An Officer and a Gentleman

An Officer and a Gentleman is a 1982 American romantic drama film directed by Taylor Hackford from a screenplay by Douglas Day Stewart, and starring Richard Gere, Debra Winger, and Louis Gossett Jr. It tells the story of Zack Mayo (Gere), a United States Navy Aviation Officer Candidate who is beginning his training at Aviation Officer Candidate School. While Zack meets his first true girlfriend during his training, a young "townie" named Paula (Winger), he also comes into conflict with the hard-driving Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley (Gossett) training his class.
The film was commercially released in the US on August 13, 1982. It was well received by critics, with a number calling it the best film of 1982. It also was a financial success, grossing $190 million against a budget of $7.5 million. Gossett won the Golden Globe Award, as well as the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, making him the first African-American actor to win in that category. The film also received Oscar nominations for Best Actress (for Winger), Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Score, also winning for Best Original Song (for "Up Where We Belong").
After his mother's suicide, adolescent Zachary "Zack" Mayo was sent to live with his father Byron, an alcoholic, womanizing US Navy petty officer stationed in the Philippines. Now a college graduate, Zack (much to Byron's surprise) reports to Fort Rainier, an Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) located near Port Townsend, Washington.
Upon arrival, Zack and his fellow recruits are welcomed by Marine Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley, their stern-but-decent head drill instructor. Foley makes it clear that OCS is set up to eliminate as many cadets as possible, so that only the most talented will become Naval officers. Male candidates are also warned about "Puget Sound Debs", local girls aspiring to marry a Naval Aviator. Soon after, Zack and fellow OC Sid Worley meet two young factory workers — Paula Pokrifki and Lynette Pomeroy — at a Navy dance. Zack begins a relationship with Paula, while Sid dates Lynette.
Zack is eventually caught peddling contraband uniform-accessories to fellow OCs so they can pass inspections. Foley punishes Zack with a weekend of rigorous hazing to force his resignation, saying he lacks the character to be an officer. When Zack doesn't quit, Foley threatens to dismiss him from the program. Zack breaks down and admits to having no options in civilian life. Foley relents, assigning Zack to janitorial work instead. Zack, in turn, distributes his stash of uniform accessories among the other cadets, particularly cash-strapped roommate Lionel Perryman.
Paula's mother and younger sister are enchanted with Zack, but Paula's stepfather is hostile. Zack learns that Paula's absent biological father was an OC who abandoned Paula's mother when she became pregnant. As graduation nears (when the new officers will be transferred to another base for the next phase of their training), Zack ends his relationship with Paula.
During the final obstacle-course run, rather than break the base's course-record, Zack stops to encourage teammate Casey Seeger to complete the run so she can graduate as well. Zack learns that, after Sid is commissioned, he is expected to marry his late brother Tommy's fiancée. Meanwhile, Lynette tells Sid she may be pregnant.
After a severe anxiety attack during a high-altitude simulation in a pressure chamber, Sid quits the program. He proposes to Lynette, saying that he never wanted a military career, that he was assuming Tommy's role to please their family. Lynette is thrilled until he admits Dropping On Request. She tells him the pregnancy was a false alarm. Sid still wants them to marry and move back to Oklahoma, where he will resume his old JC Penney job and work his way through law school. A stunned Lynnette rejects Sid, saying she wants to marry a naval aviator and live overseas. A broken Sid leaves. Zack and Paula arrive soon after, looking for Sid. Zack accuses Lynette of faking pregnancy, which she denies.
Zack and Paula find Sid at a motel where he has hanged himself. Blaming himself, Zack heads back to the base intending to Drop On Request himself. Foley angrily refuses Zack's resignation and challenges him to settle their differences in martial arts-combat. Zack lands several blows on a surprised Foley, who then incapacitates him. Foley proclaims that he'll look for Zack at graduation, should the latter change his mind about quitting.
Zack does complete his training, and is commissioned as an officer. He and his classmates (including Seeger and Perryman) receive their first salute from Foley. Zack thanks Foley for being the sort of role model he always needed but never had until recently. Before Zack departs, he sees Foley greeting another incoming class of OCs.
Zack surprises Paula at her workplace. They embrace and he carries her outside to her colleagues' applause, including Lynette.
