A Soldier's Story (1984) on Netflix
In 1944, Master Sergeant Vernon Waters is found shot dead outside Fort Neal, a Louisiana Army base. Captain Richard Davenport, a Black lawyer from Washington, is sent to investigate.
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- IMDb7.2/1012,776 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes90%
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Plot summary
Captain Richard Davenport, a Black officer in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, is sent from Washington in 1944 to look into the killing of Master Sergeant Vernon Waters, found shot dead outside Fort Neal, an Army base in Louisiana. The officers Davenport answers to are uncooperative, and the Black troops are fearful. Waters's company belonged to the 221st Chemical Smoke Generator Battalion, which stayed on the home front and did menial work; most of the men were former baseball players from the Negro leagues.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about A Soldier's Story (1984)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Bill Clinton, then Governor of Arkansas, dropped by during shooting, became enthusiastic about the project and later provided the Arkansas Army National Guard in full regalia for a grand scene, since Jewison could not afford to pay an army of extras; production was completed with their help at Fort Chaffee.
- Warner Bros. turned the film down, as did Universal and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Columbia was hesitant about its commercial value, so Jewison offered to do it for a $5 million budget and no salary; when the Directors Guild of America insisted he must have a fee, he took the lowest possible amount.
- Waters's "day of the Geechie" speech has been referenced in hip hop: dialogue from it appears at the beginning of Immortal Technique's 2003 song "Industrial Revolution", and rapper K-Hill cited the speech as the inspiration for "The Geechi's Over", applying the film's discussion of stereotypes about Southern Black people to Southern hip hop.
- A Soldier's Story is one of only two films nominated for Best Picture that feature Denzel Washington in the cast, the other being Fences.
