An Officer and a Gentleman

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An Officer and a Gentleman

Original film poster
Directed by Taylor Hackford
Produced by Martin Elfand
Douglas Day Stewart
Written by Douglas Day Stewart
Starring Richard Gere
Debra Winger
Louis Gossett, Jr.
David Keith
Robert Loggia
Music by Jack Nitzsche
Cinematography Donald E. Thorin
Editing by Peter Zinner
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) July 28, 1982
Running time 122 min.
Country  United States
Language English

An Officer and a Gentleman is a 1982 film which tells the story of a United States Navy aviation Officer Candidate who comes into conflict with the Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant who trains him. It was written by Douglas Day Stewart and directed by Taylor Hackford. It starred Richard Gere, Debra Winger and Louis Gossett, Jr. and was produced by Lorimar Productions for Paramount Pictures. The film's title uses an old expression from the British Royal Navy or from the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice, as being charged with "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman" (from 1860). An Officer and a Gentleman was commercially released in the USA on July 28, 1982.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

The film begins with Zachary "Zack" Mayo (Richard Gere) receiving a college graduation present from his father Byron (Robert Loggia), a brash, womanizing U.S. Navy Boatswain's Mate formerly stationed at Subic Bay in the Philippines. Mayo moved in with his father there in early adolescence when his mother committed suicide. Aloof and taciturn with repressed anger at his mother's suicide and his father's inability to properly parent him, Mayo surprises his father when he announces his aspiration to be a Navy pilot.

Once he arrives at the 13-week long Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS), Mayo runs afoul of abrasive, no-nonsense drill instructor, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley (Louis Gossett, Jr.). Mayo — or "Mayonnaise" as he is dubbed by the irascible Foley — is an excellent officer candidate, but not a team player. Foley rides Mayo mercilessly, sensing the young man would be prime officer material if he were not so self-involved. Zack becomes friends with fellow trainee Sid Worley (David Keith), from the "good side of the tracks", whose father and late brother were Naval officers. Another focus is female recruit Casey Seeger (Lisa Eilbacher), whose name is pronounced like Bob Seger but whom Foley calls "See-GAR", who is unable to get over a wall with a rope in the obstacle course, and endures her own barrage of pressure from Foley.

Zack and Sid meet two local girls at a Navy-hosted dance—factory workers Paula Pokrifki (Debra Winger) and Lynette Pomeroy (Lisa Blount), who bed the cocky officer candidates. Foley has warned the officer candidates about local girls (aka, "Puget Sound Debs") who look upon the "OCs" as potential husbands, in order to escape their lower middle class lifestyles. Lynette appears to be the quintessential "Deb", who is trying to nab an officer candidate so she can escape her drab, blue-collar life and become an "aviator's" wife. Sid takes up with Lynette eagerly and naively, but views his relationship with her as little more than sexual recreation. Paula is different; she makes no demands and is content to let the relationship with Zack be what it is. Yet Paula is undoubtedly attracted to Zack, but their affair is compromised by his unwillingness to give of himself.

When Mayo's side business of selling pre-shined belt buckles and shoes to his fellow OCs is discovered by Foley, the drill instructor makes life unendurable for the trainee in order to force his resignation from the program—"Drop On Request" (DOR). But Mayo refuses to give in. Finally, when Foley threatens to simply discharge Mayo, he finally breaks down and admits that "I got nowhere else to go! I got nowhere else to go... I got nothin' else." Satisfied that Mayo has come to a crucial self-realization, Foley lets up on him. Mayo begins to mature and mend his ways.

During their night of passion, Mayo reveals to Paula the truth behind his mother's suicide and that he truly seeks a different path from that of his father. Paula later takes Zack home to, "meet the family", and Zack learns that Paula's biological father was in fact an officer candidate who refused to marry her mother when she was pregnant with Paula.

Later, Mayo is running with Seeger through the obstacle course one last time. Mayo has a chance to break the record time for negotiating the course, but after Seeger fails once again to get over the wall, he chooses to sacrifice the record to encourage her over the wall so she could graduate, which becomes a defining moment in Mayo's resistance to being a "team player".

