Movie · 1984 · Mystery, Crime, Drama · 1h 41m · PG · English
Curator score: 6.0/10 (18.9K ratings)
Alone, far from home, and far from justice, he has three days to learn the truth about a murder... and the truth is a story you won't forget.
Overview
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.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.0/10
IMDb: 7.2/10
Letterboxd: 3.61/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Metacritic: 66
TMDB: 6.8/10
Director
Norman Jewison
Production
Caldix, Columbia Pictures
Cast
Howard Rollins, Adolph Caesar, Art Evans, Robert Townsend, Denzel Washington, David Alan Grier, David Harris, Dennis Lipscomb, Patti LaBelle, Wings Hauser, Larry Riley, William Allen Young, Scott Paulin, John Hancock, Robert Tyler, Trey Wilson, Patricia Brandkamp, Carl Dreher, Vaughn Reeves, Michael Anthony Williams
Curator Review
Verdict
A smart, tightly wound murder mystery that uses a military whodunit to probe racism, identity, and power inside a segregated Black unit. It’s a little stage-bound at times, but the performances and the layered social tension make it a standout 1980s drama.
Best for
viewers who like character-driven mysteries
fans of historically grounded race dramas
people interested in ensemble acting and courtroom/investigation structure
audiences who appreciate socially conscious 1980s films
Skip if
you want a fast, twist-heavy thriller
you dislike stage-adapted dialogue-heavy dramas
you prefer mysteries that stay purely procedural
you’re looking for light entertainment
Overview
A Soldier’s Story is one of those films that starts as a murder investigation and gradually reveals itself as a much deeper study of hierarchy, self-hatred, and survival under segregation. The mystery is solid, but the real tension comes from the interviews, flashbacks, and the uneasy way every character has to navigate a system built on humiliation.
Worth noting
The film benefits enormously from its ensemble, especially Howard Rollins Jr. and Adolph Caesar, whose performances give the material real bite. Denzel Washington’s early appearance is a bonus, but the movie’s strength is how it uses a military setting to sharpen questions about Black identity, respectability, and internal conflict.
Bottom line
It can feel a bit theatrical in places, which makes sense given its origins, but the writing is sharp and the emotional stakes are strong. If you like prestige dramas that are also genuinely engaging mysteries, this is an easy recommendation.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (3.5★) · 134 likes
Starring: King Kong Ain’t Got Sh!t On Denzel
Denzel Washington appears in the first of his collaborations with filmmaker Norman Jewison, albeit this time he is more of a supporting cast member as one of several troops who have some resentment against this captain who is ordered to investigate the death of a soldier at a segregated Army camp in Louisiana at the end of WWII.
Rollins Jr. and notably Ceasar (who was nominated for an Oscar) steal the show… more
Sin ✊🏿 (4★) · 124 likes
“Who gave you the right to be a Negro? Who?”
Fantastic Black-centered cinema that unravels a compelling “whodunit” murder mystery investigation while it also tacitly and explicitly interrogates several evergreen issues unique to the tapestry of everyday Black American life, including:
✅ Respectability politics
✅ “House nigga” vs “field nigga” mentalities
✅ Internalized racism
✅ The necessity of pursuing/engaging in Black joy (however minor or impermanent)
✅ The demarcation between (rightfully) calling out coon behavior and policing/gatekeeping blackness
✅ The… more
pirateneckbeard (4★) · 73 likes
This film walks a smart line as a thriller without being too sensationalistic. It gives the unfortunate situations of being black in the south and in the military but I feel in a different view point and think that everyone is excellent in there role and only playing excessive towards the recreations of memories of the finding out about the death of Sergeant Waters. Sure it takes awhile for the shoe to drop but I feel that's on purpose for… more This film walks a smart line as a thriller without being too sensationalistic. It gives the unfortunate situations of being black in the south and in the military but I feel in a different view point and think that everyone is excellent in there role and only playing excessive towards the recreations of memories of the finding out about the death of Sergeant Waters. Sure it takes awhile for the shoe to drop but I feel that's on purpose for… more
Karl (4★) · 42 likes
It's been forty years since Norman Jewison's take on the 1981 Pulitzer Prize winning play written by Charles Fuller opened. He would also receive an Oscar nod for his screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Picture. Adolph Caesar, who also starred in the play, gives a well-deserved Oscar nominated performance as a Black Sergeant, who is severely damaged by self-hatred. He takes it out on the Black soldiers he commands. I had only seen him in 1985's "The Color… more It's been forty years since Norman Jewison's take on the 1981 Pulitzer Prize winning play written by Charles Fuller opened. He would also receive an Oscar nod for his screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Picture. Adolph Caesar, who also starred in the play, gives a well-deserved Oscar nominated performance as a Black Sergeant, who is severely damaged by self-hatred. He takes it out on the Black soldiers he commands. I had only seen him in 1985's "The Color… more
theironcupcake (3.5★) · 33 likes
FEBRUARY 2021 STAR OF THE MONTH: DENZEL WASHINGTON (#24)
My month-long Denzel Washington series wraps up with his breakthrough film performance in Norman Jewison's A Soldier's Story, a historical drama adapted by African-American playwright Charles Fuller (from his own stage production, A Soldier's Play) that follows the search for justice in a murder as filtered through the lens of the Black experience in the US Army during World War II.
Howard E. Rollins Jr., who was probably best known at… more