Along with Tony Scott’s TOP GUN (1986), Taylor Hackford’s AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN is regarded as a recruitment poster for the US Navy. Originally touted as a vehicle for John Travolta, who had also turned down AMERICAN GIGOLO, Richard Gere followed up that film with one of the roles for which he is closely identified, alongside billionaire Edward Lewis in PRETTY WOMAN (1990).
Gere plays Zack Mayo, a college graduate with an alcoholic father (Robert Loggia, INDEPENDENCE DAY, PSYCHO II, SCARFACE) who informs him that he is joining the Navy, from where his father has served as a Petty Officer for a number of years. He heads to Port Rainier Training Academy, where he falls foul of Gunnery Sgt. Foley (Louis Gossett Jr in his Supporting Actor Oscar role) who has the desire to weed the undesirable out.
After four weeks, Mayo and fellow candidate Sid Worley (David Keith) go to a local dance where they meet Paula Pokrifki (Debra Winger) and Lynette Pomeroy (the late Lisa Blount), local factory girls who have a desire to nab a Naval Pilot as a husband.
The training is thirteen weeks long and all are pushed to the limit, especially Mayo who is more of a loner, but as time goes on, he discovers the real person inside….
With an Oscar-winning song as well (UP WHERE WE BELONG performed by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes), AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN remains one of the all-time classic 1980s romances, with strong lead performances from Gere and Debra Winger as Paula.
Some regard it of its’ time, but the appeal and romantic angle is timeless.