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''The Thin Red Line'' is a 1998 American ensemble epic war film written and directed by Terrence Malick. Based on the novel by James Jones, it tells a fictionalized version of the Battle of Mount Austen, which was part of the Guadalcanal Campaign in the Pacific Theater of World War II. It portrays 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. Although the title may seem to reference a line from Rudyard Kipling's poem "Tommy", from ''Barrack-Room Ballads'', in which he calls foot soldiers "the thin red line of heroes",〔(Rudyard Kipling -- Tommy ). Web Books. Retrieved on 2001-08-04]〕 referring to the stand of the 93rd Regiment in the Battle of Balaclava of the Crimean War, it is in reality a quote from James Jones' book which reads "they discover the thin red line that divides the sane from the mad... and the living from the dead..." The film marked Malick's return to filmmaking after a 20-year absence. It stars Adrien Brody, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Elias Koteas, Jared Leto, John C. Reilly and John Travolta. Reportedly, the first assembled cut took seven months to edit and ran five hours. By the final cut, footage of the performances by Bill Pullman, Lukas Haas, and Mickey Rourke had been removed (although one of Rourke's scenes was included in the special features outtakes of the Criterion Blu-ray and DVD release). The film was scored by Hans Zimmer, and shot by John Toll. Principal photography took place in Australia in the state of Queensland. The film grossed $98 million against its $52 million budget. Critical response was generally strong and the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score and Best Sound Mixing. It won the Golden Bear at the 1999 Berlin International Film Festival. Martin Scorsese ranked it as his second favorite film of the 1990s on ''At the Movies''. Gene Siskel called it "the greatest contemporary war film I've seen". ==Plot== U.S. Army Private Witt (Jim Caviezel) goes AWOL from his unit and lives among the easy-going and seemingly carefree Melanesian natives in the South Pacific. He is found and imprisoned on a troop carrier by his company First Sergeant, Welsh (Sean Penn), who notices Witt's indifference to the war. The men of C Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division have been brought to Guadalcanal as reinforcements in the campaign to secure Henderson Field and seize the island from the Japanese. As they wait in the holds of a Navy transport, they contemplate their lives and the impending invasion. On deck, battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Tall (Nick Nolte) talks with his commanding officer, Brigadier General Quintard (John Travolta) about the invasion and its importance. Tall's voice-over reveals that he has been passed over for promotion and this battle may be his last chance to command a victorious operation. C Company lands on Guadalcanal unopposed and marches to the interior of the island, encountering natives and evidence of the Japanese presence and tactics: the mutilated corpses of intercepted Marine and Ranger scouts. They arrive near Hill 210, a key Japanese position. The Japanese have placed a well-hidden bunker housing several machine guns at the top of the hill, giving them a full view of the valley below. Any force attempting to climb the hill will be easily cut down by machine-gun fire and mortar rounds. A brief shelling of the hill begins the next day at dawn. Shortly after, C Company attempts to carry the hill and is repelled by gunfire from the bunker. Among the first killed is the leader of the attacking platoon, Second Lieutenant Whyte (Jared Leto). During the battle, a squad led by Sergeant Keck (Woody Harrelson) hides behind a swell safe from enemy fire to wait for some reinforcements. Keck reaches for a grenade but accidentally pulls the pin and dies in the process. Lieutenant Colonel Tall orders the company commander, Captain James Staros (Elias Koteas), to take the bunker by frontal assault, at whatever cost. Staros refuses, unwilling to treat his men as cannon fodder. When the two reach a stalemate, Tall decides to join Staros on the front line to see the situation firsthand. By the time he arrives, the Japanese resistance seems to have lessened, and Tall's opinion of Staros seems to have been sealed. Meanwhile, during the battle, Private Witt, having been assigned punitively as a stretcher bearer, asks to rejoin the company, and is allowed to do so. A small detachment of men performs a reconnaissance mission on Tall's orders to determine the strength of the Japanese bunker. Private Bell (Ben Chaplin) reports back that there are five machine guns in the bunker. He joins another small team of men (including Witt), led by Captain John Gaff (John Cusack), on a flanking mission to take the bunker. The operation is a success and C Company stands poised to overrun one of the last Japanese strongholds on the island. They are successful in this regard; the Japanese they find are largely malnourished and dying, and put up little resistance. For their efforts the men are given a week's leave, although not all of them are able to enjoy it fully: the airfield where they are based comes under enemy artillery bombardment; Bell, who longs to return to his wife, receives a letter from her, informing him that she has fallen in love with someone else and wishes to divorce; much to his surprise, Captain Staros is relieved of his command by Lieutenant Colonel Tall, who deems him too soft for the pressures of combat and suggests that he apply for reassignment and become a lawyer in the JAG in Washington. Witt comes across the locals and notices that they have suddenly grown distant and distrustful of him and quarrel regularly with one another. The company is sent on patrol up a river but with the indecisive and inexperienced 1st Lieutenant George Band (Paul Gleeson) at its head. As Japanese artillery fire falls close to their positions; Band orders some men to scout upriver, with Witt volunteering to go along. They encounter an advancing Japanese column and are attacked. To buy time for Corporal Fife (Adrien Brody) to go back and inform the rest of the unit, Witt draws away the Japanese but is then encircled by one of their squads, who demand that he surrender. In a moment of bliss and internal calm, he raises his rifle and is gunned down. The company is able to retreat safely, and Witt is later buried by Welsh and his squadmates. In the final scene, C Company receives a new commander, Captain Bosche (George Clooney), and boards a waiting LCT, departing from the island. ==Cast== *Jim Caviezel as Pvt. Robert Witt *Sean Penn as 1st Sgt. Edward Welsh *Elias Koteas as Capt. James 'Bugger' Staros *Ben Chaplin as Pvt. Jack Bell *Nick Nolte as Lt. Col. Gordon Tall *Dash Mihok as Pfc. Don Doll *John Cusack as Capt. John Gaff *Adrien Brody as Cpl. Geoffrey Fife *John C. Reilly as Sgt. Maynard Storm *Woody Harrelson as Sgt. William Keck *Miranda Otto as Marty Bell *Jared Leto as 2nd Lt. William Whyte *John Travolta as Brig. Gen. David Quintard *George Clooney as Capt. Charles Bosche *Nick Stahl as Pfc. Edward Bead *Thomas Jane as Pvt. Jason Ash *John Savage as Sgt. Jack McCron *John Dee Smith as Pvt. Edward P. Train *Kirk Acevedo as Pvt. Alfredo Tella *Penny Allen as Witt's Mother *Mark Boone Junior as Pvt. Christopher Peale *Arie Verveen as Pfc. Charlie Dale *Matt Doran as Pvt. Howard Coombs *Paul Gleeson as 1st Lt. George "Brass" Band *Don Harvey as Sgt. Paul Becker *Danny Hoch as Pvt. Leonardo Carni *Tim Blake Nelson as Pvt. Brian Tills *Larry Romano as Pvt. Frank Mazzi 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Thin Red Line (1998 film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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