An Officer and a Gentleman

This is really a film about a power duet - and we don't get that until the end. The rest of this is a rather mediocre outing for all concerned. Richard Gere - an actor whose stardom still, even now, perplexes me - is "Zack", brought up by his dad "Byron" (Robert Loggia) after his mother died. Now an adult, he must learn to stand on his own two feet. Determined to prove himself and follow his father into the military, he enrols in the Naval Officer School where he encounters the no-nonsense drill instructor "Sgt. Foley" (Louis Gossett Jr) whilst befriending "Sid" (David Keith) and "Paula" (Debra Winger). Now "Zack" is quite a shrewd fella, and is soon running a range of scams around the base that eventually runs him foul of his equally savvy instructor - and the two are soon at loggerhead: a relationship that tests "Zack" to breaking point. Off the base, he and his pal are dating "Paula" and her pal "Lynette" (Lisa Blount) and he must now juggle his sex life with his determination not to get drummed out of the regiment at the hands of his nemesis. There is, sadly, something really predictable about just about all of this. You just know what the plot is going to deliver, and though Gossett Jr. is quite effective as the bad-ass sergeant, the rest of the characterisations are about as shallow as an Ethiopian river in July. Like so many films on this topic, those portrayed in the forces come across as arrogant and dumb, and "Zack" - though handsome, does little change that perspective - even if his reason for wanting to succeed is rather more honest than many. Forty years on, I very much doubt we will see it on the "anniversary release" circuit. I did it's job then, a job that really doesn't need doing now. Like so many other of Gere's films, it's entirely forgettable. Not so much "Up Where We Belong" as "Down, Down, Way on Down..."