The Thin Blue Lie

Last updated
The Thin Blue Lie
The Thin Blue Lie.jpg
Written byDaniel Helfgott
Directed by Roger Young
Starring Rob Morrow
Randy Quaid
Paul Sorvino
Music by Patrick Williams
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producersDaniel Helfgott
Janet Turner
Roger Young
ProducerFritzi Horstman
CinematographyDonald M. Morgan
EditorBenjamin A. Weissman
Running time97 minutes
Production companiesHelfgott-Turner Productions
Paramount Network Television
Showtime Networks
Release
Original network Showtime Networks
Original releaseAugust 13, 2000 (2000-08-13)

The Thin Blue Lie is a 2000 television film directed by Roger Young and starring Rob Morrow, Randy Quaid, and Paul Sorvino. It was released on August 13, 2000. The title is a reference to the phrase "thin blue line" used to describe the hypothetical role of law enforcement as the line between order and chaos.

Contents

Plot

The premise of the film concerns Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Jonathan Neumann (Rob Morrow), who, along with his partner Phil Chadway (Randy Quaid), won the Pulitzer Prize in 1978 for a series of articles exposing Philadelphia mayor Frank Rizzo (Paul Sorvino) and the Philadelphia Police Department for corruption. According to the articles, suspects were beaten and tortured in interrogation rooms in an effort to meet the high quota of criminal cases solved by Philadelphia detectives. Neumann and Chadway met extreme opposition from the police department, working amidst phone tappings, apartment ransackings, and threats of death and bodily harm.

Cast

Issues pertaining to journalism ethics

Throughout the movie, Neumann faced a number of ethical dilemmas. First, most of his colleagues disagreed that he should pursue claims of torture from "suspects," citing that the city's crime level was at an all-time low, and to question Rizzo's police policies would put the city's safety in jeopardy. Second, when interviewing victims of police brutality, Neumann had to assure the frightened victims that they would not be harmed by talking to him, when in fact, they had been threatened by police and warned against talking to and/or cooperating with reporters. Third, Neumann had to find one detective willing to essentially betray his fellow officers in order to substantiate his claims.

See also


Related Research Articles

<i>Pandemonium</i> (1982 film) 1982 comedy film spoofing horror movies directed by Alfred Sole

Pandemonium is a 1982 American parody slasher film. It was directed by Alfred Sole and features an ensemble cast including Tom Smothers, Eileen Brennan, Phil Hartman, Tab Hunter, Carol Kane, David Lander, Eve Arden, and Paul Reubens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mira Sorvino</span> American actress (born 1967)

Mira Katherine Sorvino is an American actress. She won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (1995).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Rizzo</span> American police officer and politician (1920-1991)

Francis Lazarro Rizzo was an American police officer and politician. He served as Philadelphia police commissioner from 1968 to 1971 and mayor of Philadelphia from 1972 to 1980. He was a member of the Democratic Party throughout the entirety of his career in public office. He switched to the Republican Party in 1986 and campaigned as a Republican for the final five years of his life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Sorvino</span> American actor (1939–2022)

Paul Anthony Sorvino was an American actor. He often portrayed authority figures on both the criminal and the law enforcement sides of the law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philadelphia Police Department</span> Police agency in Philadelphia, USA

The Philadelphia Police Department is the police agency responsible for law enforcement and investigations within the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The PPD is one of the oldest municipal police agencies, fourth largest police force and sixth largest non-federal law enforcement agency in the United States. Since records were first kept in 1828, at least 289 PPD officers have died in the line of duty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Greevey</span> Character in the TV series Law & Order

Maxwell Greevey is a fictional character played by George Dzundza on NBC's long-running police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order. Following Dzundza's departure from the cast at the end of the first season, Greevey was written off the series with his death in the second season premiere.

The Badge of Honor novel series is a series of novels written by W.E.B. Griffin about the Philadelphia Police Department. Although the books were originally set in the 1970s and early 1980s, and the characters have only aged a few years, Book VIII, Final Justice, moves the story to the post-9/11 era.

The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer is a thriller/drama TV film that first aired on NBC in 1999 as a two-part miniseries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Williams (composer)</span> American composer, arranger, and conductor (1939–2018)

Patrick Moody Williams was an American composer, arranger, and conductor who worked in many genres of music, and in film and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Burge</span> Chicago cop charged with misconduct

Jon Graham Burge was an American police detective and commander in the Chicago Police Department who was found guilty of having "directly participated in or implicitly approved the torture" of at least 118 people in police custody in order to force false confessions.

<i>Horsemen</i> (film) 2009 American film

Horsemen is a 2009 American psychological thriller film directed by Jonas Åkerlund, written by David Callaham, produced by Michael Bay, and starring Dennis Quaid and Zhang Ziyi. It follows Aidan Breslin, a bitter and emotionally distracted detective who has grown apart from his two sons after the death of his devoted wife. While investigating a series of murders, he discovers a terrifying link between himself and the suspects that seem to be based on the Biblical prophecies concerning the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Famine, Conquest and Death. The film was shot in Winnipeg and was released on March 6, 2009.

<i>Big Fan</i> 2009 American film

Big Fan is a 2009 American film written and directed by Robert D. Siegel, and starring Patton Oswalt, Kevin Corrigan, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Michael Rapaport, and Scott Ferrall. The story revolves around the bleak yet amiable life of the self-described "world’s biggest New York Giants fan", Paul Aufiero (Oswalt). Big Fan garnered positive reviews at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. The film had a limited release in the United States beginning on August 28, 2009.

Bop Gun (<i>Homicide: Life on the Street</i>) 1st episode of the 2nd season of Homicide: Life on the Street

"Bop Gun" is the second season premiere of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street, and the tenth overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 6, 1994. In the episode, the Baltimore homicide unit investigates the shooting death of the wife of a tourist, played by guest star Robin Williams.

Tanya Moore and Tina Rodriguez were two transgender friends & sex workers on Philadelphia's thirteenth street in 1986. The pair disappeared on June 30, 1986 after getting into the car of a couple of clients. On July 3, 1986 their mutilated and dismembered bodies were found burning at a baseball diamond in Middletown.

<i>Paranoid</i> (TV series) British TV series or program

Paranoid is a British crime drama, which began broadcasting on ITV on 22 September 2016, and streaming internationally on Netflix in 2016. The eight-part series focuses on a group of UK detectives working for the fictional Woodmere police force attempting to solve the murder of a local doctor who is stabbed at a children's playground. During the course of their investigation, the detectives discover the murder has links to a German pharmaceutical company and they enlist the help of their German colleagues in Düsseldorf to find the killer. Indira Varma, Robert Glenister, and Dino Fetscher star as main protagonists DS Nina Suresh, DC Bobby Day, and DC Alec Wayfield, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Frank Rizzo</span> Statue formerly installed in Philadelphia

A statue of Frank Rizzo, sometimes called the Frank L. Rizzo Monument, was installed in Philadelphia, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Erected in 1998, the bronze sculpture was removed in June 2020. Black Lives Matter activists and others protested the statue's presence, and the statue was taken down during the George Floyd protests.