An Officer and a Gentleman

Plot synopsis:
Zachary "Zack" Mayo (Richard Gere) is preparing to report to Aviation Officer Candidate School. As he is doing so, he has brief flashbacks of his childhood. After the death of his unnamed mother (who committed suicide), an adolescent Zack was sent to live with his only living relative, his father Byron Mayo (Robert Loggia), who is stationed in the Philippines. The elder Mayo, a Navy Chief Petty Officer/Chief Boatswain's Mate, made no attempt to hide his heavy drinking and hiring of prostitutes from a young Zack. When Zack said he needed help, Byron said he did not ask to get married nor be a father, because he is always out on sea all the time. But seeing the look on his face, he decide to let him stay with him. Mostly Zack became a Navy brat and travelled with his father. The flashbacks advance to the present, where Zack has just graduated from college and informs his father he will be going to Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS). Byron, who hates officers, tells Zack that his dream of becoming an officer is as unrealistic as hoping to become President. Despite his father's discouragement, Zack is determined to go through with his childhood dreams of becoming a Navy pilot as well as prove to him that he can make it and in the end Byron would have to "salute" Zack.
Upon arrival at AOCS, Zack and his fellow AOCs are shocked by the harsh treatment they receive from their head drill instructor, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley (Louis Gossett, Jr.). Foley makes it clear that the 13-week program is designed to eliminate OCs who are found to be mentally or physically unfit for commission as an ensign in the U.S. Navy, which will earn them flight training worth over $1,000,000. Foley warns the male candidates about the "Puget Sound Debs"—young women in the area who dream of marrying a Naval Aviator to escape their dull, local lives. Foley claims they scout the regiment for OCs, and will feign pregnancy or even stop using birth control to become pregnant to trap the men.
Zack becomes friends with fellow candidates Sid Worley (David Keith), Emiliano Della Serra (Tony Plana), Lionel Perryman (Harold Sylvester), and Casey Seeger (Lisa Eilbacher). Zack and Sid meet two local young women—factory workers—at a Navy Ball. Zack begins a romantic relationship with Paula Pokrifki (Debra Winger) and Sid with Lynette Pomeroy (Lisa Blount).
Foley rides Zack mercilessly, believing he lacks motivation and is not a team player. When Zack's side business of selling pre-shined shoes and belt buckles is discovered, Foley hazes him for a weekend in an attempt to make him DOR ("Drop on Request", a Navy term for requesting termination of training), but Zack refuses. Foley states Zack will be declared unfit, which frightens Zack into admitting he has no options in civilian life. Satisfied that Zack has come to a crucial self-realization and realizing what he's made of, Foley decides to let him stay. He punishes Zack by making him clean all the urinals, but does not recommend attrition. Henceforth, Zack starts behaving like a team player.
Zack and Paula spend the next weekend together, and she takes him home for dinner to meet her family. Her stepfather behaves strangely, and when Zack asks why, Paula shows him an old picture of her biological father. He was an AOC who had an affair with her mother, but deserted her following his commissioning and refused to marry her when she became pregnant with Paula.
Zack is close to breaking the record time for negotiating the obstacle course, but Casey faces disqualification when she cannot negotiate the 12-foot-high wall (3.7 m). Zack abandons his attempt to break the course record in order to coach Casey over the wall, and she makes it.
Zack attends dinner with Sid and his parents and learns that Sid has a long-time girlfriend back home. Sid plans to marry her after he receives his commission. Meanwhile, Lynette has been dropping hints to Sid that she may be pregnant. Sid agonizes over this possibility, especially when Lynette tells him she will not have an abortion. After having a severe anxiety attack during a high-altitude simulation in a pressure chamber, Sid realizes he joined the officer training program out of a sense of obligation to his family, and he Drops On Request ("DOR"s, meaning he voluntarily resigns). He leaves the base without saying goodbye, so Zack and Paula go out to look for him.
Sid goes to Lynette's house and proposes marriage. She is elated until he tells her he DORed, and she would not be marrying a Navy pilot after all. Disgusted, she turns him down and confesses she was not pregnant. She says she thought he understood. She wants to marry an aviator, escape from her small town and live an exciting life overseas. She berates him for dropping out and gives back the engagement ring he bought her. Crushed, Sid goes to the motel where he and Lynette spent his free weekends, asks for their old room, and begins drinking.