As graduation nears, Zack begins to distance himself from Paula. Following a dinner with Sid and his parents in town, Zack learns that Sid has a long-time girlfriend back home, who he plans to marry shortly after commissioning, yet intends to continue his sexual relationship with Lynette until graduation. Meanwhile, Lynette appears to be dropping hints to Sid that she might be pregnant, which adds to the pressure that he is already experiencing in the AOCS program. During a high-altitude simulation in a pressure chamber, Sid has a sudden anxiety attack and is attended by Zack, who tries to calm him down, under the watchful eye of Foley. Realizing that he joined the AOCS program because of expectations from his family and a sense of obligation to his brother, Sid DOR's without telling Zack. Believing that Foley pressured Sid to do so, Zack confronts Sid and Foley to try to get his friend reinstated; in doing so, he argues passionately that Sid is an ideal officer candidate, only to find out that Foley also tried to talk Sid out of it—the decision was completely Sid's. Privately, Foley is proud of Zack's sticking up for Sid.

When Sid proposes to Lynette, she turns him down, but not before confessing she wasn't pregnant as they originally thought. She wanted him to graduate in order to fulfill her dream of marrying a Naval aviator, and all but curses him for dropping out in the twelfth week. Despondent, Sid later commits suicide. Mayo unreasonably blames Foley and the two clash in an unofficial, no-holds-barred martial arts bout between them with several of the candidates looking on. While Mayo physically dominates most of the match due to his youth, anger, and prior training, Foley finally wins after he kicks Mayo in the groin, maintaining his authority against Mayo and all his other candidates. With both of them hurt, Foley offers him the chance to DOR one last time, knowing that Mayo has either burned out his rebelliousness and misplaced anger or never will.

Mayo graduates with the rest of his class. Following the tradition of the newly-commissioned U.S. Naval officers, he seeks out and receives his first salute from Foley in exchange for a US silver dollar coin. Tradition calls for the Sergeant to place each silver dollar in his left shirt pocket, but Foley places Mayo's in his right pocket, which is an acknowledgment that Mayo was a special candidate. Mayo then thanks Foley, saying he'll never forget him. Foley, clearly moved and suppressing his own tears, responds with "I know" then straightens and gives Mayo a picture-perfect salute. Shortly thereafter, Mayo rides away from base on his motorcycle to hear Foley verbally dressing-down the newest batch of AOCS recruits, only to smile in response, knowing that the process is beginning again.

In the iconic final scene of the film, the new Ensign Mayo goes to the factory where Paula works, picks her up and walks out holding her in his arms. Lynette watches bitterly at first, knowing her own manipulations have left her alone in the end, but then applauds her friend along with the rest of the factory workers & shouts "Way to go Paula".

[edit] Cast

Actor Role
Richard Gere Ensign Zack Mayo
Debra Winger Paula Pokrifki
Louis Gossett, Jr. Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley
David Keith Sid Worley
Lisa Blount Lynette Pomeroy
Lisa Eilbacher Officer Candidate Casey Seeger
Tony Plana Officer Candidate Emiliano Della Serra
Harold Sylvester Officer Candidate Lionel Perryman
David Caruso Officer Candidate Topper Daniels
Robert Loggia Byron Mayo
Victor French Joe Pokrifki
Grace Zabriskie Esther Pokrifki
Ron Hayes Midshipman
Tommy Petersen Young Zack
Ed Begley Jr. Voice of Altitude Chamber Instructor
John Laughlin Troy

[edit] Awards

[edit] Academy Awards

[edit] Academy Award nominations

[edit] Reception

The movie grossed close to $130 million at the box-office in the United States in 1982, which would translate to over $300 million in today's ticket prices. It also received rave reviews from critics, most notably from Roger Ebert who gave it four stars. Ebert described An Officer and A Gentleman as "a wonderful movie precisely because it's so willing to deal with matters of the heart."

Rex Reed gave a glowing review where he commented: "This movie will make you feel ten feet tall!"

The 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 has a very high 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

[edit] Production

[edit] Locations

Some early scenes of the movie were filmed in Bremerton, Wa. with the mothballed battleships in the background. The film was shot mostly on location at Port Townsend, Washington, and Fort Worden since the U.S. Navy would not permit the motion picture to be filmed at its base in Pensacola, Florida (the traditional site of the Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School).[citation needed] A real motel, the Tides Inn, located in Port Townsend was used for the film. Today, there is a plaque outside the room commemorating this.

The 'Dilbert Dunker' scenes were filmed in the swimming pool at was in now called Mountain View Elementary School (it was Mountain View Middle School at the time of the 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.

The filming location of Paula Pokrifiki's house was 1003 Tremont in Port Townsend. As of 2009, the house is shrouded by a large hedge and the front porch has 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 that 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 living 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 Rd, just west of the main entrance of the Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill. The house is no longer there but the concrete driveway pad is still visible.

The interior of the U.S.O. 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 no place 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 2009, it is 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 2009 is still intact but has been converted into a 1200 seat performing arts center.

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.

[edit] Actors

Director Taylor Hackford kept Lou Gossett Jr. in separate living quarters from the other actors during An Officer and a Gentleman so he could intimidate them more during his scenes as a drill instructor.[1]

Gossett was advised by U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Buck Welcher.

Originally, Country music singer John Denver signed on to play Zack Mayo. But a casting process eventually involved Jeff Bridges, John Travolta, Christopher Reeve and Richard Gere. Gere eventually beat out all the other actors for the part.

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 Fast Times at Ridgemont High instead. Eventually, Debra Winger replaced Leigh for the role of Paula. Rebecca de Mornay, Meg Ryan and Geena Davis, all virtually unknowns at the time, auditioned for the role of Paula before losing out to Winger.

[edit] Props

Richard Gere rides a 750cc T140E Triumph Bonneville introduced halfway in the 1978 selling season. Two T140E Bonnevilles were supplied by Dewey's Cycle Shop in Seattle, Washington. One had Receipt no.16787 dated April 8, 1981, as sold to Paramount Pictures.In the United Kingdom, Paramount successfully linked with Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden) Ltd to do a mutual promotion. Cinemas showing the film would be promoted at their local Triumph dealer and T140E Triumph Bonnevilles supplied by the dealer would be displayed in cinema foyers.

[edit] Movie ending

Richard Gere balked at shooting the ending of the movie where his character arrives at his lover's factory wearing his naval dress whites and carries her off the factory floor. Gere thought the ending wouldn't work because it was too sentimental and Director Taylor Hackford was inclined to agree with Gere until, during a rehearsal, the extras playing the workers began to cheer and cry. When Gere saw the scene later with the music underneath it ("Up Where We Belong") at the right tempo, he said it sent chills up the back of his neck. Gere is now convinced Hackford made the right decision.[2]

[edit] Notes

  • The role of GySgt Foley was difficult to cast. Jack Nicholson turned down the part, and no one else the producers were interested in was available. Screenwriter Stewart then visited the Pensacola area to do research and found out all of the top drill instructors there were African-American, which inspired them to cast Gossett Jr. in the role for which he won an Oscar.
  • Two versions of the movie exist. The original, uncensored R-rated cut and a television version cut (which first aired on NBC in 1986) are nearly identical. The main difference is that a majority of the foul language is edited out when the movie airs on regular television. However, the group marching song near the beginning of the movie 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 body is also edited.

[edit] Cultural references

[edit] Soundtrack

Song Lyrics by Performed by
"Up Where We Belong" Will Jennings Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes
"Treat Me Right" D. Lubahn and Pat Benatar Pat Benatar
"Hungry for Your Love" Van Morrison Van Morrison
"Be Real" D. Sahm The Sir Douglas Quintet
"Tush" B. Gibbons, D. Hill and F. Beard ZZ Top
"Tunnel of Love" M. Knopfler Dire Straits
"Feelings" Morris Albert Morris Albert
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown
"Anchors Aweigh" Charles A. Zimmerman, George D. Lottman and Alfred H. Miles
"Moon River" Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer
"Big Money Dollars" John Thomas Lenox
"Gamelan Gong: Barong Dance" David Lewiston
"The Plains of Mindanao" Bayanihan 7
"Galan Kangin" Gong Kebyar, Sebatu

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/07/03/entertainment/television/030307124750.txt
  2. ^ "Gere begged director not to shoot romantic scene". PR Inside. 2007-04-29. http://www.pr-inside.com/gere-begged-director-not-to-shoot-r108124.htm. 

[edit] External links

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