The film was based on Douglas Day Stewart's own experiences as a Naval Aviation Officer Candidate. Stewart had enrolled with the intention of becoming a pilot, but was later disqualified due to a medical issue, and was transferred to a unit overseeing the transportation of 7th Marine Regiment to Vietnam. After leaving the navy, he found success as a television and film screenwriter, and decided to write a script based on anecdotes from Candidate School.
The character Paula was based on a local factory worker whom he'd had a relationship with during Candidate School, though he did not go on to marry her.
Originally, folk music singer and occasional actor John Denver was signed to play Zack Mayo. But a casting process eventually involved Jeff Bridges, Harry Hamlin, Christopher Reeve, John Travolta, and Richard Gere. Gere eventually beat all the other actors for the part. Travolta had turned down the role, as he did with American Gigolo (another Richard Gere hit).
The role of Paula was originally given to Sigourney Weaver, then to Anjelica Huston and later to Jennifer Jason Leigh, who dropped out to do the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High instead. Eventually, Debra Winger replaced Leigh for the role of Paula. Rebecca De Mornay, Meg Ryan, and Geena Davis auditioned for the role of Paula.
In spite of the strong on-screen chemistry between Gere and Winger, the actors did not get along during filming. Publicly, she called him a "brick wall" while he admitted there was "tension" between them. Thirty years later, Gere was complimentary toward Winger when he said that she was much more open to the camera than he was, and he appreciated the fact that she presented him with an award at the Rome Film Festival.
R. Lee Ermey was originally considered for the role of Gunnery Sgt. Emil Foley due to his time of being an actual drill instructor for the United States Marine Corps at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in the 1960s. However, Taylor Hackford instead cast Louis Gossett Jr. and had Ermey coach him for his role as the film's technical advisor. It was there where the "steers and queers" comment from Gossett's character in the 1982 movie came from, which was later used for Ermey's role in the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket. James Woods was also considered for the role, but turned it down as he didn't want to play a drill sergeant.
Hackford kept Gossett Jr. in separate living quarters from other actors during production so Gossett could intimidate them more during his scenes as drill instructor. In addition to R. Lee Ermey, Gossett was advised by Gunnery Sergeant Buck Welscher, an actual drill instructor at Aviation Officer Candidate School, NAS Pensacola. He can be seen leading the senior class after the run.
The film was shot on April 20, 1981 on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, at Port Townsend and Fort Worden. The US Navy did not permit filming at NAS Pensacola in the Florida panhandle, the site of the actual Aviation Officer Candidate School in 1981. Deactivated US Army base Fort Worden stood in for the location of the school, an actual Naval Air Station in the Puget Sound area, NAS Whidbey Island.
A motel in Port Townsend, the Tides Inn on Water Street (48°06′38″N 122°45′54″W﻿ / ﻿48.1105°N 122.765°W﻿ / 48.1105; -122.765), was used for the film. A plaque outside a room at the motel noted it as a filming location, although the room has been extensively refurbished. Some early scenes of the movie were filmed in Bremerton, with ships of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in the background.
The "Dilbert Dunker" scenes were filmed in the swimming pool at what is now Mountain View Elementary School (Port Townsend Jr. High School during filming). According to the director's commentary on the DVD, the dunking machine was constructed specifically for the film and was an exact duplicate of the actual one used by the navy. As of 2010, Mountain View Elementary was closed and was home to the Mountain View Commons, which holds the police station, fire station, food bank, methadone clinic, counseling center, homeless shelter and the YMCA, the last of which holds the pool.
The filming location of Paula Pokrifiki's house was 1003 Tremont in Port Townsend. As of 2009, the house was shrouded by a large hedge, and the front porch had been remodeled. The neighboring homes and landscape look identical to their appearance in the film, including the "crooked oak tree" across the street from the Pokrifiki home. This oak tree is visible in the scene near the end of the film in which Richard Gere returns to the home to request Paula's help in finding his friend Sid. In the film, the plot has Paula leaving on a ferry ride away from the naval base. In reality, Paula's home is located approximately 8 blocks from Fort Worden.
Lynette Pomeroy's house was located on Mill Road, just west of the main entrance of the Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill. The house no longer exists, but the concrete driveway pad is still visible.
The interior of the USO building at Fort Worden State Park was used for the reception scene near the beginning of the film.
