66
Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Time OutTime OutRollins' charisma works wonders, and Jewison reveals enough solid professionalism in the deft handling of flashbacks to make it gripping entertainment.
- 80A 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.
- 80The New YorkerPauline KaelThe New YorkerPauline KaelJewison 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.
- 75TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineFuller 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.
- 75Miami HeraldBill CosfordMiami HeraldBill CosfordA 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]
- 70The New York TimesLawrence Van GelderThe New York TimesLawrence Van GelderMr. 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.
- 70Washington PostWashington PostAlmost 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]
- 63Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertDid this movie have to be so lockstep, so trapped by its mechanical plot, so limited by a murder mystery? What the movie has to say is so pale and limited that, ironically, the most interesting character in the movie is the victim.
- 63Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittDirected rather broadly by Norman Jewison, but well acted and intelligent. [04 Oct 1984, p.27]
- 50Chicago ReaderDave KehrChicago ReaderDave KehrJewison's lack of interest in developing anything other than his rather debatable ideological point relegates the film to the realm of moderately competent TV drama.