Has anyone ever seen this fantastic Errol Morris documentary? It is truly an amazing film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096257/


I mention it because it strikes me as the type of show some people around here would love.


Its a documentary about a man named Randall Adams and his chronicles his arrest for, and subsequent trial and appeal dismissals for, the murder of a Texas police officer in Dallas circa 1978 or so.


You want to talk "railroaded"? You want to talk "scapegoat"? "Tunnel Vision"? "Egregious abuse of power"? You want to talk "prosecutors and police officials locking in on the obviously wrong guy and doing just about everything in their power to try and make their cockamamie theory fit the evidence"? Hell, its all in there. I mean the witnesses paraded out for the prosecution, abd their interviews, are stunning. it would be hilarious if it hadn't led to an innocent man sitting on death row.


Much like how Ken Burns' "Civil War" documentary became the standard template for historical docs, what with voice overs of old-timey sounding folks reading letters and what not, Mr. Morris' film has basically become the template for how true crime programming is produced. He gets just about everyone in there, sans the DA, and with their own words they reveal what a miscarriage of justice this was.


He even gets the real killer to admit to the crime, albeit in a roundabout way that never has the killer uttering "I did it...I'm the guy" or anything.


I remember first hearing about it on a Siskel & Ebert "Best of the Year" show, probably some time around 1987 or so and just basically being enthralled with the subject matter. This was way back when independently made films were a lot harder to get a hold of outside of big cities, plus I was about 11 or so, so it was a good 10 years or so before I actually got to see it.

This occured during the reign of District Attorney, Henry Wade, who was determined to get his man at all costs even if the man was not the man. Many poor souls are now being released from prison. In light of recent overturned convictions there has been some talk in Dallas of changing the name of the Henry Wade Juvenile Center.

His tatics came to light with the arrest and conviction of Lenell Geter. Mr. Geter lived and worked in Greenville, TX was accused of robbing a KFC in Dallas at noontime. Although his colleagues stated he was at work during the time. I honestly don't know how a jury convicted him since everyone at the time was saying no way did this man do it. 60 Minutes brought his case to the the attention of America - eventually the charges were overturned and Mr. Geter was freed.

I'm sure the Henry Wade mentality of get your man at all costs is still alive and well in America, but hopefully with DNA it won't be as easy to carry out.

You can currently watch this on the popular video-sharing website that shall not be named. Ironically, I've been watching it last night and early today, then came across this thread.

Shows like UM, AMW, Cold Case Files, etc. owe a big debt to Morris's pioneering interviewing and re-enactment techniques in this film.

You can currently watch this on the popular video-sharing website that shall not be named. Ironically, I've been watching it last night and early today, then came across this thread.

Shows like UM, AMW, Cold Case Files, etc. owe a big debt to Morris's pioneering interviewing and re-enactment techniques in this film.

As did one of my favorite crime movies, NARC! A must see for any fan of crime dramas!!!:cool:

...Shows like UM, AMW, Cold Case Files, etc. owe a big debt to Morris's pioneering interviewing and re-enactment techniques in this film.


@ deuce5000: YES!! That's exactly what I was thinking the very first time I saw it. Not only the interview style but even the backdrops and the editing to the crucial re-enactment moment. All of the shows you mentioned, and more, patterned themselves in a major way off of that film.

To bring it back to UM, I think they set themselves apart expertly with Robert Stack's crisp narratives and his oftentimes eery delivery of his lines.


@ sunflowerseed73: You know, I think around here I'm more of the conservative guy ((which is odd because I'd consider myself pretty liberal)). But around here I usually am on the opposite side of the arguments of police corruption or incompetence, and more often than not I'l give them the benefit of the doubt that they did their job well enough that I won't criticize. However there are times when and innocent man sits in a jail cell...when one cannot accept that the police did their job efficiently...and when what the authorities can be accused of at the very least is incompetence and at the very worst one can assert corruption. That DA and those detectives in Dallas are of the latter variety. I shudder to think, with all honesty I do, that they may have knowingly sent even one innocent man to prison, let alone to his death.

Speaking of Dallas putting innocents on death row...

Did anyone else watch Dallas DNA a few nights ago? I think it was on ID (the Investigation Discovery channel).

