A Soldier's Story
A SOLDIER'S STORY (15)
D: Norman Jewison
Columbia/Delphi (Norman Jewison & Patrick
Palmer)
US 1984
101 mins
Mystery/Drama
W: Charles Fuller [based on
his play]
DP: Russell Boyd
Ed: Caroline Biggerstaff & Mark
Warner
Mus: Herbie Hancock
Howard E. Rollins,
Jr.(Davenport), Adolph Caesar (Waters), Art Evans (Wilkie), David Alan Grier (Cobb), David Harris (Smalls), Denzel Washington (Peterson)
A military lawyer investigates the death of a
strict drill sergeant at a Louisiana army camp, where the murder may or may not be racially motivated.
A well-written and very well acted, but rather
old-fashioned mystery melodrama from director Norman Jewison, with standout performances particularly from Howard E. Rollins, Jr. & Adolph Caesar, with a notable early role
from Denzel Washington.
Unfair comparisons will be made with A Few
Good Men (qv).
8/10
