A Soldier's Story

A Soldier's Story (1984) Key here is the story, an attempt to give some exposure to problems of blacks in the military during WWII. That's commendable, and the movie makes it beautiful and on some level an accurate period piece. But there are too many obvious moments here, too many times where it seems that familiar (even for 1984) stereotypes are upended, or where justice is somehow being served to history. This gets in the way of some really fine performances, and in a way waters down the really important points, about the conflict of assimilation and equality for blacks in a military not ready for it, and in a culture (the deep South) completely resistant to it. A young Denzel Washington, and a seasoned Norma Jewison directing, at least make this movie worth watching, but neither rises to their best stuff. The set designer (and to some extent cinematographer) deserve credit for making a convincing setting for it all. And maybe most engaging, though also seemingly patched in for entertainment purposes, is Patti LaBelle as a searing blues performer, great to see.

***SPOILER ALERT*** Drinking himself into a drunken stupor US Army Sgt. Waters, Adolph Caesar, staggered out of Big Mary's Place and was later found by the Tynin Bridge beaten and shot to death. With Sgt. Waters being black it was immediately suspected that he was murdered by either members of the KKK or local townspeople who, in the deep south in 1944, didn't take too kindly in blacks, even servicemen, being in their town. There was also the fear that the black soldiers, from an all black army garrison, stationed outside of Tynin would take matters in their own hands in revenge of their fellow black Sgt. Waters being murdered by, as suspected, some of Tynin's racist citizens. Sending a US Army black officer to investigate the Waters murder was thought, by the Pentagon, to be the best way to defuse this very dangerous and explosive situation. As things turned out it was, the Waters murder, far more shocking as well as racist then anyone could have imagined! With the racism being instigated my the murder victim himself the late Sgt. Waters! Powerhouse movie that has black US Army Captain Davenport, Howard E. Rolins Jr, go against type in what his white superior officers expected him to do, white wash his investigation, and get to the meat of the matter in Sgt. Waters' murder. As he uncovered the circumstance's that lead to Waters murder Capt. Davenport became to realize that it was his actions towards the black troops that he commanded, not that of local white racists, that lead to his ignoble demise. As Capt. Davenport found out there was very bitter hatred towards the black troops stationed outside of Tynin but it was Sgt. Waters own racism, towards some of his men, that eventually lead to his murder. Being a spit & polish as well as educated career man Sgt. Waters look down on some his fellow blacks in them dragging top notch soldiers like himself down. ****SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON*** Using his #1 suck up Pvt. Wilkie, Art Evens, to do his dirty work Sgt. Waters framed Pvt.C.J Memphis, Larry Riley, in a triple murder on the army base. Knowing that the charge wouldn't stick, were not even sure if anyone was murdered in the first place, Waters then getting C.J to take a swing at him, knocking Waters flat on his butt, was a charge-striking a superior officer-which did. With the good natured C.J now locked up in the stockade a vengeful and sadistic Waters paid him a visit telling C.J that he's to do at least five years for belting him. This lead to a despondent and terrified, in being behind bars, C.J into hanging himself the following evening! It was the unexpected suicide of C.J that lead Sgt. Waters to go on a drinking binge that lead to him ending up murdered! The big question in Capt. Davenport's mind is who among the black troops on the base murdered him! More then anything else the movie "A Soldier's Story" shows that racism comes in all shapes sizes as well as colors. The bitter racism that Sgt. Waters had for poor C.J Memphis was far more vicious then the racism that the local whites had for him or any other black for that matter. Just because C.J was good natured and didn't have a chip on his shoulder like the infuriated Sgt. Waters did lead to Waters framing him for a number of murders that C.J didn't commit. The chip that Sgt. Waters carried all his adult life was that he couldn't accept the fact that he was black and thus put down by the society that he grew up in. And it was that sick and dangerous distortion of reality that lead not only to Sgt. Waters feelings of insecurity but the racism that he developed over the years against his own, like in the case of C.J Memphis, people! And in the end it was Sgt. Waters' own men whom he commanded that made him pay for it!

