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A Soldier's Story
- PG
- Year:
- 1984
- 101 min
- 519 Views
Look here, boy, I want you out.
Yeah! Play it, Luther!
Oh, honey, play it.
Play it soft now, Luther.
See, that's what I was trying to tell you...
Sarge?
He's so drunk.
He's drunk.
What in the hell does he think he's doing?
That drunken...
TYNIN, LOUISIANA - 1944
They still...
...hate you.
They still...
...hate you.
You can put your arms down
when the search team finishes with you.
We don't want anybody from this fort
going into Tynin looking for rednecks.
- May I speak, sir?
- Cobb?
Colonel Nivens must know
nobody colored killed the Sarge.
Well, this is precautionary, Cobb.
We can't have the Army
engaged in revenge on civilians.
- Sir, are there any suspects?
- None.
Come on, now.
Everybody knows it was the Klan.
Were you an eyewitness, soldier?
They lynched Jefferson the week
I got here. Two weeks after that it was...
Unless you saw it,
you keep your opinions to yourself.
Yes, sir.
- And that applies to everybody else.
- Yes, sir!
Tynin has been placed
off-limits to all enlisted personnel.
Come on, Captain.
Any man found in the town will be
immediately subject to court-martial.
Sergeant Waters' replacement
will be assigned in a couple of weeks.
Until then, Cobb...
...you're barrack's NCO. Any questions?
Carry on.
Now, what do you think?
Taylor and that goddamn colonel,
they know who killed Waters.
Anybody feel like playing with me
some Pitty Pat?
Wilkie, I thought all you could play
was flunky.
Yeah. Wilkie, whose ass
are you gonna kiss...
...now that your Number One ass is dead?
You know what you can do for me, Henson.
You too, Peterson.
- Take it easy.
- Look, I'm the one that lost three stripes.
I'm the only man here with kids.
So when the man said "jump," I jumped.
Come on, don't put your wife and kids
between you and Waters' ass.
I don't kiss nobody's ass, Henson.
I just wanted my stripes back.
You ain't never been no place.
You ain't never had nothin'.
You can't understand a man like me.
I was once top sergeant of this platoon.
Yeah? Well, now you ain't nothin'.
Nothin', Wilkie.
Recruits, over here.
Let me see your passes. Let's go!
Wake up, boy!
You said Tynin, didn't you?
Yeah.
Come on, boy.
Let's go!
Captain Davenport?
Corporal Ellis, at your disposal, sir.
I'm to take you to Colonel Nivens, sir.
- Well, let's get rolling, soldier.
- Yes, sir.
Yes, sir, Captain Davenport.
We're rolling, Captain.
This is where they killed
Sergeant Waters last month, sir.
Why did you say,
"They" killed him, Corporal?
Who's "they"?
The Klan, sir. They ain't too crazy
about us tan Yanks down here.
I suppose whoever drove you in
from the station...
...showed you the spot
where the killing took place.
Told you I had all the troops'
personal effects searched for weapons.
He tell you all that?
Is there a point
the colonel is trying to make, sir?
There's a point.
This thing has been blown
all the hell out of shape.
This is the Army's business.
Not the NAACP.
Not the Negro press.
Not those paper-shufflin'
desk jockeys in Washington.
I was brought up in the South, Davenport.
You ever hear of Threadgill County,
Alabama?
No, sir.
No matter.
I've been commanding colored troops
all my life, Davenport.
in this part of the country...
...is pay too much attention to the death of
a Negro under mysterious circumstances.
Especially a soldier.
People get itchy. Uneasy.
White folk in the town,
colored at the fort...
...keep turning this thing over.
Sooner or later,
you're bound to have an explosion.
Now, I've lived here in Hunter Parish
for three years.
I'm fond of the place. I like the duty.
You get my meaning?
What is it you want, Colonel?
I want whatever you came here to do
completed in three days.
Sir, I request immediate permission
to notify Washington.
- Permission denied.
I don't care if Roosevelt himself sent you!
I'm trying to keep my colored troops from
going into that town and killing somebody.
I don't care what you think.
You can always return to Washington
if you like.
No, sir. I was assigned this case
and I intend to file a report, sir.
Here are your instructions and our reports.
Captain Taylor's men will help you
get settled. Taylor was Waters' CO.
That'll be all, Davenport.
And...
...Captain...
Remember, you're the first colored officer
most of these men have ever seen.
The Army expects you to set an example
for the colored troops...
...and be a credit to your race.
Is that clear, Captain?
Yes, Colonel.
Sir?
Sir, are you all right?
- Would you like to go to your quarters?
- No, I'll see Captain Taylor first.
You don't want to unpack, sir?
Freshen up? It didn't go too good...
You got a hearing problem?
No, sir! My ears are big.
I was born with them.
It runs in my family.
My grandmother had big ears...
I used to drive a fire truck, Captain.
Then the Army took
and let me drive an ambulance.
I've been driving this jeep for six months.
Only turned over twice.
- Twice?
- Yes, sir.
Good.
Good afternoon, sir.
Sergeant Washington, sir.
Can I help you, Captain?
Captain Davenport to see Captain Taylor.
Just a moment, sir.
Yes?
Captain Davenport to see you, sir.
Send him in.
Yes, sir.
Every member of the lodge
is rooting for you, sir.
- Have a seat.
- Thank you.
I like your flowers, Captain.
Where's he from?
He's from Washington, DC.
He's here on special assignment.
Washington?
Yes, sir.
You gotta be shittin' me.
So, they assigned a lawyer
to the Military Police?
Where'd you graduate at law school?
Howard University.
Your parents rich or something?
No, my father's a mailman.
I graduated at the Point.
I didn't see any Negroes at the Point.
In fact, I never saw a Negro until I was...
...I think, 12 or 13.
Have you seen my orders, Captain?
Yes, as soon as Colonel Nivens
received them.
Look, I think it only fair to tell you...
...that had I known you'd be a Negro...
...I would have requested the immediate
suspension of the investigation.
- Now, look, may I speak freely?
- You haven't stopped yet.
Look, these local people aren't going
to charge a white man in this parish...
...on your say-so.
Nivens knows that.
He doesn't give a damn about this killing.
They're making a fool out of you.
Can't you see?
Will you take off those damn sunglasses?
I like these. They're like MacArthur's.
All right now, look.
Let me explain something to you.
You go near Tynin in your uniform,
sounding white and charging local people...
...and you'll wind up
just as dead as Waters.
This isn't Washington, Davenport.
I know where I am.
Do you know how many times
I've asked Nivens to look into this killing?
Every day since it happened.
- Do you suspect someone?
- Don't play lawyer with me, soldier!
With you on this case,
we are not going to get anywhere.
Like it or not, Captain, I am all you've got.
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"A Soldier's Story" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Sep. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/a_soldier's_story_2022>.
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