The film's title comes from James Jones's novel but apparently in turn is reflective of a saying that reads: "There's only a Thin Red Line between the sane and the mad." This movie explains the meaning unlike the remake, The Thin Red Line. In this the original film, Captain Stone ("Staros") played by Ray Daley says, "I remember an old mid-west saying. There's only a thin red line between the sane and the mad."
This movie takes place at the Battle of Guadacanal. Guadalcanal is situated in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean, north-east of Australia. Its local name is Isatabu and contains the country's capital, Honiara. The island is humid and mostly made up of jungle with a surface area of 2,510 square miles or 6,500-km². Guadacanal was named after Pedro de Ortega's home town Guadacanal in Andalusia, Spain. de Ortega worked under Álvaro de Mendaña who charted the island in 1568.