On O List of Movie Reviews
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An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
Rate:
9
Viewed:
12/03, 4/08, 5/20
4/08:
An Officer and a Gentleman is a through and through classic of the romance genre.
The performances by Richard Gere, Debra Winger, Louis Gossett, Jr., David Keith, and Lisa Blount are exemplary. Only Louis
will win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor which is the third ever for a black thespian behind Hattie McDaniel and
Sidney Poitier.
What sets it up as a great film is the tremendous chemistry and the story. The cycle repeats as Foley gives the same boot camp
speech to the new recruits, turning An Officer and a Gentleman into a special picture. The romance between the characters
of Richard Gere and Debra Winger is a treat, and they have a classic ending.
The concept of "trapping a mate" is a lifelong ambition for some women who want to marry a Naval officer. I like how it affects
relationships, leading to the dramatic aftermath. The favorite part for my amusement is seeing the wimpy David
Caruso be tortured and mocked for the silly ass he has been for so many years. Please...I want more, more, and more!
All in all, An Officer and a Gentleman is among the top ten romantic pictures of all time.
5/20:
If An Officer and a Gentleman isn't in anybody's top ten romantic pictures, the list is a fraud.
Reminding me of From Here to Eternity, it's a wonderful picture with well-developed
characters and remarkable performances by Richard Gere, Debra Winger, David Keith, and Lisa Blount. All deserved Oscar nominations;
sadly, only Debra Winger got it. Their chemistry is the key in turning the picture into lasting success; that's why I like seeing
it again from time to time.
Richard Gere has a famous scene when he yelled at the drill sergeant, "I got nowhere else to go!" taking place at Battery
Kinzie in Fort Worden State Park which is near Seattle, Washington. The ending when Richard carried Debra out of the factory
is the clincher of its deserving status. Basically, the movie is about Mayo shedding off his individuality by thinking more
of the others and becoming a team player; to be fair, he learned a lot of bad habits from his father.
The biggest winner of the cast is Louis Gossett, Jr., who became the first black Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actor.
If some of his lines sound familiar, it's because R. Lee Ermey repeated them in
Full Metal Jacket. The truth is
Louis was coached by him in preparation for his role as Drill Sergeant Emil Foley.
If there's anything I've always found strange, it's Sid Worley's suicide. Honestly,
is it really necessary? Look at him: young and virile with a bright future ahead of him. Sure, Sid got dealt plenty of blows
in a short amount of time, but he let his emotions get the best of him. He should have taken a time-out and decompressed
for a while.
As for Lynette, I'm not going to blame her for Sid's death. Nobody, not even Mayo, saw it coming. They were together for like
eight weeks; that's pretty fast by most standards. She did the right thing by not going into it too quickly, but Sid wasn't a
bad guy and they could've spent more time together. By the way, Lisa Blount, who plays Lynette, died at age
53 ten years ago, possibly from idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) which is a low level of platelets that keep blood from
clotting or a series of bleeding and bruising will result.
All in all, they don't make movies like An Officer and a Gentleman anymore.