Director: Norman Jewison
Writer: Charles Fuller (also
play)
Starring: Howard E. Rollins
Jr., Adolph Caesar, Denzel Washington, Art Evans, Larry Riley, David Allen
Grier, Dennis Lipscomb, David Harris, Robert Townsend, William Allen Young,
Trey Wilson
Denzel Washington is an
actor who is fueled by intensity. Even in his smaller early roles, like that of
Private Peterson in Norman Jewison’s adaptation of the play “A Soldier’s Story”
by Charles Fuller, Washington’s passion almost can’t be contained in the
supporting role.
The story is a murder
mystery involving the shooting of a colored non-commissioned officer outside a
Louisiana Army base near the beginning of World War II. The murder appears to be
an attack by citizens of the small town of Tynen, where the Klan has been known
to lynch soldiers they don’t like seeing in uniform. When a black officer is
assigned to investigate the case, the evidence leads back to the base. But will
the Army allow a black officer the authority to accuse white personnel of the
murder of a black man?
Washington’s role is about
the third largest of an ensemble cast; but judging from his fairly low listing
on the cast credits, he had yet to establish himself as the powerhouse actor he
would become. This role certainly laid the groundwork for his career. He would
later work with Jewison again in the leading role of “The Hurricane”, the true
story of Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter, a boxer who was wrongly convicted of murder.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment