An African-American officer investigates a murder in a racially charged situation in World War II.An African-American officer investigates a murder in a racially charged situation in World War II.An African-American officer investigates a murder in a racially charged situation in World War II.
- Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 6 wins & 9 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Norman Jewison said of Denzel Washington in his autobiography titled 'This Terrible Business Has Been Good To Me', "The camera loved Washington, he was intelligent, rebellious, totally confident, and spectacularly talented. He was so confident, he often thought he knew more than the director, but he watched and learned. He never believed the film was going to work, until after he saw it finished. He didn't stop being above it all, until he saw the film with an audience, and realized it worked".
- GoofsJust before Davenport goes to the jail for the last time he carries an umbrella in the rain. Male officers were not permitted to carry an umbrella then or now.
- Quotes
Master Sergeant Vernon Waters: You know the damage one ignorant Negro can do? We were in France in the first war; we'd won decorations. But the white boys had told all them French gals that we had tails. Then they found this ignorant colored soldier, paid him to tie a tail to his ass and run around half-naked, making monkey sounds. Put him on the big round table in the Cafe Napoleon, put a reed in his hand, crown on his head, blanket on his shoulders, and made him eat *bananas* in front of all them Frenchies. Oh, how the white boys danced that night... passed out leaflets with that boy's picture on it. Called him Moonshine, King of the Monkeys. And when we slit his throat, you know that fool asked us what he had done wrong?
- Alternate versionsCBS edited 5 minutes from this film for its 1987 network television premiere.
- ConnectionsEdited into March to Freedom (1999)
- SoundtracksPourin' Whiskey Blues
Written by Patti LaBelle, James R. Ellison (as James Ellison) and Armstead Edwards
Performed by Patti LaBelle
Enter Capt. Davenport, a Negro army officer/lawyer assigned by Washington to investigate Waters' killing. No stranger to racial hostility himself, he perceives himself as a crusader, out to see that justice-ultimately racial justice--is served for the murder. However, he has the unfortunate experience of learning that internal black racism can be just as hostile and damaging as the external racism historically afflicted by white society.
Howard Rollins plays Capt. Davenport, the no nonsense, stoic black army officer investigating Waters' murder, and Dennis Lipscomb plays Captain Taylor, the late Waters' white commanding officer, who, like Davenport, desperately wants Waters' killers prosecuted. However, Taylor earnestly tries to persuade Davenport to relinquish the investigation, believing that as a black man, there's no way that Davenport can possibly "get at the truth" behind the killing.
But it is Adolph Caesar who commands most of your attention throughout this movie in the role of the sadistic Sgt. Vernon Waters. The mystery of Sgt. Waters' murder is the focal point of "A Soldier's Story," and, fittingly, Caesar is "the man" of this movie. Through a series of film flashbacks of Waters, via Davenport's interviews with black soldiers of Waters' platoon and Captain Taylor, we learn that Waters was an intensely embittered, disillusioned black master sergeant who believed that Southern blacks, perpetuating stereotypes of minstrelsy and ignorance, impede the black race from attaining acceptance and respect from white society. That said, he embarks on his own personal crusade to rid the black race of such dregs so that the race can prosper and progress.
With his raspy, deep voice, Caesar spent most of his career doing narrations for Hollywood productions. (While hearing him deliver his lines in this movie, and if you're over 45, you can't help but to reminisce about the classic tag line he delivered in TV commercials for the United Negro College Fund way back in the day-"A mind is a terrible thing to waste.") But it is in this role as Sgt. Waters in "A Soldier's Story" that Caesar displays his powerful talent as a dramatic actor, in a role that would eventually become his signature. It is with his penetrating voice that he effectively embodies the hatred and bitterness that personifies the Waters' character. Although small in stature, his screen presence is commanding, and at times even chilling, particularly when he vents his animosity and sadism toward the Southern Negroes of his platoon, whom he deprecatingly refers to as "geeches." It is a hatred so intense that as Pvt. Wilke (Water's subordinate) explains to Davenport, "You could just feel it." Caesar would go on to win a well-deserved Academy Award nomination for "Best Supporting Actor" for his portrayal of Sgt. Waters in "A Soldier's Story," a performance that would make him a star overnight. Unfortunately, he would suffer an untimely death two years after the movie was released, just as he was coming into his own as a Hollywood celebrity.
In what was only his second appearance in a Hollywood movie, Denzel Washington delivers a solid performance as "Pvt. Peterson," the outspoken and assertive soldier from Alabama, totally unafraid to challenge Waters' bigotry toward the Southern black soldiers. In stark contrast to Peterson, veteran actor Art Evans plays Pvt. Wilkie, Waters' docile and acquiescent flunky, who, in an effort to regain his rank of sergeant, a rank Waters had stripped, is more than willing to facilitate the sergeant's dastardly deeds.
In one of the movie's most memorable performances, Larry Riley plays "C.J. Memphis," a Mississippi farmhand turned soldier who becomes the most unfortunate and tragic victim of Water's malevolence. Although engaging and exceptionally talented, both musically and athletically, Memphis is obviously the most illiterate and "uncultured" soldier of Waters' platoon, and a rube too naïve to realize that of all of the Southern soldiers, he's the "geeche" that Waters despises most.
In addition to the movie's intriguing drama and suspense, "A Soldier's Story" features prime musical entertainment. Iconic R&B vocalist Patti LaBelle plays "Big Mary," owner of a bar where the black soldiers from the army base frequent. Her mesmerizing blues/gospel singing, coupled with Riley's own fine Mississippi Delta blues singing and guitar playing, makes for some of the movie's most entertaining moments.
Charles Fuller, the playwright of "A Soldier's Story" and screenwriter for this movie, did quite a fine job of transitioning his Pulitzer-Prize winning play to the big screen, and the added dimensions of cinema greatly enhances his story. However, even though the story is intended to be a "whodunit," you'll most likely gather who murdered Waters before it is revealed at the end of the movie.
Nevertheless, "A Soldier's Story" is a truly compelling tale, and the magnificent performances delivered by the cast alone, a cast that would be perceived by many today as "all-star," will have you wanting to watch this movie over and over again.
- Sparky48
- Mar 8, 2012
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Sergeant Waters - Eine Soldatengeschichte
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $6,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $21,821,347
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $156,383
- Sep 16, 1984
- Gross worldwide
- $21,821,347
- Runtime1 hour 41 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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