| | | Special Collector's Edition.
Features: DVD, Collector's Edition, Dolby, Digital Audio, English, Dolby Digital (5.1)
Once in a great while a movie comes along that truly grips and uplifts its audiences. Such a movie is An Officer and a Gentleman, a timeless tale of romance, friendship and growth. Loner Zack Mayo (Richard Gere) enters Officer Candidate School to become a Navy pilot and in thirteen tortuous weeks he learns the importance of discipline, love and friendship. Louis Gossett, Jr. won an Academy Award for his brilliant portrayal of the tough drill instructor who teaches Zack that no man can make it alone. And while Gossett tries to warn the young officer about the local girls who will do anything to catch themselves pilot husbands, Zack eventually learns to love one (Debra Winger) while his fellow candidate, a memorable character portrayed by David Keith, struggles with a very different fate. An Officer and a Gentleman is a rich and satisfying story with moving performances that will stay with you long after the film has ended.
"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.
Plot Summary
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."
| Features | Audio Commentary | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Digital Mono | | Audio: French Dolby Digital Mono | | Dubbed: French | | Featurettes | | Interactive Menus | | Photo Gallery | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Paramount |
| Release Date: 5/1/2007 |
| Running Time: 124 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1982 | | Catalog ID: 120764 | | UPC: 00097361207643 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English, French Dubbed | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Winner (1984) | | | British Academy Awards, Jack Nitzsche, et. al., Best Original Song | |
Winner (1983) | | | Golden Globe, Louis Gossett, Jr., Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture | | | Golden Globe, Jack Nitzsche, et. al., Best Original Song - Motion Picture | | | Oscar, Louis Gossett, Jr., Best Actor in a Supporting Role | | | Oscar, Jack Nitzsche, et. al., Best Music, Original Song | |
Nominee (1983) | | | Oscar, Debra Winger, Best Actress in a Leading Role | | | Oscar, Peter Zinner, Best Film Editing | | | Oscar, Jack Nitzsche, Best Music, Original Score | | | Oscar, Douglas Day Stewart, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen | |
Winner (1982) | | | Image Award, Louis Gossett, Jr., Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture | | | Image Award, An Officer and a Gentleman, Best Motion Picture |
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| | Professional Reviews | 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..." 07/21/1982New 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
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