AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN RATING: 8.5 / 10 --> Really great movie
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Director Taylor Hackford's greatest cinematic achievement as of 1998, this movie was able to touch people from both sexes and various sides of the track, as the love story and the determination of the human spirit reached out and played everyone's heartstrings succinctly.
PLOT: Loser/loner Zach Mayo enlists in the Navy because he wants to inject a little direction into his wayward life. During his 13-week boot camp, he gets taught a lot of lessons of discipline, friendship and ultimately, love, as he starts off as a son trying to escape his father's past, and ends up as an officer and a gentleman.
CRITIQUE: Inspirational and timeless, this romantic drama melds together a tight script, strong performances by its lead actors, and a universally positive message regarding the defiance of one's own demons, and the success drawn from one's own determination, hard work and true heart. This movie is made for the romantic in all of us, as well as the loners that we've all experienced being at one point in our lives. How does one get past the fact that there is no one around them willing to lend them any love or support? How does one triumph over all adversities despite the plethora of obstacles standing in their way? Well, besides listening to hours of endless Tony Robbins motivational tapes, there is only one way that we could all muster a little personal self-confidence, and that is sheer persistence, will power and heart! If you really want to do something, and I mean REALLY WANT TO DO SOMETHING...you should be able to do it, no matter what obstacles lie in your wake. This movie presents us with a great example of just that.
This film drills this philosophy right into our brains to the point where I actually felt like going out and "doing something", just for the sake of the thrill that the film gave me. Then I realized that it was three in the morning, I was tired, and in my PJ's, so I left it until the next day :). All that, and you get an interesting story about the trials and tribulations of boot camp Navy candidates, plenty of fully developed characters, a great performance by Louis Gossett Jr., and a wonderfully sugared romance which begins on notes of despair but ends in true inspiration. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot...Richard Gere is also quite good in the movie. This is a wonderful film that will make you laugh and cry, smile and cringe, and give you more reason to believe in yourself, and follow your dreams till their end. If candidate Mayo-naisse can do it, we all can !!!
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: Louis Gossett Jr. won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in this film. The part of Zach Mayo was originally offered to John Travolta, who turned it down on the advice of his agent. Richard Gere went on to play that character in this film, and the film garnered 6 Oscar nominations. Debra Winger spent part of her youth in Israel and served three months in the Israeli army. She moved to California, where she decided to pursue a serious acting career following a severe accident at a local amusement park at which she was performing. She was married to actor Timothy Hutton from 1980 to 1990. They had one son together. Richard Gere was married to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995. Director Taylor Hackford lived with actress Helen Mirren from 1986 to 1997, at which point, they got married. Look for an early film appearance by the actor who thought he was "too good for TV", David Caruso, of TV's NYPD fame. He's the redhead recruit with the heebie-geebies about water.
Review Date: December 20, 1998
Director: Taylor Hackford
Writer: Douglas Day Stewart
Producer: Martin Elfand
Actors: Richard Gere as Zach Mayo
Debra Winger as Debra Pokrifki
Louis Gossett Jr. as Sgt. Emil Foley
David Keith as Sid Worley
Genre: Drama
Year of Release: 1982
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(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian
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