Rating: R
Genre:
Romance
Release Date: 12/12/2000
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: 1
Run Time: 124 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: Paramount
Richard Gere plays Zack Mayo, an aloof, taciturn man who aspires to be a navy pilot. Once he's arrived at training camp for his 13-week officer's course, Mayo runs afoul of abrasive, no-nonsense drill sergeant Emil Foley (
Louis Gossett Jr.). Mayo --or "Mayonnaise," as he is dubbed by the irascible Foley -- is an excellent cadet, but a little cold around the heart. Foley rides Mayo mercilessly, sensing that the young man would be prime officer material if he weren't so self-involved. Zack's affair with working girl Paula Pokrifi (
Debra Winger) is likewise compromised by his unwillingness to give of himself. Only after Mayo's best friend Sid Worsley (
David Keith) commits suicide over an unhappy romance does Zack come out of his shell and mature into a real human being. Take away the R-rated dialogue and the sex scenes, and
Officer and a Gentleman could have been a 1937 MGM flick, maybe with
Robert Taylor as Zack,
Wallace Beery as Foley, and
Jimmy Stewart as Sid.
An Officer and a Gentleman was nominated for 7 Oscars, with wins to Gossett and to the hit song "Up Where We Belong." The closing scene has surely become a classic of movie romance.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cart 0 items
