MOVIES - Sept. 14, 1988

It’s the rare movie that can get someone out of jail, but Errol Morris’ stylized documentary, “The Thin Blue Line,” is trying to do just that. Petitions are circulating in theaters in the more than 200 cities screening the film calling for a pardon of Randall Adams, who has spent 12 years trying to prove that he didn’t kill a Texas policeman in 1976. The key witness that sent him to prison, a convicted murderer, admitted in the film--which uses interviews with most of the people associated with the case as well re-enactments of the shooting--that he lied to put Adams behind bars. But, so far, Dallas County Dist. Atty. John Vance said there is no reason to reopen the case. Adams’ attorneys are seeking a pardon from the government or a new trial.