Zack and Paula arrive at Lynette's shortly after Sid leaves and ask about Sid's whereabouts. Zack curses Lynette for trying to trick Sid, and he and Paula rush off to search for him. Zack goes to the motel and is heartbroken when he finds Sid has committed suicide out of grief. Paula tries to comfort Zack, but he rejects her and heads back to base with the intent to DOR himself. Foley will not let him quit so close to graduation and feels bad about what happened to Sid. Zack challenges Foley to an unofficial martial arts bout. Although Zack dominates for most of the fight, Foley wins by kicking Zack in the groin and then tells him he can quit now if he still wishes to do so.
Zack shows up for graduation and is sworn into the Navy with his class. Following naval tradition, he receives his first salute from Foley in exchange for a US silver dollar. While tradition calls for the drill instructor to place the coin in his left shirt pocket, Foley places the coin in his right pocket, acknowledging that Zack was a special candidate. Zack thanks him for not giving up on him and tells him he never would have made it without him. While leaving the base, he sees Foley initiating a set of new candidates for AOCS who are in the same position he was 13 weeks prior.
Zack, now Ensign Mayo with orders to undertake flight training, seeks out Paula at the factory where she works and declares his love to her. He picks her up and walks out with her in his arms to the applause of her co-workers, including Lynette.

Tags: violence, sentimental, romantic, flashback

Review:
'An Officer And A Gentleman' is a brilliant film with great performances from Richard Gere, Louis Gossett Jr. and Debra Winger.
Richard Gere embodies the character of Zack Mayo, a troubled young man who, due to neglect and ill parenting by a military father, signs up with the Navy to get some direction in his misguided life.Mayo's life is made even harder by the ball-busting Sergeant Foley (Louis Gossett Jr.) upon his arrival at the barracks, and he struggles to find his place.
His will, as well as the love of the beautiful Paula (Debra Winger) and the guidance of Foley, makes him stay the course and lifts him 'up where he belongs'.Richard Gere is great in adding layers to what could have been a poorly drawn characterisation.
Gere has never been better on film than when he screams, `I got nowhere else to go!' at Foley in such a heartbreaking howl that the audience can literally feel his pain.Debra Winger is also good as Paula, a downtrodden factory girl trapped in a small-minded small town with a lack of opportunities for women.
Louis Gossett Jr. also stands out as the foul-mouthed, domineering Sergeant Foley who proves to be pivotal in Mayo's journey.With a great soundtrack, strong performances and the most rousing and emotional final scene in a film since 'Rocky', 'An Officer And A Gentleman' deserves its place among the classics of film history..
In "An Officer" the angry young man is Richard Gere as Mayo, the mentor is Louis Gossett Jr. as Drill Instructor Folely, the babe is Paula (Debra Winger), the craft is aviation basic training, the arena is a Naval academy and the Puget Sound area of Washington (shot on location) and the buddy is Sid Worley (David Keith).Thankfully, the film doesn't get bogged down telling the back-story of Mayo.
Excellent love story about a young man (Gere, in an engaging performance) who dreams of being a Navy jet pilot and a girl (Winger) who wishes to escape the life in a paper mill.
The film is strikingly rich, romantic and features stand out performance from Robert Loggia, David Keith and Oscar winner, Gossett, as a brass hearted drill instructor.
This film royally packs an emotional punch.The cast are uniformly excellent, Richard Gere as Mayo is pitch perfect and it pays to notice that he was a 32 year old man playing an early 20s rookie, it's a testament to his undervalued ability that nobody noticed.
Richard Gere plays Zack Mayo, a prospective Navy Officer training cadet who must decide to gain control over his direction-less life, helped by a no-nonsense Gunnery sergeant(superbly played by Louis Gossett Jr., who won an Academy Award) who berates Zack, but all in the effort of making him into a successful Naval officer.
They both have friends(played by David Keith and Lisa Blount) whose relationship mirrors their own, only with far different results.Entertaining and old-fashioned(in some ways!) film is well acted by its stars, and has stylish direction by Taylor Hackford.
