64′

Music by Philip Glass for the documentary by Errol Morris.
Published by Dunvagen Music Publishers.

Errol Morris’s unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer’s murder in Dallas, Texas prompting a complete reexamination of the case.

When I was working on The Thin Blue Line I started using various Philip Glass cd’s as “scratch” music – various tracks from Mishima, In The Upper Room, Glassworks… Instantly the movie was transformed by the music, into what I had always dreamed it could be, a brooding, dark meditation in chance and fate. I was worried. I needed someone to write Philip Glass music… No, I needed Philip Glass. What if he couldn’t write the music…? What if he wouldn’t write the music?

Fortunately, for the movie and me Philip Glass liked the rough-cut and it is his score for The thin blue line and subsequently for my adaptation of Stephen Hawking’s A brief story of time that is the single most important element in those works. His scores set a tone and a character to create a world. Philip is the ultimate collaborator… God knows, he’s worked successfully with so many different artists. I often gave him a hard time. Write this. Write that. Write the other thing. But in the end, he was instrumental in creating work of which I am very proud. And proud of having the opportunity to work with him.

Philip, somewhere along the line, had made that transition from important 20th Century composer, to important composer. Period. And it’s important to remember that he has not just enlarged a music repertoire but helped create an amazing and diverse array of projects: ballet, film and a lot of other stuff. I am honored to have mine among them.
— Errol Morris

RECORDINGS:
Philip Glass Film Scores on Orange Mountain Music
Glass Cuts on Orange Mountain Music
GlassJukebox on Nonesuch
Music from The Thin Blue Line on Orange Mountain Music
Philip on Film on Nonesuch
The Thin Blue Line on Nonesuch

FILMS:
The Thin Blue Line by Errol Morris