Officer and Gentleman (1982)

"It may be a guilty pleasure, but it's a pleasure all the same.  Brian Webster, Apollo Movie Guide
"Blue-collar fairy tale for adults...extremely old-fashioned yet utterly enjoyable movie...  Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.com
"...succeeds as both a magical love story and as a convincing portrait of one individual's passage into manhood.  Frederic & Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality & Practice

Editor's Note Zack Mayo (Richard Gere) has nothing--the son of an alcoholic, indifferent military father, he's grown up in the Philippines living on top of a brothel. But after college he decides he wants more and, despite his father's mockery, enrolls in the navy's Officer Candidate School to become a jet pilot. His sergeant, brilliantly played by Louis Gossett Jr., makes his life a living hell from day one, but Zack won't quit. The candidates are warned to stay away from the local girls looking for naval husbands, but Zack and his bunkmate, Sid (David Keith), find themselves falling for two friends, Paula (Debra Winger) and Lynette (Lisa Blount), who work at the local paper mill. Zack fights his feelings for Paula, determined to let nothing sway him from his goals. But as the hellish weeks of training go by, Zack begins to see that maybe he can't do it alone--and that what's getting him through are his friends in the ranks, and the girl he's been pushing away. Widely acclaimed at the time of its release, director Taylor Hackford's inspiring film is a romance for the ages.

	David Caruso
	David Keith
	Debra Winger
	Harold Sylvester
	Lisa Blount
	Louis Gossett, Jr.
	Richard Gere
	Robert Loggia
	Donald E. Thorin - Cinematographer
	Douglas Day Stewart - Writer
	Douglas Day Stewart - Producer
	Jack Nitzsche - Original Music By
	John V. Cartwright - Art Director
	Martin Elfand - Producer
	Peter Zinner - Editor
	Taylor Hackford - Director

In this popular romance, Richard Gere plays Zack Mayo, a self-serving, cynical loner desperately hoping to earn a naval commission to become a jet pilot. His single-minded focus on getting though Officer Candidate School is unexpectedly waylaid by his involvement with a local girl (Debra Winger) and his newfound friendships in the ranks, so Zack finds that achieving his dreams may not be a solo pursuit after all. Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warren sing the memorable Academy Award-winning theme song "Up Where We Belong." Variety
"...Many finely-drawn characters to care about....[The director] controls these characters completely, deftly mixing his documentarian's training with the dramatist's art..." 07/21/1982

New York Times
"...A first-rate movie -- a beautifully acted, thoroughly involving romance..." 07/28/1982 p.C17

Entertainment Weekly
"[T]he two stars are mighty captivating." -- Grade: B 04/27/2007 p.127

Ultimate DVD
3 stars out of 5 -- "[I]ts exploration of the trappings of love is still a remarkably modern one." 08/01/2007 p.103

Variety 9 of 10
An Officer and a Gentleman deserves a 21-gun salute, maybe 42. Rarely does a film come along with so many finely-drawn characters to care about...Officer belongs to Louis Gossett Jr, who takes a near-cliche role of the tough, unrelenting drill instructor and makes him a sympathetic hero without ever softening a whit...Pic is a bit muddled, via flashback, in setting up Richard Gere's motives for going into the training. Suffice to say he did not enjoy a model childhood. On leave, Gere meets Debra Winger, one of the local girls laboring at a paper mill and hoping for a knight in naval officer's uniform to rescue her from a life of drudgery. It's another fetching little slut role for Winger and she makes the most of it...A secondary romance involves Gere's friend and fellow candidate (David Keith), who takes a tumble for Winger's friend (Lisa Blount), another slut but not so fetching.

Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
"An Officer and a Gentleman" is the best movie about love that I've seen in a long time. Maybe that's because it's not about "love" as a Hollywood concept, but about love as growth, as learning to accept other people for who and what they are. There's romance in this movie, all right, and some unusually erotic sex, but what makes the film so special is that the sex and everything else is presented within the context of its characters finding out who they are, what they stand for, and what they will not stand for...The movie's method is essentially to follow its characters through the thirteen weeks, watching them as they change and grow..."An Officer and a Gentleman" takes chances, takes the time to know and develop its characters, and by the time this movie's wonderful last scene comes along, we know exactly what's happening, and why, and it makes us very happy. - Roger Ebert