Gere is supported by a great cast including Debra Winger as the young factory worker who yearns of a better life with Mayo, David Keith as a cadet who's not all that he seems, and the legendary Louis Gossett, Jr. as Gunnery Sgt. Emil Foley, Mayo's adamant and hard-edged drill instructor who remains Zach's total bane of existence.
An Officer and a Gentleman is a great movie with a simple storyline that is very easy to follow but still very enjoyable,a very talented cast and a really beautiful soundtrack.I really enjoyed the love story in this movie between Richard Gere and Debra Winger,it was very realistic and unlike most romantic movies,they didn't make it too sweet,they kept it a serious and dramatic relationship that had a lot of problems instead of making them just be in love with each other for the entire movie.The movie certainly deserved both Academy Awards,Louis Gossett Jr gave a fantastic performance and Up Where We Belong is a really nice song.I would recommend An Officer and a Gentleman to fans of both romance and war movies,it dosen't focus too much on one,it focuses enough on both perfectly and one of the sweetest endings i've ever seen in a movie.Zack Mayo (Richard Gere),an uptight man training to be a navy pilot finds maturity through the love of Paula Pokrifki (Debra Winger)..
Even though An Officer and a Gentleman came out when I was a year old I still recall seeing the film on video when I was about four or five because my mother is a huge Richard Gere fan.
The film which to this day Taylor Hackford has never topped gets great performances out of all it's actors especially Gere and Debra Winger as the two love birds in love and the odds they over come to be together.
What makes An Officer and a Gentleman  work for me is the performances and we all know that even though Gere and Winger give great performances the film belongs to Louis Gosset Jr who won a well deserved Oscar for his role as Foley.
It brought forward young actors (Gere, Winger, Keith, Caruso) and older ones- Lou Gossett Jr.- with truly outstanding performances in an initially unknown film.
Gere shows he does have the right stuff, take careful note of the scene on the confidence course with Lisa Eilbacher where he shows he's not just about himself.Gossett casts so well in military parts, but this one set the standard for playing training sergeants.
In the years where all movies have a forced love story line, this film placed the love story into the plot without taking away from the growth of Gere's character.Excellent performance from Lewis Gossett Jr., David Keith, and Robert Loggia pulls this film into a category of film I reserve for the classics.
The movie made Richard Gere a star, John Travolta should have never turned down the role of Zack but he did,Travolta thought the movie wasn't going to be very good and his career at the time wasn't doing so hot either.Taylor Hackford was a nobody at the time and the Navy wanted nothing to do with the film the helicopter you see in the film was a friend of Hackford and did him a favor.
Debra Winger was fantastic also as Paula and people are saying that she was uneasy doing that love scene but the reason why is that she hated Gere, in her opinion he played the part so well because he was playing himself in real life and that she could never get through to him which makes her performance even better.
This movie is a classic that will make you cry every time.Though I have never been in through military training, I found Louis Gossett Jr.'s performance to be a very convincing as well as intimidating.
Not once did I feel that Sgt. Foley was too soft or unnecessarily hard on any of the Naval officer recruits.Debra Winger, though seemingly lost in some scenes, truly makes the viewer believe in her love of Richard Gere.
Gossett Jr. and Gere play great opposite each other.This movie is a great love story as well as an honest portrayal of a man being forced to deal with his mixed emotions in a search for inner peace and a life as a gentleman.
Perhaps not brilliant, but this justifiably popular military romance should be memorable if, for no other reason, than its wonderful inspiring Academy Award winning song, "Up Where We Belong".The movie tells the tale of Zack Mayo, an officer candidate at a Navy flight school training aviators.
Richard Gere is utterly is convincing in the role; I cannot imagine any other actor playing it.Louis Gossett Jr. is brilliant as the hard nosed, tough as nails, no nonsense drill sergeant, Foley, who must try to make an officer out of this candidate who, in his opinion, is clearly lacking.
Gossett deserved his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.I personally really liked Zack's buddy, Casey Seeger, and found his military story and his romance with another factory girl an interesting plot line, especially for comparison with Zack and Paula.However, all that being said, for me this movie is made by the lovely Debra Winger.
The story supposedly relates the triumph and transfiguration of white trash Richard Gere into the naval aviator of the film's title, following his introduction to the usual hazards of cadet life: punishing training exercises, antagonistic drill sergeants, conniving debutantes, and so forth.