A murder of a black sergeant on a post in Louisiana in the spring of 1944 threatens blow up into a racially charged situation. A natural assumption is that the Ku Klux Klan would have seen a black man with stripes signifying authority and considered him a target. There were in fact race riots during World War II a fact the War Department considers in assigning one of the few black officers in the army, Howard Rollins to go to the post and investigate. The late sergeant played by Adolph Caesar is a controversial man who no one is neutral about. In fact as Rollins probes a few people tell different stories and contradict themselves, giving different views about what kind of a guy Caesar was in life. The film was directed by Norman Jewison and A Soldier's Story doesn't have one bit of wasted film footage or one bad performance out of his ensemble cast. Jewison got an Academy Award for directing In The Heat Of The Night also about a murder in the deep south that a black homicide detective gets corralled into helping the investigation. Actually there is one element of the plot that is exactly the same as In The Heat Of The Night. Sidney Poitier as Virgil Tibbs driven by his own attitudes and the way he's been treated in the town of Sparta, Mississippi originally pursues one line of investigation. Later on however he gets on track and finds the real culprit. The exact same thing happens in A Soldier's Story. Ironically enough Howard Rollins also got to play Virgil Tibbs in the television series adapted from In The Heat Of The Night. Two favorites in the supporting cast are a young Denzel Washington as one of the platoon soldiers and Art Evans as an older guy in the platoon who's been a non-commissioned officer before and is craftily kissing up to the right people to get those stripes back. The whole platoon is a cross section of male black America circa 1944. That in itself is what makes A Soldier's Story a great film. It's a murder mystery, a sociological study of racism external and internal, and a well acted drama that can be viewed many times with something new learned with every viewing.

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.

I'm an Army vet of several years and I feel somewhat qualified to comment on the accuracy of the portrayal of the military in the movies. I completed basic training and lived and worked in the same type of Army wooden barracks as in "A Soldier's Story." I was subordinate AND superior, in rank, in the course of my career, to soldiers like the disciplinarian Sergeant Waters. Overall, I believe "A Soldier's Story" is an accurate portrayal of Army personnel and history. "A Soldier's Story" is also an extremely entertaining mystery. Movie-making at its finest! I am proud that the U.S. Army led the way in racial integration in U.S. history. These years were unduly difficult years for African American soldiers, who contributed greatly to the U.S. war effort. Not only did African American soldiers have to deal with enemy action abroad, they also had to contend with extreme and violent racism at home! "A Soldier's Story" depicts this part of American history in a gripping, entertaining, and touching manner. Highly recommended 10/10.

I suppose the big thing for this movie is that most of the actors are black and it seeks to portray conditions in the military during the time of WWII. I, on the other hand, was just looking to watch a good murder mystery. What I got was the equivalent of "In The Heat Of The Night" if it was put on by your local amateur dramatics society. The murder story is nothing startling or new. Somebody is killed, various people are suspected and eventually the guilty person is found. You can do your own guessing, but it doesn't take an Einstein. What put me off is that the acting is not very good. Other than the Sargent I didn't feel that any of the characters offered anything beyond the clichéd characters role they were handed.

An old movie I never saw but had heard about. It has held up very well over the two decades since it came out (1984). The DVD comments by the director are interesting: low budget, core cast came from Broadway stage version, filmed at Ft. Chafee, Arkansas, Governor Bill Clinton visited the lot, local buildings and people were heavily used. Denzel Washington is fine in an early role; Adolph Caesar (well named for his role!)is fascinating; Howard Rollins is a force. Hard to put a finger on a weak link. Much of the music and barracks scenes are improvised giving the word "ensemble" real meaning. Definitely worth a first or second look. The spontaneous celebration of the long-awaited announcement that the unit is finally going to be shipped to Europe to fight is a special and real moment--validating the men's commitments to the U.S., with all its flaws, and the army itself, which would gradually emerge as a leading force for racial integration in the country.

There's much to recommend about this film. First it is refreshing to see a story about racism not done in the typical fashion where 'good' and 'bad' are so clearly delineated (ie. this a story about racism within the black community). Socially conscious director Jewison (In the Heat of the Night) also does a wonderful job (with the help of the scriptwriter of course) in authentically capturing the social climate of that bygone era. The acting is superb throughout. The only faces I recognized were Denzel's and David Allan Grier's but the unknowns (at least to me) were more than competent in their roles, especially Caesar's portrayal of the trouble Sgt. Waters. This film is not only fine cinema but it is also important history. Recommended, 8/10.

