Word: gere
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...situation is a classic. Zack Mayo (How do they think up names like that?) is the son of a Navy enlisted man, whose daddy is seen elaborately not loving him in the prologue. To get back at him, Zack (Richard Gere) must become, well, "an officer and a gentleman." He enrolls in Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School, a form of organized flagellation that we are led to believe makes all other brands of basic training look like the vicar's lawn party. Underneath Zack's sullen exterior, the discerning eye can detect "the right stuff," as it were...
...will cheer and men will weep (and vice versa) when Zack passes all the tests the Navy and the opposite sex can devise and emerges as a man worthy of having a few million bucks' worth of F-111 in his hands, not to mention a lovely bride. Gere and Winger play this nonsense as if neither one of them had ever seen an old-fashioned military romance, and bless their youthful innocence, perhaps they haven't. Director Hackford, however, surely has, since he demonstrates an encyclopedic eye for their clichés. All eagerly serve Writer Stewart...
...obvious and unoriginal as that, An Officer and a Gentleman still works. The tension and yearnings pent up inside of aspiring Navy pilot Zack Mayo (Richard Gere) are vivid and believable. You may think you're too sophisticated for an underdog-gets-crewcut-and-makes-good saga, but wait until Mayo is face down in the mud, "doin' 50" for that bastard Sergeant Foley. You'll suddenly find you own tightly clenched fist pounding the arm rest with every rep. "Yes SIR! I'd LIKE to do some more push...
...CENTER IS Gere's version of a schmuck making the transition to a mensch Unlike most of his previous performances, and especially his role in the laughable American Gigolo, Gere's Mayo has definition and direction. First, he seeks the pride the could never have achieved living above a cat house with his degenerate father. Second he learns about the price of integrity, avoiding false emotionalism in his early relationship with Paula. Third, he discovers that he can combine these with true friendship and generosity. In a subplot that could have become hokey, but somehow doesn't Mayo provides...
...come to mind: John Wooden, Dean Smith, Bobby Knight. NBA coaches are getting better. Very few are left who wear those medallions on big metal chains around their necks. The new trend setters have been the three Lakers' coaches since Bill Sharman--the ones who lost out to Richard Gere for the lead in "American Gigolo...