Otherwise it's a good movie, as Richard Gere's new recruit enlists in the US navy and experiences a grueling regimen at the hands of gunnery sergeant Louis Gossett Jr.
The whole part about the local women wanting to hook up with the navy men doesn't stick in my mind as much, but if you're looking for great shots of the Olympic Peninsula, this is the movie for you.The rest of the cast includes Debra Winger, David Keith (the dad in "Firestarter"), Tony Plana (the dad on "Ugly Betty") and Robert Loggia..
the fact that Debra Winger didn't like the way she was treated and did not get along with Richard Gere her performance is second to none.
The movie was a box office sensation in 1982 (a domestic grossing around $129 million against its $6 million budget) and catapults Richard Gere and Debra Winger onto leading material phenoms among their peers, and won Louis Gossett Jr. an Oscar for portraying the rigorous drill sergeant Foley.Directed by Taylor Hackford (Mr. Helen Mirren if it rings a bell to those unfamiliar with his works), it is only his second feature film, about a young man Zack (Gere), decides to join the US Navy to fly jets, so he must survive the 13-week training at Aviation Officer Candidate School with his fellow candidates, under the harsh supervision of Foley.
Meantime he engages in a romantic relationship with a local girl Paula (Winger) in spite of the warnings that some girls are determined with their own agenda, they will do everything to trick a promising future aviator into marriage, is Paula one of them?Confining the story within these 13 weeks, the film makes sure that we have no chance glimpsing some expensive action set pieces of naval aviation like in Tony Scott's TOP GUN (1986), contentedly, it buoys up the narrative with a feel-good camaraderie bonding during the training program among the cadets, Zack befriends with Sid Worley (Keith), a patriotic young man from a good family, who enrols to assume the lofty vocation of his late brother (a navy officer died in the Vietnam war).
To ensure its political correctness, apart from a black trainer, the assembly includes a black family guy Perryman (Sylvester), a homunculus latino Della Serra (Plana), even a female candidate Casey Seeger (Eilbacher), the only missing addition is an Asian.Dazzled by its faithful imitation of the training process, including a novel Dilbert Dunker sequence which disqualifies a very young David Caruso, nevertheless, audience will find out that the centre piece in the school resides within the dynamic relation between a self-assertive Zack and the despotic Foley, Louis Gossett Jr. enforces a bombastic gambit to the utter perfection during his first scenes, and establishes his prestige in spectators both in and off screen.
Lee Ermey's Sgt. Harman in Kubrick's FULL METAL JACKET (1987), and Mr. Ermey is in fact the acting coach for Mr. Gossett here; also it is an archetype of the love-and-hate mentor type, which has been portrayed with much more ambiguity and menace in another Oscar-winning performance, J.K. Simmons in Damien Chazelle's WHIPLASH (2014).On the romantic side, there are very erotic sex scenes between Zack and Paula, explicit and intimate, both Gere and Winger are no holds barred in their on screen commitment, especially Winger, "How can you resist?
Gere is smoking hot whether he is disrobed or suited with navy uniform, and a brief flashback of the past before the opening credits may suggest Zack's disturbed inner state, but as the story unwinds, he turns out quite well, an Alpha male imparted with street smart, only a bit little withheld, and don't make promises easily.But, tragedy lurks not far away, if Paula bespeaks a good-hearted girl who dares to love somebody unconditionally, the flip side is Sid's squeeze Lynette (Blount), who indirectly triggers a very unsound twist of melodrama only to drive Zack become more cynical and in turn, leave its patronising ending more uplifting when its Oscar-winning theme song UP WHERE WE BELONG swells as if Paula were the damsel in distress whose drab life could only be rescued by a handsome navy officer, that's the biggest mistake of this otherwise agreeable picture, Paula is a wholesome package (although the moment when she reveals the identity of her biological father, it is a rather cunning move to manipulate sense of guilty to advantage), it is Zack who is in the receiving end of a helping hand..
Even during his opening speech, Sergeant Foley (Louis Gossett, Jr, in an academy-award winning role), he tells them he will use methods fair and unfair to expose their weaknesses, and he expects more than half of them to D.O.R., military abbreviation for "drop on request".Zack Mayo (Richard Gere in his first acclaimed starring role), an Italian-American in the lower middle-class, has joined the Navy.
