Review of An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) by Clay B — 27 Jul 2011

An Officer and a Gentleman, Great Movies.

My brother once joined the navy, but does he like it? I think he doesn't, and only because his father tell him to join. Why I am talking about Navy in this movie, is it about the Navy? Or is it about a person like my brother who joined the Navy? Definitely, yes, but more on to that.

"An Officer and a Gentleman" is one of the best films of 1982, and you could also say, one of the best romance films of 1980's. I've seen a lot of love stories recently but all of them were so cliched, boy meets girl, then they fall in love, and broke up, and finally live happily ever after. This movie was quite sort of like that, but when you realize that these characters are playing you, then you might say next, I love this movie! Why is it great and one of the best romance of 80's. It stars Richard Gere and Debra Winger, two unlikely people in a different world. Gere plays Zack Mayo, whose mother died and had a drunken father, who joined in the navy, but why? I think he wants to make proud of himself and to his father, so there you have it, you know some movies when there is a training in the camp, running, push ups, swimming, all of course are lead by their sergeant named Foley, played by his award winning role, Louis Gosset Jr., I can see why he deserves that Oscar, he's mean, he's cruel, he's got no patience, but once these cadets graduated, they soon realize that this Foley guy is also one of their good leader in life. Now, going back to the story, Gere and a buddy from the Navy, went to a Ball where women gather to meet and greet some other officers, and there you go, we now meet Paula, played by Winger, and there, they meet, they talked, they dated, and they fell in love to each other. One of the movies turning point is when Mayo and Paula realize that they love each other even they don't want to make love. This movie shows it's characters intellectuals about wha their weakness and strengths are in a form of feelings and stories from their past. And how could you say, I love you to a person you know doesn't love you either? One of the film's effectiveness is to show simply how Mayo's character can change from mad man to a happy man, and if course he gets mad when he's mad, and he gets happy when he's happy. I also love how this film shows another example of love by showing it to another, and there's another good setup there, girls makes some guys trap in telling them they're pregnant, so that they they can quit and follow them, but soon realize it was just fooling you, and there's a scene towards the end, that tells us what would happen to a person who got fooled. Oh! I forgot to mention how good the theme song was, "Up Where We Belong", and now I know it came from this movie.

And finally, I know I got to say more to this wonderful movie, but to end this, I gotta say, this movie will never be forgotten in me, and probably this will be Richard Gere's best film to date. If you may ask, the film's title means, Zack Mayo's character is the officer and the gentleman. As we all know, Gere is a navy officer, who fights and sacrifices all his instincts and virtues to himself, and as a gentleman, who loves Paula and never will be a lonesome person anymore. So, truly a great movie, if this movie shows again on TV, chances are of seeing it again, and going to fall in love again, and at this time, applaud at the end. We don't need to focus more about the Naval base in here, it can be anything, Marines, air force, army, all are military, but that ain't no matter with this film, truly love can bring you down, and when you say I love you, you know what's next!