'The Thin Red Line' DVD: First Look At Mickey Rourke & 8 Other Outtakes From Terrence Malick's War Film

Much has been made about the supposed five- or six-hour cut of Terrence Malick's tone poem war film, 1998's "The Thin Red Line" (released by 20th Century Fox no less, despite being a completely noncommercial work that was overlooked in part because of Steven Spielberg's more accessible "Saving Private Ryan"). Now on DVD in a special edition form thanks to the Criterion Collection, what one gleans while watching the extras and listening to the commentary (full review coming soon), is that there was a five-hour cut of the film, but it was never intended for release and was nothing more than a first draft of the editing process.
While Malick did shoot over a million feet of film, those hoping, wishing, praying to see that version on the Criterion disc -- which allegedly cut out appearances by Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Sheen, Gary Oldman, Bill Pullman, Lukas Haas, Jason Patric, Viggo Mortensen and Mickey Rourke (though they are all thanked in the credits) -- should keep on dreaming. It's not a cut intended for the public and it's likely never going to be seen (though who knows what happens 30 years down the road when the principals have passed on and 20th Century Fox wants to make another buck). Updated: An old 2006, New York Times piece reveals that Billy Bob Thornton, reportedly recorded an entire narration that was never used in "The Thin Red Line." An old Entertainment Weekly article from 1999, revealed that he had "written a part for Gary Oldman then told him not to show up." Martin Sheen and Viggo Mortensen's parts were never filmed and a host of name-brand actors were flown in to meet with the director including Edward Norton, Matthew McConaughey, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Edward Burns. Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Nicolas Cage apparently all had "serious discussions" with Malick and Tom Hanks had to "politely decline" because of "Saving Private Ryan."

And of course John Travolta was hired for "Thin Red Line" because Malick famously wanted to hire him in the lead in "Days Of Heaven," but was forced to go with Richard Gere because of Travolta's busy, "Welcome Back Kotter" schedule.

Another interesting factoid, much of the "Thin Red Line" voice-over was apparently cribbed from much of the voice-over that Malick wrote for his unfilmed remake of Kenji Mizoguch's "Sansho The Baliff" (another must-have Criterion DVD).

In the various interviews, commentary tracks and mini-documentaries on the disc, we learn that the original screenplay was 198 pages, but as per usual, Malick rarely stuck to it. The closest thing we'll probably get to that "long-version" of the "The Thin Red Line" is the eight outtakes included on the disc, and yes, one of them includes footage of one excised actor, Mickey Rourke (there's also brief photographic evidence of Lukas Haas which we neglected to screencap, but the other aforementioned actors are nowhere to be seen).

Below are photos and descriptions of each outtake. Keep in mind, these scenes amount to only 14 minutes of footage in total.