Richard Gere is a more nuanced character than most parts he plays, and Louis Gossett Jr. stands out as his harsh-but-fair training instructor.For my full review, see my independent film blog on Blogspot, Cinema Inferno: http://cinemainferno-blog.blogspot.co.uk.
AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN (1982) *** Richard Gere, Debra Winger, Louis Gossett, Jr., David Keith, Lisa Blount, Lisa Eilbacher, David Caruso, Robert Loggia, Grace Zibiriskie, Victor French.
Flawless in its execution and character development, "An Officer and a Gentleman" is essentially the story of Zack Mayo as he makes the long progression from troubled teen--conceited, uncaring, unstructured--to a true "officer and a gentleman."  Performances in this movie are amazing, but Louis Gossett, Jr. tops them all for his portrayal of the commandant, for which he won an Academy Award.
Taylor Hackford is the same director who directed "The Devil's Advocate (1997)." Before I heard about this film, I never thought Hackford would have directed a romantic Richard Gere movie like this one.
Why I am saying this is because whenever I am in love with someone, I would picture my own father when he was all young and doing romantic gestures like Richard Gere.Now, about the film, rather than mentioning the real life situation (compared to this film), the ending was so good, when Richard Gere enters a factory to see his girlfriend, along with the music theme that was playing.
A few years ago Winger lamented on there not being roles for older female actresses, but perhaps those who were avoiding her merely saw her crapper of a performance in this film.As is this were bad enough, we wind up stuck with Lou Gossett Jr. as an academy award winner for his phoned-in performance as the stereotypical drill instructor, a movie with no real plot that is driven by poor characters, and total pandering to the female side of the audience that drives the box office.While not surprising that the movie was a hit, that doesn't improve its quality.
The characters are well developed, and the acting is superb all round from Richard Gere and Debra Winger to Louis Gossett(who won a best supporting academy award).
If "An Officer and a Gentleman" had been shown in 1969 or the early 70s, those who flocked to "Easy Rider" would have scorned its theme of salvation through military service the way they scorned "The Green Berets." Think of the contrasts between the two films, especially since Richard Gere and Lou Gossett, Jr. would have been perfectly capable of playing counter cultural heroes.
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) **** (out of 4)Box office champ about a loser (Richard Gere) with an attitude who tries to become an aviator and once at the Naval academy gets involved with a local woman (Debra Winger), a new best friend (David Keith) and a gunnery sergeant (Louis Gossett, Jr.) who tries to get through to him.
Gossett certainly deserved his Best Supporting Actor Oscar as he turns in one of the more memorable roles of any military officer.Director Taylor Hackford really keeps the film moving at a wonderful pace but he smartly mixes in some laughs with all of the heavy drama.
The world is full of female factory workers waiting to be carried away from their assembly line stations by a stud in Navy uniform to the strains of a sappy Oscar-winning love song, and if you don't believe me, "An Officer and a Gentleman" exists to prove me right.Richard Gere became a star with this film, as did Debra Winger, though her fame would be more fleeting.
What can I say about 1982's "Officer and a Gentleman" clearly one of the better movies of the 80's and in my opinion the best film of 1982.
Zack will learn plenty along the way, most of all he learns character, discipline, and heart from a brilliant and iron fisted drill instructor by the name of Sgt. Foley(Louis Gossett Jr.) and in my opinion Gossett gives one of the finest supporting roles performance in film history as evidenced by his Oscar win for best supporting actor.
the stupid, unnessersary sex scenes take away from the real story......lou gossett makes richard gere's acting ability look like a BAD high school play....
I thought Richards character went through a rough time.The film stars Richard Gere, Debra Winger, David Keith, Robert Loggia, Lisa Blount & Louis Gossett Jr.The acting was quite good.
Mayo ends up becoming best buddies with fellow recruit Sid Worley (David Keith), and starts a relationship with Paula Pokrifki (Debra Winger).MY TAKE:  A lot of people claim that this is a great film.
Louis Gossett, Jr. won an Oscar for his role as the drill sergeant, although I didn't think he was that great (although he still was good).