Directed by Norman Jewison, A Soldier's Story is a gripping film that tells the story of an African-American captain and lawyer who is sent to the Deep South to investigate the murder of a sergeant. But the film does not just tell the story of the investigation; it also opens up a whole new state of affairs for the audience to see. Jewison shows the hard-core racism that was present during World War II. Racism is the central theme that surrounds the murderous plot. The movie takes place in 1944, on a black army base in Louisiana where the men eagerly wait to be sent to Europe to fight World War II. Captain Davenport is brought in from Washington D.C. to inspect the unexpected murder of Sergeant Waters. Captain Davenport tediously interviews each man who was under Waters' command. All men gives his story and about how their great or not so great encounters with the late Sergeant Waters. The movie constantly flashes back and forth between the past and present as the men tell their stories to Davenport, explicitly introducing the different attitudes and animosities towards Sergeant Waters. All the men that Davenport interviewed had a motive to kill. This film explores a variety of racial behaviors that African-American men had to face at that time. Not only does it show racism from whites to blacks but also from black to blacks. Jewison does not spare the audience's ears as every sort of racial slur is thrown at the men, with the cruelest racist words coming from the black Sergeant Waters. He gives us a scandalous taste of this unsympathetic prejudice and bigotry through-out the entire picture and then at the end, just like that, all the arguments, issues, and chauvinism between all the men on the base is solved. The men finally get to fight in the war, everyone is content, and saluting one another; as if none of the narrow-minded racist name-calling and bias misconceptions never happened. Jewison failed to give this movie a "real" ending. How can Jewison, a white man from Canada ever be able too see that something like this would never happen? How can an entire movie that is built on preconceptions and injustice have an ending with a white man giving a black man a hand up and saluting other white officers without any acknowledgement of the unfair treatment that was handed to him? Jewison did an acceptable job displaying life for a black man in 1944, searching for his own identity in a world of whites who believe they are superior; I just think that representing open racism as "OK" is not OK. However, the acting is superb. Denzel Washington in particular, did an exceptional job, playing Private Peterson, as he resisted Sergeant Waters and refused to be talked down. Even though he couldn't back all his talking and lost in a fist fight against Waters, he did admirably well as he refused to be disparaged by another black man with only a few stripes more than him. Adolph Caesar, who starred as Sergeant Waters, also did a delightful job portraying a hateful man who enjoyed putting black men away who made his race look bad. Although he was malicious and intolerable towards his all black troop, he became a character you'd love to hate. Because of his sharp wit, small stature and roughness, he gave A Soldier's Story a slight sense of mean humor. Moreover, he gives the audience a sense of black on black hate and opens up a new perspective of how blacks had to endure racism with-in their own culture. A Soldier's Story is highly recommendable. It's a type of movie that keeps it's audience captivated through-out the entire view and never gets dull. The film is unpredictable and comical but only to a certain extent. Addressing serious issues, there are times when A Soldier's Story draws the audience in to sympathize with the characters and feel their pain. However, a special appearance from Patti LaBelle will help ease that pain and standing up and shouting is the only option when she blows only like Patti LaBelle can.

A murder mystery among black soldiers during World War II - in the last years of the segregated military. The plot is completely unpredictable but fascinating. The characters are strongly written, very believable and varied. **** SPOILERS **** Like the best movies, the central motivation for the crime runs away from cliche. In his rage for an idea - that black men be given respect and have dignity - the sergeant doesn't care about individuals and their welfare. Anyone under his command whom he believes retards that respect from being accorded - or who fails to reflect pride and dignity as a black man - must be punished - regardless of their warmth or personality. The fact that rural black southern men seem in the early 1940s to this sergeant to be relatively old-fashioned in their relaxed ways (compared to northern blacks - most of whom lived in large cities and work in large industries), in their acceptance of a "second class" citizenship and in their deference to whites, drives the sergeant wild with hatred. In that sense, this movie is like the French play and movie, "Danton" - for the villain, the individual is unimportant (no matter how sweet, how well-loved by others) and his welfare is subordinated to a greater idea (whether fraternite and egalite for all mankind in Danton or respect and dignity for the black man in America in A Soldier's Story). Of course, like in Danton, the general principle (egalite or respect) causes the authority (here, the sergeant) to treat the person retarding the principle's acceptance at least as badly as the injustice from which the reformer (the sergeant) seeks relief. The murder at the heart of this movie is the revenge by those who care for individual human beings more than they care for the general principles about how those individuals should be treated. **** SPOILERS END **** I found the setting and characters both believable and intensely interesting, and enjoyed the frequent humor (e.g., the reaction of townspeople and black soldiers to a black captain). The reaction of the regiment to the news that they were being "allowed" to go into action against the Axis powers was moving - and the way this news overshadowed (among the soldiers) the resolution of the murder, was very well done and believable. This is one terrific movie - truly one of the best American movies of the 1980s. I fear that the largely black cast might cause whites to relegate the movie to to a separate "black audience" category - it shouldn't be seen that way - its appeal is completely universal.