This is the original review of An Officer and a Gentleman by Siskel & Ebert on "Sneak Previews" in 1982. All of the segments pertaining to the movie have been included.
Sadly they don’t mention the Sid Worley character played by David Keith, Sid without a doubt is another influence on Gere as they become close friends up to his tragic end that would effect Zack Mayo forever...Definitely an 80’s favorite! Holds up still today...
I fully agree. Sid is the foil to Mayo; without Sid and his tragedy, we wouldn't witness Mayo's realization that he has come full circle and is a human being with real emotions.
Totally true. He's the first friend that Zach ever had. It's something that Foley is trying to instill in him, that you can't make it through life completely on your own.
And totally deserved because he was fantastic! But even Gossett himself said he was disappointed that Gere was not only not nominated but that he should have won Best Actor. Totally agreed. Some of the best acting ever.. Gere was robbed of an Oscar but at least Gossett was rewarded for his amazing performance.
I just recently rewatched this for the first time in a many number of years. Lou Gossett Jr's performance was beyond phenomenal. And while we learned years later that Debra Winger was not all that enthralled with Richard Gere, it certainly worked on screen for them. .
Such a great and moving film. I saw it for the first time a couple if days ago , and i haven't stopped thinking about. Unfortunately I was 3 years old when it came out , and its taken me all these years to see it. It was well worth the wait.
They were right about how this movie almost singlehandedly brought back Romance to the industry. Since the late 60s (i.e., post-Code), the subject had been seen as corny and old-fashioned. The maudlin hit "Love Story" (1971, iirc) was ridiculed throughout the decade, despite its financial success, so studios didn't really try that again. "Officer", however, made romance believable, and earned.
4:05, shows you how good richard gere and Debra Winger are as actors, they should a lot of chemistry in that movie yet I heard they couldn't stand each other on set.
They did not get along well at all during production. Time has healed the wounds between them. Makes it even more amazing because they created terrific onscreen chemistry leading to one of cinema's greatest love story's.
Good film but I didnt find the idea of his friend dropping out of OCS on the last week to marry a townie and what, take her home to work in the family business or whatever? How did he not see her rejecting that idea and how could you blame her? He couldn't wait for graduation to marry her? Is she wondering if shes going to marry a guy that makes knee jerk decisions for the rest of their lives
He thought she was carrying his baby and was in love with him. As he said, he only joined to appease his parents. Your hero lied to him about her being pregnant.
This movie has some very important and quite unexpected lessons, that illuminate some illogical things that take place in employment. For that reason, this movie should be required viewing for all college and high school students. This movie demonstrates the concept that: when an employer wants to get rid of an unwanted employee, they do not terminate them. Rather, they get that unwanted employee to quit. Additionally, this situation may turn into a battle of wits and wills. as clearly shown in this movie. I know this from many experiences. In fact, I am considering writing a book on this subject.
Just shows how uninformed people are about stuff, especially the Military. Louis Gossett JR does NOT portray a Navy Drill Sgt. Louis Gossett JR Portrays a Marine Corps Drill Instructor a Gunnery Sgt to be exact. Being that the Marines are a Dept of the Navy it makes perfect sense that a Marine Corps Drill Instructor would be training Naval Officer Candidates. Being that Gene Siskel was in the Army I can’t believe he didn’t call Roger out on that.
As I watched this movie, the first half I found rather cliche, predictable and shallow...like a typical oversexed 80s flick (Porkys on a military base)...but as I continued I discovered that was all apart of the setup for the sublime 2nd half as Mayo endures heartbreak, tragedy and falls in love and he doesn't want to be his father's son. Truly a beautiful movie.
Presumably, you're a straight person who is making the joke that "a boy and a girl falling in love" ain't going to fly anymore under the Biden administration. Why is that? Why did you hear that and the first thing that pop into your mind be "something something homosexuals?" Because I've noticed this interesting phenomena where innocuous things are said and 9/10 times, it's a presumably straight, conservative person who makes a point out of saying, oh boy, the queers are going to get their panties in a twist about that one. It's almost never actually the queers who are offended, it's random strawman dummy suckerpunch dogpiling. Or is it saying something else about the poster's psyche that LGBTQ+ issues are constantly at the forefront of their mind? IDK...
