The Thin Blue Lie

From the beginning on, it was clear that this was going to be a weak film. The acting was very bad to mediocre (Rob Morrow, who made me think of the Dustin Hoffman of the 1970s). The screenplay was even worse. It got a little better but towards the end, the whole film collapsed badly. I haven't really understood what part the female characters in this story had to play. The last scene on the graveyard was an anti-climax. Oliver Stone or A.J. Pacula would have made a different story, if they had found the material worthwhile at least. A waist of time.

"The Thin Blue Lie" is an ordinary docudrama which tells of investigative reporter Jonathan Neumann (Morrow) who moves to Philadelphia in 1976 and sets about writing a series of Pulitzer winning articles about police abuses of authority under mayor Frank Rizzo (Sorvino). This formula flick has the simplistic look and feel of a made-for-tv production with an obvious no-brainer telling of a true story. On the upside it offers some good performances by Morrow, Quaid, and Sorvino. On the down side it's an obvious and predictable pitting of liberal against conservative forces which focuses on the age old and trite rationalization that it's okay to breach individual human rights for a greater good. An mediocre product for channel surfers.

It's unfortunate that the story's author found it expedient to write that his hero-reporter began exposing police torture and framing of innocent people by solving the racially motivated arson murder of a Hispanic family in Philadelphia. The true facts of that case, which was actually solved by ATF special agents, are detailed at length in a book titled "Very Special Agents" by James Moore (Pocket Books, 1997; reprinted by the University of Illinois Press, 2001).Reporter Jonathan Neumann did write about this case for Philadelphia newspapers but all of his facts came from ATF reports and the trial of homicide detectives convicted of framing the man they accused of the crime in order to please their superiors and protect a local politician. As a result of the ATF investigation, the victim whom detectives framed was freed and the detectives were sentenced to Federal prison for terms exactly matching the years their victim had served. So much for Helfgott's story "based on true facts." It'd also be noice if, amidst all his awards, reporter Jonathan Neumann had the integrity to correct this phony aspect of the story. Oh well, maybe journalistic integrity is elastic, like that of the detectives in this film.

One of the best made for TV movies ever. The story revolves around a new reporter (Rob Morrow) for The Philadelphia Examiner who senses police corruption. He put his life at risk in the investigation along with Randy Quaid's. Excellent performances throughout and well edited and directed. It is a movie which should be watched, especially those who think that a safe city should be sought by any means.

I live in Philadelphia and remember the real events well. I thought that this movie was a great portrayal of those events and of how living in Philadelphia and dealing with the Mayor Rizzo Gestapo was at that time, kept me interested all the way through.