A Soldier's Story
A Soldier's Story
PG | 14 September 1984 (USA)
A Soldier's Story Trailers

In a rural town in Louisiana, a black Master Sergeant is found shot to death just outside the local Army Base. Military lawyer, Captain Davenport—also a black man—is sent from Washington to conduct an investigation. Facing an uncooperative chain of command and fearful black troops, Davenport must battle with deceit and prejudice in order to find out exactly who really did kill the Master Sergeant.

Reviews
Scanialara

You won't be disappointed!

... View More
Exoticalot

People are voting emotionally.

... View More
Fairaher

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

... View More
Ezmae Chang

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

... View More
Benedito Dias Rodrigues

This picture strangely passed by me and l didn't have another oppotunity to see on TV again,now on very first time on DVD which l'd bought years before, Although it is very predicable,the writter gave a clue when the Sergeant was killed by their own people,it was so clear that spoil the whole story,but the main target of the movie never was sergeant's behavior,but the message to reach the audience about the real facts during World War 2,when black soldiers never were accepted in same places with white soldiers,more they didn't have any recognition from the Army,including medals of honour after risking their lives for homeland....worst making every kind of dirtiest job in the army.....in the bonus has a little doc about that matter,shame for a country which has two kind of people!!Resume:First watch: 2018 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8

... View More
sddavis63

This movie tries to do two separate and distinct things; one it does very well, the other is a so-so effort. As regards the latter, frankly, this isn't the most compelling murder mystery you're ever going to come across. On a US Army base made up of mostly black troops in Louisiana in 1944, a black sergeant is murdered, and the question is who did it. Many think it was local Klansmen who didn't like seeing a black man in a position of responsibility, but that theory is quickly rejected and in steps Captain Davenport (played by Howard Rollins) - a black lawyer/officer charged with solving the mystery. Most of the movie is told in flashbacks as Davenport questions the various soldiers on the base to try to unravel the mystery. Rollins was good in the role, and the movie paints a complex (and sometimes confusing) picture of Sgt. Waters, giving reasons for both liking and disliking him, and opening up the possibility that virtually everyone he came into contact with might have had some motive for wanting to kill him. The mystery around the killer's identity is indeed a mystery right up to the very end. There was no reason given to suspect any one character over another. Still, I wasn't especially drawn in by the murder mystery, and if that was all that was going on here this would have been a real disappointment. My sense, though, is that the murder mystery was really background to a bigger issue.What's interesting here is the racial study. What's interesting is watching the pride black soldiers felt in seeing a black officer for the first time. What's interesting is seeing the discomfort of white officers around how to react to a black officer. What's interesting is seeing the interactions between the black soldiers themselves, all trying in their own way to find a way to fit in and to advance at the same time - some asserting their racial identity, some feeling that to get ahead they had to become more like whites, and not always getting along with each other as they approach the racial issues in different ways. This was, indeed, an interesting look at what life might have been like on such a base at the time, and it was that part of the story that was really most interesting to me. The murder mystery was worth watching only insofar as it helped to highlight those racial issues that were ever-present.Of note, I suppose, is that this is one of the earliest roles played by Denzel Washington, as a private on the base who's one of the suspects in the murder because of a confrontation he had with Rivers. It's an important although not a huge role. Rollins was really the star of the movie, and he was very good. Adolph Caesar as Sgt. Rivers was good - perhaps a bit of a caricature of an army sergeant in some ways, but still quite good.

... View More
classicalsteve

One of the toughest tasks for playwrights and filmmakers is to create a piece that explores a known injustice without it seeming either like a moral sermon or a propaganda speech. "A Soldier's Story" adapted from the Pultizer-prize winning play ("A Soldier's Play") by Charles Fuller meets the issue of racism in such a way that you never feel like the producers were standing on soap boxes. Instead, Charles Fuller and Norman Jewison make their point through a thoroughly compelling murder mystery set on a "colored" or rather African-American army base in a southern rural community during the latter part of World War II. Or better stated, the story makes its own point without the writer or the filmmakers pushing the over-arching themes on the audience with a sledge-hammer. The point of the story is only gradually revealed, and not unlike an Agatha Christie mystery, the solution is unexpected, startling and simultaneously sobering. This is not just pure escapism, although much of the story is highly entertaining and thought-provoking, much like Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".The first scene is the murder itself, inflicted upon some kind of army sergeant who happens to be a "mulatto", someone of white and black lineage. While wandering from the local tavern completely "juiced" late one night, he is shot in cold blood. The base is convinced the murder was at the hands of the KKK who don't like the base comprised of African-Americans in their neck of the woods. A few weeks later, an African-American army officer, Captain Davenport (Howard Rollins) arrives from Washington DC to investigate the crime, which gets quite a stir as no one in this predominantly white community has ever seen a black commissioned officer before. The officer begins his investigation by interviewing the many soldiers of the platoon who had been under the leadership of the slain sergeant.We learn that the victim of the story, Sergeant Waters, played by Adolph Caesar in an academy-nominated performance in which he re-prised his role from the stage play, was a hard-driving non-commissioned officer who feels like his men can't quite measure up to his expectations. His African-American platoon was actually a baseball team, and no matter that they won nearly every game and might have had a chance to play the NY Yankees in an exhibition game, Waters seems unimpressed. After winning a big game against a white team, instead of allowing the players to celebrate, he wants them to work mundane detail. Even when one of the white captains insists the men can take the rest of the day off, Waters tries to change his mind. When Private Peterson (Denzel Washington) protests, he and the sergeant engage in hand-to-hand combat.As the investigation continues, we learn more and more about the victim as the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Underneath a veneer of detached and brutal confidence, Waters wants desperately to curry favor with the white community through the army hierarchy. And he seems to have some strange attitudes regarding members of the African-American race. Waters is enigmatic as he seems both an African-American and yet someone who disowns his race. Waters admonishes and demotes one of his underlings, Private Wilkie, because he had been drunk on guard duty. Not because of the dangerousness and incompetence of the act itself but because he feels it would reflect badly in the eyes of the white officers: "Coloured folks always talking' about what they'll do...if the white man give 'em a chance. You get it, and what do you do with it? You wind up drunk on guard duty." This is an absolutely brilliant film with first-rate acting. Much of the cast, except for Howard Rollins, re-prised their roles from the off-Broadway play including Denzel Washington, the late Adolph Caesar, and the late Larry Riley as C.J. Memphis. (Samuel Jackson actually played one of the roles in the original play but not the film.) The tour-de-force performance by Caesar as Sergeant Waters is one of the great screen performances of the century, in my humble opinion. Not to be missed.

... View More
mvassa71

This is a great film, with a gripping murder mystery at it's core, but there are many things that make up this movie, and they are all important. It is a study of the the larger society during the WW2 era, racial politics, human frailty, and human dignity. The cast is great, and you'll see many familiar faces, including a young Denzel Washington. The acting is across-the-board superb. There is hard won humor and wry wisdom in the film, it has excellent pacing, and good use of retrospective. My only complaint is the score by Herbie Hancock. The movie is set during WW2, but the music is all 80's synthesizer. Totally out of place and it detracts from the film a bit. But all in all, this is well worth a watch, you will love this movie and enjoy trying to figure out who the killer is!

... View More