MAGNET contributing writer Jud Cost is sharing some of the wealth of classic films he’s been lucky enough to see over the past 40 years. Trolling the backwaters of cinema, he has worked up a list of more than 500 titles—from the silent era through the ’90s—that you may have missed. A new selection, all currently available on DVD, appears every week.
The Thin Red Line (1998, 170 minutes)
A crocodile slithers into a green river and exotic birds screech as the sun rises over a tropical paradise. On an island in the South Pacific, native kids are dancing on the beach, then diving into tidal pools for shellfish. One youngster with blond hair clings to his mother, flirting with an American dressed in the bare essentials provided by the U.S. Army. Another American runs from the beach, shouting about military patrol boats headed this way.
“How many times you been AWOL, Witt? Isn’t it about time you smartened up?” asks Sgt. Edward Welsh (Sean Penn) of C Company. “We can’t all be smart, sergeant,” answers Pvt. Robert Witt (Jim Caviezel). “The truth is you can’t be trusted with straight duty in my company,” says Welsh. “Consider yourself lucky. Normally, you’d be court-martialed, but I’ve worked out a deal for you in a disciplinary outfit. You’ll be a stretcher-bearer, taking care of the wounded.” Witt replies, “I can take anything you can dish out. We’re livin’ in a world that’s blowin’ itself to hell. All a man can do is close his eyes.” Where Witt’s new unit is going, there will be plenty of wounded, but nowhere near as many as the dead.
On a troop ship anchored a safe distance from the foggy coast of the island known as Guadalcanal, Brigadier General David Quintard (John Travolta) speaks to his officers about the task at hand, as he spreads out a map on the main deck. “No one wants this island, though the Japs put an airfield there,” he says. “This is their way of controlling the sea lanes to America. If we’re going to stop the Japs’ advance into the South Pacific, we’ve got to do it right here,” he says putting his cap back on his head. “The Marines have done their job, and now it’s our turn.”
The men about to be deposited onto the beach at Guadalcanal are getting cleaned up one last time in the belly of the ship, shaving, showering and brushing their teeth. “I just can’t help how damned scared I am, sarge,” one of them confesses to Welsh, looking into a steamy mirror. “My step-daddy beat me when I was real little. I slept in the chicken coop a whole lotta nights, and I never thought it’d get no worse than that. But we’re gonna be landin’ soon, and there’s gonna be air raids. We’ll probably die before we get off the beach. This place is like a big, floatin’ graveyard.”
“What’s your name, kid?” asks Welsh as he begins to shave. Ignoring the sergeant’s request, Pvt. Edward Train (John Dee Smith) rambles on, “I want to own an automobile when I get out. The only permanent thing is dyin.’ And this war ain’t gonna be the end of me.”
