The Thin Red Line has become a worldwide streaming sensation. The 1998 World War II film, which features a star-studded cast that includes George Clooney and John Travolta, among many others, is widely acclaimed for its masterful battle scenes and philosophical depiction of war.
Now, 27 years after its release, The Thin Red Line ranks ninth on HBO Max’s Top 10 movies in the world for today, December 23, per FlixPatrol. It ranks above Shrek the Halls in 10th and below One Battle After Another in first, The Polar Express, It Chapter Two, It, Us, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Mule, and A Minecraft Movie in eighth.
For this week, The Thin Red Line is on HBO Max’s Top 10 in a total of 14 countries located across Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Southeastern Europe (the Balkans). Though The Thin Red Line isn’t streaming on HBO Max in the United States, it is available to rent/buy on Prime Video from only $4.19.
Written and directed by the masterful Terrence Malick, based on the 1962 novel by James Jones, The Thin Red Line tells a fictionalized account of the Battle of Mount Austen during the Guadalcanal campaign in the Pacific Theater of World War II, focusing on U.S. soldiers from C Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division.
The title references a line from Rudyard Kipling’s poem “Tommy” in Barrack-Room Ballads, where British infantrymen are described as a “thin red line of heroes,” a phrase that recalls the 93rd Regiment’s stand at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War.
The film’s star-studded cast includes Oscar winners Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, George Clooney, Jared Leto, and Oscar nominees Woody Harrelson, Nick Nolte, John C. Reilly, and John Travolta. Also starring are Jim Caviezel, Ben Chaplin, John Cusack, Elias Koteas, Dash Mihok, Tim Blake Nelson, Larry Romano, John Savage, and Arie Verveen.
At the time of its release in 1998, The Thin Red Line marked Terrence Malick’s return to filmmaking following a 20-year-hiatus, and it received immense critical acclaim for its daring philosophical depiction of World War II, coupled with its large ensemble cast of prominent actors.
Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, and Elias Koteas gathered together in The Thin Red Line.
The World War II movie received seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Terrence Malick, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound, and Best Score for Hans Zimmer.
While Gene Siskel called The Thin Red Line “the finest contemporary war film [he’s] seen,” it was Roger Ebert who said that “the battle scenes themselves are masterful, in creating a sense of the geography of a particular hill, the way it is defended by Japanese bunkers, the ways in which the American soldiers attempt to take it.”
Release Date
December 23, 1998
Runtime
171 Minutes
Director
Terrence Malick