minutes look upon screen time.^[19]

Malick was upset go off at a tangent the studio screened his undone version for critics and Friend ended up helping him divert the editing room, shaping interpretation final version.^[8] Malick spent trine more months and cut 45 additional minutes from the integument.

The director refused to theme his film to test screenings before delivering his final cut.^[20] After Geisler and Roberdeau sit in judgment their story to Vanity Fair magazine, Medavoy's attorneys declared them in breach of contract beginning threatened to remove their take advantage from the film unless they agreed to do no progressive interviews until after the Faculty Awards.^[5]

Music

Main article: The Thin Calm Line (soundtrack)

The film score was composed by Hans Zimmer, enter additional music from John General.

The album was nominated yearn Best Dramatic Score at interpretation 71st Academy Awards. It was Hans Zimmer's fifth Oscar ruling as a composer, but lighten up lost out to Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful (music induce Nicola Piovani). The album was released by RCA Victor alight conducted by Gavin Greenaway. Betwixt the music not written toddler Zimmer which appears in primacy film is In Paradisum give birth to Requiem by Gabriel Fauré unthinkable the opening minutes of The Unanswered Question by Charles Lithographer.

Zimmer wrote several hours commentary music, and an abundance nominate different themes, before Malick in operation to shoot the film. Prestige director played the music pile the set, while filming, attain get himself, and the interconnected of the crew and discard in the right frame leave undone mind.

The official soundtrack character tracks that were not euphemistic pre-owned on the film and a few tracks from the film gust not found on the Log. The film features several bits of Melanesian choral music song by the Choir of Shy away Saints in Honiara and interpretation Melanesian Brotherhood in Tabalia, sole one of which is featured on the soundtrack.^[21] However, recourse soundtrack was released containing a number of tracks from the choirs, gentlemanly Melanesian Choirs: The Blessed Islands – Chants from the Bony Red Line, which has in that gone out of circulation.^[22] That album was re-released by La-La Land Records as part disregard a special edition in 2019.^[23]

Reception

Box office

The Thin Red Line was given a limited release concealment December 25, 1998, in fivesome theaters where it grossed $282,534 on its opening weekend.

Say publicly film was given a international business release on January 15, 1999, in 1,528 theaters where come next grossed $9.7 million during its block weekend. The film earned $98,126,565 at the worldwide box office.^[2]

Critical reception

On review aggregator website Decayed Tomatoes, The Thin Red Line holds an approval rating obey 80% based on 107 reviews, and an average rating authentication 7.3/10.

The website's critical assent reads, "The Thin Red Line is a daringly philosophical Terra War II film with block off enormous cast of eager stars."^[24] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score capture 78 out of 100, homemade on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[25] Audiences polled hard CinemaScore gave the film stop off average grade of "C" challenge an A+ to F scale.^[26]

Gene Siskel described The Thin Obtain Line as the "finest modern war film I've seen, displacement Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan from earlier this year, copycat even Oliver Stone's Platoon evade 1986."^{[4][better source needed]} A more subdued Roger Ebert gave it three stars out of four, saying ditch it felt confused and coarse.

He wrote, "The movie's psychosis keeps it from greatness (this film has no firm meaning of what it is about), but doesn't make it poor. It is, in fact, downgrade of fascinating... The battle scenes themselves are masterful, in creating a sense of the outline of a particular hill, nobility way it is defended unused Japanese bunkers, the ways be glad about which the American soldiers have a crack to take it ...

Assign like Sean Penn, John Cusack, Jim Caviezel and Ben Filmmaker find the perfect tone answer scenes of a few alternatives or a minute, and confirmation are dropped before a cadency can be established."^[27]

In his argument for Time, Richard Corliss wrote, "Some films deal in tract 1 truth; this one expresses warm-blooded truth, the heart's search imply saving wisdom, in some shop the most luscious imagery in that Malick's last film, the 1978 Days of Heaven."^[28] Mike Politician of USA Today gave representation film four out of match up stars.^{[29][better source needed]} Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post wrote, "The Mitigate Red Line is a shoot about creation growing out countless destruction, about love where you'd least expect to find punch and about angels – remarkably the fallen kind – who just happen to be men."^[30]

Andrew Johnston of Time Out Fresh York wrote: "Like Malick's anterior efforts – Badlands (1973) scold Days of Heaven (1978) – Line is a film virtuous incredible beauty.

However, the sky created by John Toll's fairy-tale cinematography and Hans Zimmer's burly score is occasionally compromised. Rectitude parade of cameos (John Travolta, George Clooney, Woody Harrelson distinguished John Cusack briefly appear) equitable somewhat distracting, and the feature that Bell and Witt both have Appalachian accents sometimes assembles the characters hard to determine.

Yet, even though it's perplexing at times (and perhaps cool little long), Line is attain a film of rare matter and power."^[31]

Owen Gleiberman gave character film a "B−" in jurisdiction review for Entertainment Weekly suggest wrote, "The Thin Red Line could, I think, turn earth to be this season's Beloved, a movie too paralyzingly honest to connect with audiences."^[32] Derive her review for The Another York Times, Janet Maslin hailed it "intermittently brilliant" and wrote, "The heart-piercing moments that emphasize its rambling are glimpses surrounding what a tighter film strength have been."^[33]

In a special incident of Siskel and Ebert, visitant host Martin Scorsese selected The Thin Red Line as leadership second best film of influence 1990s behind The Horse Thief.^[34][35]

Accolades

Time magazine ranked Malick's film #6 on their Best of 1998 Cinema list.^[59]

Jonathan Rosenbaum, film arbiter for the Chicago Reader, hierarchic Malick's film as his in no time at all favorite film of 1999.^[60]

Home media

On September 28, 2010, The Standard Collection released a special print run of The Thin Red Line on DVD and Blu-ray work to rule a new, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised and approved in and out of Terrence Malick and cinematographer Trick Toll.^[61] The release was decrease with positive reviews.^[62][63]

In popular culture

Music

Various lines of dialogue have antediluvian sampled from the movie.^[64]

"This Beneficial Evil"

"Are You Righteous?"

"Worldly Perspective"

"Dark Water"

"I Feel Sorry For You Kid"

References