The concrete structure used during the famous Richard Gere line "I got nowhere else to go!" is the Battery Kinzie located at Fort Worden State Park. The scene was filmed on the southwest corner of the upper level of the battery. The "obstacle course" was constructed specifically for the film and was located in the grassy areas just south and southeast of Battery Kinzie.
The decompression chamber was one of the only sets constructed for the film and as of 2013, it was still intact in the basement of building number 225 of the Fort Worden State Park. It can be seen through the windows of the building's basement.
Building 204 of Fort Worden State Park was used as the dormitory and its porch was used for the film's closing "silver dollar" scene.
The blimp hangar used for the famous fight scene between Louis Gossett Jr. and Richard Gere is located at Fort Worden State Park and as of 2013 is still intact, but has been converted into a 1200-seat performing arts center called the McCurdy Pavilion.
The filming location for the exterior of "TJ's Restaurant" is located at the Point Hudson Marina in Port Townsend. The space is now occupied by a company that makes sails. The fictional "TJ's" is an homage to the Trader Jon's bar in Pensacola, Florida, as a naval aviator hangout until it closed later in November 2003. For years, it was traditional for graduating Aviation Officer Candidate School classes to celebrate their commissioning at "Trader's." Filming ended on June 2, 1981 after 43 days.
Richard Gere rides a 750cc T140E Triumph Bonneville. Paramount purchased two of the motorcycles from Dewey's Cycle Shop in Seattle. The stunt bike is on display in the Planet Hollywood restaurant, Orlando, Florida. In the United Kingdom, Paramount linked with Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden) Ltd on a mutual promotion campaign. Triumph's then-chairman, John Rosamond, in his book Save The Triumph Bonneville! (Veloce 2009), states it was agreed cinemas showing the film would be promoted at their local Triumph dealer, and T140E Triumph Bonnevilles supplied by the dealer would be displayed in the cinema's foyers.
Richard Gere balked at shooting the ending of the film, in which Zack arrives at Paula's factory wearing his naval dress whites and carries her off the factory floor. Gere thought the ending would not work because it was too sentimental. Director Taylor Hackford agreed with Gere until, during a rehearsal, the extras playing the workers began to cheer and cry. When Gere saw the scene later, with a portion of the score (that was used to write "Up Where We Belong") played at the right tempo, he said it gave him chills. Gere is now convinced Hackford made the right decision. Screenwriter Michael Hauge, in his book Writing Screenplays That Sell, echoed this opinion: "I don't believe that those who criticized this Cinderella-style ending were paying very close attention to who exactly is rescuing whom."
Two versions of the film exist. The original, an uncensored R-rated cut and an edited-for-broadcast television cut (which first aired on NBC in 1986) are nearly identical. The main difference is that the nudity and a majority of the foul language are edited out when the film airs on regular television. However, the group marching song near the beginning of the film and Mayo's solo marching song are not voiceover edits; they are reshoots of those scenes for television. Also, the sex scene between Mayo and Paula is cut in half, and the scene where Mayo finds Sid's naked body hanging in the shower is also edited.
The film has been available on various formats, first on VHS and also DVD. It was first released on DVD in 2000 with two extra features, audio commentary and film trailer. It was released as a collectors edition in 2007 with new bonus material. The film debuted on Blu-ray in the US by Warner Bros. and UK by Paramount Pictures in 2013, however the same bonus features ported from the 2007 DVD are only on the US release. It was re-released in 2017 by Paramount Pictures.
An Officer and a Gentleman was an enormous box office success and went on to become the third-highest-grossing film of 1982, after E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial and Tootsie. It grossed $3,304,679 in its opening weekend and $130 million dollars overall at the US and Canadian box office. It sold an estimated 44 million tickets in the US and Canada. Internationally, it grossed $60 million for a worldwide gross of $190 million dollars.
An Officer and a Gentleman was well received by critics and is widely considered one of the best films of 1982. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 79% based on 34 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Old-fashioned without sacrificing its characters to simplicity, An Officer and a Gentleman successfully walks the fine line between sweeping romance and melodrama." On Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 based on eight critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, and described it as "a wonderful movie precisely because it's so willing to deal with matters of the heart...it 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."
Rex Reed gave a glowing review where he commented: "This movie will make you feel ten feet tall!" British film critic Mark Kermode, an admirer of Taylor Hackford, observed, "It's a much tougher film than people remember it being; it's not a romantic movie, it's actually a movie about blue-collar, down-trodden people."
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: