This picture strangely passed by me and l didn't have another oppotunity to see on TV again,now on very first time on DVD which l'd bought years before, Although it is very predicable,the writter gave a clue when the Sergeant was killed by their own people,it was so clear that spoil the whole story,but the main target of the movie never was sergeant's behavior,but the message to reach the audience about the real facts during World War 2,when black soldiers never were accepted in same places with white soldiers,more they didn't have any recognition from the Army,including medals of honour after risking their lives for homeland....worst making every kind of dirtiest job in the army.....in the bonus has a little doc about that matter,shame for a country which has two kind of people!!Resume:First watch: 2018 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8

It's 1944 Tynin, Louisiana. Sergeant Waters is killed by an unknown assailant. All the black soldiers suspect the local Klan. Captain Davenport is sent in to investigate the murder. The C.O. Colonel Nivins is a southerner. He restricts the black soldiers from going into town and gives Davenport 3 days before sending him back. Most of the men are baseball players from the Negro League. Waters was a hard leader of men. The investigation leads to different suspects.I want to love this picture. The acting is superb. Adolph Caesar is excellent. There are tons of great black actors including a young Denzel Washington. Norman Jewison is doing his best work. However this is a whodunnit and the suspects are a little random. It feels like a series of twists and turns that isn't set up that well. In the end, I'm simply waiting for the last twist to reveal the real killer. The biggest problem is that I doesn't really care about what happened. There are so many good actors here that I want to love this more.

***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!

This is a great film, with a gripping murder mystery at it's core, but there are many things that make up this movie, and they are all important. It is a study of the the larger society during the WW2 era, racial politics, human frailty, and human dignity. The cast is great, and you'll see many familiar faces, including a young Denzel Washington. The acting is across-the-board superb. There is hard won humor and wry wisdom in the film, it has excellent pacing, and good use of retrospective. My only complaint is the score by Herbie Hancock. The movie is set during WW2, but the music is all 80's synthesizer. Totally out of place and it detracts from the film a bit. But all in all, this is well worth a watch, you will love this movie and enjoy trying to figure out who the killer is!