Saluting “An Officer and a Gentleman”

The recent passing of actorLouis Gossett Jr. at the ripe old age of 87 reminded me, of course, of hisgreatest screen triumph, in 1982’s An Officer and a Gentleman. For hisportrayal of a tough drill sergeant whose brutal methods mask a tender heart,Gossett became the first African-American ever to win an Oscar as BestSupporting Actor. It was a groundbreaking moment: the role had been written fora white man, but the production team had come to recognize that Black drillsergeants were not uncommon in the post-Vietnam military services. And Gossettgives it all he’s got.

 Gossett is a marvel in thefilm, but so is the rest of the cast, led by Richard Gere, Deborah Winger, andDavid Keith. What struck me in rewatching it recently is how well it fits thedictum of screenwriting guru Paul Lucey, who advises newbies to “writesimple stories with complex characters.” Like the Top Gun films, AnOfficer and a Gentleman is all about would-be flyboys, going through atough round of training to prepare to pilot combat jets. But whereas Top Gun,starring action hero Tom Cruise, relies heavily on aerial stunt sequences, AnOfficer and a Gentleman sticks close to the ground. The main thrust of itsstory involves a thirteen-week training session at which hopefuls (includingone plucky woman) go through a series of exhausting physical and mentalexercises designed to scare off those unfit to achieve their dreams of flight.

 Zack Mayo (leading manRichard Gere) is a particularly hard case. A loner who’s pretty much mad at theworld, he has survived his mother’s suicide and his father’s sordid lifestyleas a drunken and womanizing naval petty officer stationed mostly in the Philippines.Having made the surprising decision to enter Officer Candidate School, Zack isdetermined to leave the program with no strings attached. Which is why GunnerySergeant Foley’s warning to avoid getting serious with the marriage-hungrylocal factory girls makes perfect sense to him. But somehow he makes a friend(David Keith) who is quickly smitten by a buxom blonde ready to play any trickin order to land herself a pilot. And Zack himself is soon making sweet musicwith her best friend, the feisty Paula (an Oscar-nominated Debra Winger).

 As week follows week, theOfficer Candidates face more and more pressure, both in their training sessionsand in the bedroom. (Director Taylor Hackford, who’d responded particularly tothe script’s blue-collar landscape and to its complex characterizations, wasfrank enough with the script’s enthusiastic sex scenes that the film wasoriginally given an X-rating.) At midpoint Zack, having tried the patience ofSgt. Foley once too often, is hounded into volunteering to quit the program.His stubborn determination—and the final, deeply emotional, acknowledgment thathe has nowhere else to go—keep him from leaving of his own accord. Later,though, once he’s faced the dire consequences of a pal’s bad choices, he’sready to leave the Navy behind. That’s when Sgt. Foley steps in again, leadingto a fiercely dramatic confrontation that helps Zack put his life intoperspective.

  Those who’ve seen An Officer and aGentleman back in the mists of time will probably remember best its deeplyromantic ending, when Zack (resplendent in his white dress uniform) carries offthe loving Paula from her place on the local assembly line. It’s fairytale-ish,to be sure, and the filmmakers weren’t originally sold on it. But after allthat’s gone before, I believe we feel we and the characters have completelyearned this moment of joy.