Synopsis
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.
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Cast
- Howard RollinsCaptain Davenport
- Adolph CaesarSergeant Waters
- Art EvansPrivate Wilkie
- Robert TownsendCorporal Ellis
- Denzel WashingtonPrivate First Class Peterson
- David Alan GrierCorporal Cobb
- David HarrisPrivate Smalls
- Dennis LipscombCaptain Taylor
- Patti LaBelleBig Mary
- Wings HauserLieutenant Byrd
Recommendations
- 80
Time Out
Rollins' charisma works wonders, and Jewison reveals enough solid professionalism in the deft handling of flashbacks to make it gripping entertainment. - 80
Variety
A Soldier's Story is a taut, gripping film which features many of the old fashioned virtues of a good Hollywood production - brilliant ensemble acting, excellent production values, a crackling script (adapted from the Pulitzer Prize winning A Soldier's Play [1981] by its author, Charles Fuller), fine direction and a liberal political message. - 80
The New Yorker
Jewison has given it an atmosphere that recalls his crack 1967 comedy-mystery In the Heat of the Night, and he has also given it a beautiful sense of pace, and brought out all the humor he can find. - 75
TV Guide Magazine
Fuller has taken a basic Agatha Christie-type plot and bathed it in social issues; A Soldier's Story is an insightful period drama as well as a totally engaging character study. The picture does become a trifle talky at times, thus betraying its stage origin, but Fuller's words are almost always interesting and powerful and make worthwhile listening. - 75
Miami Herald
A Soldier's Story insists that attention must be paid, and in so doing re-creates a dark and still fascinating picture of the American landscape -- geographical, social, spiritual. [05 Oct 1984, p.C1] - 70
The New York Times
Mr. Jewison, filming mainly at Fort Chaffee, Ark., has opened up the play by using such interiors as the bar where the troops hang out and exteriors on and around the base. But perhaps most commendably, he has let Mr. Fuller's drama speak for itself, applying the skills of a film maker to polish the facets that lent such substance to the drama. - 70
Washington Post
Almost as powerful as the stage version, craftily recreating the small Louisiana town and the nearby military barracks housing companies of black soldiers in 1944 -- and incidentally providing a splendid showcase for a squadron of black performers who should rarely be out of work from now on. [28 Sep 1984, p.C1] - 63
Chicago Sun-Times
Did this movie have to be so lockstep, so trapped by its mechanical plot, so limited by a murder mystery? What the movie has to say is so pale and limited that, ironically, the most interesting character in the movie is the victim.