Scene 1. Witt and Storm Drunk
Let's face it, most of these scenes -- like most outtakes -- are unremarkable and all too brief. But they do provide hardcore fans with some great curiosities and what-could-have-beens. We'll say this right now. Every scene is interesting, but none feel like they belong in the finished film. They're outtakes for a reason and in this one, Witt and Storm drunk is just that -- a scene where Jim Caviezel and John C. Reilly imbibe together and Reilly's Storm character (immensely cut out of the final film with almost no dialogue) curses out Witt for loving the Charlie Company that does not love him back. He's essentially castigated for being so naive and putting his faith in the wrong institution while Witt quietly drinks and lets his friend berate him before walking off. And then it ends. Throughout the movie and outtakes we're painfully reminded how good Caviezel was in the hands of Malick and how he hasn't been particularly special in anything since.
2. Bead volunteers his squad
Somehow this one must be labeled incorrectly (Criterion, really?). Bead is played by Nick Stahl, but he's nowhere to be seen in this sequence (unless there are soliders named both Beade and Bead, yes, we're that pedantic). Regardless, the scene shows two soldiers (honestly we don't know the actors' names and they're not featured in the final film in any major degree, though the one pictured looks like Sgt. Becker played by Don Harvey) arguing. The one asks why his squad has been volunteered to lead the next assault when his team is clearly the most fatigued and wounded. The officer responds. "Fair? Fair has nothing to do with it," while explaining that this platoon, while damaged and tired, is still the best at what they do and well, tough shit. The inferior officer has to grin and bear it and that's all. The other reasoning to all this? Malick cast one actor as Bead and then replaced him later, who knows. We're inclined to think it's an error on Criterion's part though.
3. Mazzi drunk
In this sequence, Pvt. Mazzi, (Larry Romano) goes on a drunken tirade against one of his superiors (the same one in outtake 2, it looks like Aussie actor Paul Gleeson as 1st Lt. Band, but we can't be totally sure), telling him that he's disliked in the company and tries to organize a crew of drunken soldiers (including Danny Hoch as Pvt. Carni) to tell all this to the Lieutenant's face.
4. Bead kills a Japanese soldier
Based off a personal experience that the original 'Thin Red Line' author James Jones had, the scene depicts Bead (Stahl), who kills a Japanese solider with a bayonet when he runs into him in the woods. It's notable because Stahl's part in the final film is perhaps two minutes long (one death sequence), but it's a tad histrionic with him freaking out and losing it over the fact that he's just killed a man. Plus it's redundant, as it's very similar in tone to a scene later on in the film when the solider Pvt. Charlie Dale (Arie Verveen) collects the teeth of dead Japanese infantry men and then has his own moment of raging contrition as it rains down dramatically (note on IMDB, the character is called Beade to cause further confusion).
5. Witt and the sniper (with Mickey Rourke)
What will probably be considered the crown jewel by 'Thin Red Line' geeks in this DVD set is the all-too-brief appearance of Mickey Rourke as an emotional sniper that comes across Jim Caviezel's Witt character and slowly unravels as he pounds the ground, weeps, and puts his face in his hands presumably because of all the suffering and dying around him. He asks Witt about where he grew up and Caviezel says he misses home. Rourke says, "What'd you miss?" ostensibly trying to earnestly keep the conversation going; seemingly digging for humanity in this godforsaken place. Rourke still considers this performance some of the "best work he ever did." It's certainly the most interesting to watch of all these scenes, not just because it's been hidden away for years, but because it's so brief that it's really hard to compare it to say, his work in "The Wrestler." Note, Rourke also once said, "There were political reasons why I was out of the movie. That really upset me," but it just seems that the sniper storyline has nothing to do with the main story of Witt and Charlie Company. The film was three hours long, and Rourke just seemed to be a casualty of editing war.
6. Japanese POWs
In this scene, Pvt. Tills (Tim Blake Nelson) and a few other American soldiers are escorting a group of starving and dying Japanese prisoners of war. One is so malnourished and dying of thirst he can't seem to make it and half the platoon wants to leave him for dead, but one of the soldiers warns that a particularly fastidious commanding officer knows the head count and if they return with one less POW there will be hell to pay. Mildly interesting, but wholly unnecessary.
7. Bell and Bosche
The dialogue scene between Pvt. Bell (Ben Chaplin) and Capt. Charles Bosche (George Clooney) is notable because it includes more Clooney, who evidently joined the cast after the fact, and it's suggested, at his own expense, simply to be a part of the film, but it's not particularly engaging and you can see why it was cut. It is marginally interesting because the scene would ostensibly come after the sequences where Bell learns that his wife (Miranda Otto) has fallen in love with another man and is divorcing him. The scene between Bell and Bosche is essentially the Pvt. explaining the situation to his Captain and the senior officer displaying empathy and understanding.

8. Fife leaves
You've got to wonder if Adrien Brody still had a chip on his shoulder, at least until he won an Academy Award for Roman Polanski's "The Pianist." As rumored, "The Thin Red Line" DVD and its various components tell us that in the screenplay, Brody's Fife -- a scared and cowardly proxy for James Jones -- was supposed to be the lead character in the film and it's certainly written that way in script form. But Malick became more enamored with Jim Caviezel and would write more scenes into the picture -- like the Guadalcanal opening that shows Witt AWOL -- so Brody got the short end of the straw. Frankly, from what we see in this sequence, we can understand why, because Brody's Fife character is a one note affair of fearfulness. In this scene, other soldiers ask where Witt is (a scene that is in the final version), Fife doesn't know and eventually he's taken to a hospital where it's revealed he has a major leg injury. A doctor scolds him for not coming forward about his disability sooner and then suddenly, he is discharged and sent back to the U.S. much to his own surprise. -- thanks to Drew Taylor for help with his piece.