There was a woman who was working to free the wrongfully convicted through post conviction DNA testing. One of the men was freed, the other was just reconfirmed as guilty and sent back to his jail cell.

Well, the thing that really ticked me off was (first of all that Dallas would have the balls to even attempt such a program, with their history) but that the innocent man had been in jail for a couple decades for a rape that he didn't commit. During that time, he lost his entire family. Relatives died, his kids moved away and lost contact with the dad, etc.

Well that woman who held the DNA results met with the innocent man, and hemmed and hawed for dramatic effect before letting him know that he was proven innocent! She dragged it out, unneccessarily, before finally telling him that he would be freed in a few days... after about 26 years in prison.

After telling him, she acted like she had done something wonderful for him. I was pissed that she didn't come right out with the info, but made him sit and wait, listening to her blabbing, wondering what the results were. It must have been torture for him.

Her attitude irritated me to no end. I really got the feeling that she had no concept of how serious (and horrible) the situation was. She thought she was some kind of hero who deserved praise for what she was doing, when the manner in which she was doing it was so superficial.

And the guy got any apology from the judge. I sure hope there was a whole bunch of money to go with it, because this man's life was completely destroyed.

-----
Looked up the info: The innocent man was Johnnie Lindsey http://investigation.discovery.com/tv/dallas-dna/dallas-dna.html

Has anyone ever seen this fantastic Errol Morris documentary? It is truly an amazing film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096257/


I mention it because it strikes me as the type of show some people around here would love.


Its a documentary about a man named Randall Adams and his chronicles his arrest for, and subsequent trial and appeal dismissals for, the murder of a Texas police officer in Dallas circa 1978 or so.


You want to talk "railroaded"? You want to talk "scapegoat"? "Tunnel Vision"? "Egregious abuse of power"? You want to talk "prosecutors and police officials locking in on the obviously wrong guy and doing just about everything in their power to try and make their cockamamie theory fit the evidence"? Hell, its all in there. I mean the witnesses paraded out for the prosecution, abd their interviews, are stunning. it would be hilarious if it hadn't led to an innocent man sitting on death row.


Much like how Ken Burns' "Civil War" documentary became the standard template for historical docs, what with voice overs of old-timey sounding folks reading letters and what not, Mr. Morris' film has basically become the template for how true crime programming is produced. He gets just about everyone in there, sans the DA, and with their own words they reveal what a miscarriage of justice this was.


He even gets the real killer to admit to the crime, albeit in a roundabout way that never has the killer uttering "I did it...I'm the guy" or anything.


I remember first hearing about it on a Siskel & Ebert "Best of the Year" show, probably some time around 1987 or so and just basically being enthralled with the subject matter. This was way back when independently made films were a lot harder to get a hold of outside of big cities, plus I was about 11 or so, so it was a good 10 years or so before I actually got to see it.
Oh yeah. I saw this when it first came out on video and it is still one of my favorite documentaries of all time. It came out right around the time UM and AMW came out and UM used a similar grainy style to it.

I'll definitely check out The Thin Blue Line. I've heard of it, but never saw it.

I'm a big fan of documentaries. I know they're more popular as films now than they used to be, but anyone who's like me who grew up watching PBS and A&E knows there's been some good ones out there for a long time.

One of my personal favorites is Capturing the Friedmans about a father & son who are accused of child molestation. It's one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen, and it demonstrates that the truth is often way more complicated than anyone can imagine. I watched it, fast forwarded through the credits, and immediately watched it again. Seriously. Y'all would like it.

Yeah, Capturing the Friedmans is excellent. I highly recommend it. The bonus footage on the dvd is great too.

I finally watched the Thin Blue Line. What a great documentary, and a very sad story. Netflix now has it on their "Watch Instantly" feature.

I saw "The Thin Blue Line" back in the 80's on VHS and watched it again a few months back when I found it on Netflix. Yeah, it's one of the better crime documentaries out there and definitely inspired later work. I think it won a few awards.

To me The Thin Blue Line is the ultimate of what the UM concept could be with complete budget and total high concept.

It really makes me wonder if the future of Unsolved Mysteries is in the full length documentary style.