primona This film was nominated for three Academy awards including Best Picture and deservedly so. It continues to be a highly underrated film but I suspect it will receive much greater appreciation as time goes by, as in the case of many films that are considered great classics today. The movie is about a black officer, Captain Davenport (Howard E. Rollins, Jr.), who is sent to investigate the murder of a black sergeant (Adolph Caesar) in Louisiana near the end of World War II. Captain Davenport is faced with the tremendous pressure of being in the unprecedented role of a black officer who must get at the truth of who killed sergeant Waters, no matter the consequences. The story focuses on racism within the segregated black U.S Army regiment and is told in flashbacks with rich writing and highly complex characters, especially the conflicted and hated sergeant Waters, the defiant Private First Class Peterson, (played by Denzel Washington), and the self-righteous Captain Davenport. The acting is compelling! In fact, Rollins, Ceasar(who was actually nominated for Best Supporting Actor), and Washington were all deserving of an Academy Award nomination for their acting. This was one of Denzel Washington's earliest films but one of his strongest performances and I say this as a fan of his work in such films as Cry Freedom, Glory, Maxcolm X, Courage Under Fire, Crimson Tide, Man on Fire, Training Day, to name a few. In fact, if you're a Denzel Washington fan, you would be remissed if you don't see this earlier work of his. This film was also one of the last major films for three of the main actors; the very talented Howard E. Rollins Jr., who is best known for his Academy Award nominated role in Ragtime, Adolph Ceasar, best known for this role and his role as "Mister" in the film Color Purple, and Larry Riley, who played CJ Memphis in the film. The fact that these three very talented actors died in their prime (between 39-52 years of age) makes this film even more nostalgic for me when I watch it today. May their memory live on in this superb film.

sol1218 ***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!

bkoganbing 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.

edwagreen Powerful film detailing the segregation in the armed forces which existed prior to 1948.The gripping film takes place in Louisiana where a black sergeant has been shot to death. A black army official has been sent in from Washington to investigate the murder.Well directed by Norman Jewison who seemed to focus on murder mysteries as he did so well in the 1967 Oscar winning film "In the Heat of the Night."It first appears obvious that the Ku Klux Klan has done the sergeant. (Adolph Caesar in a brilliant Oscar nominated performance for best supporting actor.) Later on the attention drifts to two white soldiers, one of whom, had beaten the sergeant up moments before the shots rang out.Howard E. Rollins, Jr. is effective as the investigator who pulls no punches in his investigation.Flashbacks work beautifully in this film as it is recounted how Caesar was ashamed of "dumb" blacks whom he felt was holding up the progress of the rest of the black people in the army. He provokes one to hit him and thereby he can have him jailed for striking an officer. The sergeant has done this previously in other parts of the country.One black soldier stands up to him and that person is played by Denzel Washington in his first movie. What an impressive performance for Washington!This film was nominated for best picture of 1984 and lost to "Amadeus." That choice of the latter could easily be criticized with this film dealing with segregation, perseverance and doing what was right.