A Soldier's Story

A Soldier's Story is a 1984 American mystery drama film directed and produced by Norman Jewison, adapted by Charles Fuller from his Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play. It is a story about racism in a segregated regiment of the U.S Army commanded by White officers and training in the Jim Crow South, in a time and place where a Black officer is unprecedented and bitterly resented by nearly everyone, and follows an African-American JAG officer sent to investigate the murder of an African-American sergeant in Louisiana near the end of World War II.

The cast is led by Howard Rollins and Adolph Caesar. Other actors include Art Evans, David Alan Grier, Larry Riley, David Harris, Robert Townsend, Bob Swanson, and Patti LaBelle. Denzel Washington, still at the beginning of his career, appears in a supporting role. Several actors reprise their roles from the stage version.

The film premiered at the 1984 Toronto International Film Festival, and was both a critical and commercial success. It received three Academy Award nominations - for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Adolph Caesar. The film was ranked by the National Board of Review as one of the 10 best films of 1984, and won the Golden Prize at the 14th Moscow International Film Festival.