| Columbia Pictures | Release Date: November 2, 1984 | CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
9
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews
A Soldier's Story is a taut, gripping film which features many of the old fashioned virtues of a good Hollywood production - brilliant ensemble acting, excellent production values, a crackling script (adapted from the Pulitzer Prize winning A Soldier's Play [1981] by its author, Charles Fuller), fine direction and a liberal political message.
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Jewison has given it an atmosphere that recalls his crack 1967 comedy-mystery In the Heat of the Night, and he has also given it a beautiful sense of pace, and brought out all the humor he can find.
Fuller has taken a basic Agatha Christie-type plot and bathed it in social issues; A Soldier's Story is an insightful period drama as well as a totally engaging character study. The picture does become a trifle talky at times, thus betraying its stage origin, but Fuller's words are almost always interesting and powerful and make worthwhile listening.
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A Soldier's Story insists that attention must be paid, and in so doing re-creates a dark and still fascinating picture of the American landscape -- geographical, social, spiritual. [05 Oct 1984, p.C1]
Mr. Jewison, filming mainly at Fort Chaffee, Ark., has opened up the play by using such interiors as the bar where the troops hang out and exteriors on and around the base. But perhaps most commendably, he has let Mr. Fuller's drama speak for itself, applying the skills of a film maker to polish the facets that lent such substance to the drama.
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Almost as powerful as the stage version, craftily recreating the small Louisiana town and the nearby military barracks housing companies of black soldiers in 1944 -- and incidentally providing a splendid showcase for a squadron of black performers who should rarely be out of work from now on. [28 Sep 1984, p.C1]
Directed rather broadly by Norman Jewison, but well acted and intelligent. [04 Oct 1984, p.27]
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