An Officer and a Gentleman is a 1982 American romantic drama film directed by Taylor Hackford from a screenplay by Douglas Day Stewart, and starring Richard Gere, Debra Winger, and Louis Gossett Jr. It tells the story of Zack Mayo (Gere), a United States Navy Aviation Officer Candidate who is beginning his training at Aviation Officer Candidate School. While Zack meets his first true girlfriend during his training, a young "townie" named Paula (Winger), he also comes into conflict with the hard-driving Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley (Gossett) training his class.
The film was commercially released by Paramount Pictures in the United States on August 13, 1982. It was well received by critics, with a number calling it the best film of 1982. The film was also a financial success, grossing $190 million against a budget of between $6–7 million.Solomon, Aubrey (1989). Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, p. 198, . Gossett won the Golden Globe Award, as well as the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, making him the first African-American actor to win in that category. It received Oscar nominations for Best Actress (for Winger), Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Score, also winning for Best Original Song (for "Up Where We Belong").
Plot
After his mother committed suicide, adolescent Zachary "Zack" Mayo was sent to live with his father Byron, an alcoholic, womanizing US Navy petty officer stationed in the Philippines.
Now a college graduate, Zack surprises Byron by telling him he has joined the Navy because he wants to become a jet pilot. He reports to Fort Rainier, an Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) located near Port Townsend, Washington. Upon arriving, Zack and other recruits meet Marine Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley, their strict, no-nonsense drill instructor. Foley tells them that only the most capable AOCs will become Naval Aviators. Male candidates are warned about "Puget Sound Debs", local girls aspiring to marry a pilot. Soon after, Zack and fellow AOC Sid Worley meet two young factory workers, Paula Pokrifki and Lynette Pomeroy; Zack begins a relationship with Paula while Sid dates Lynette.
Zack is caught peddling contraband uniform accessories needed to pass inspections to his fellow AOCs. Foley punishes Zack with rigorous hazing to push him to resign, telling him he lacks the character to be an officer. When Zack refuses to quit, Foley threatens to dismiss him. Zack breaks down and admits that he has no options in civilian life. Foley relents, assigning Zack menial work. Zack, in turn, distributes his stash of uniform accessories among the other AOCs, particularly his cash-strapped roommate Lionel Perryman. During the final obstacle-course run, in which he has a chance to break the base's record for the run, Zack instead stops to encourage classmate Casey Seeger to complete the run so that she, too, can graduate.
Paula's mother and younger sister are enchanted with Zack, but Paula's stepfather is hostile. Paula tells Zack that her biological father was an AOC who abandoned Paula's mother when she became pregnant. As graduation nears, and because if he graduates he will be transferred to another base for further training, Zack ends his relationship with Paula.
Sid tells Zack he plans to marry his late brother Tommy's fiancée after graduating. Lynette then tells Sid she is pregnant and he tries to convince her to get an abortion. After a severe anxiety attack during a high-altitude simulation in a pressure chamber, Sid decides to quit the program, realizing that he never wanted a military career and was assuming his brother's role to please his parents. He proposes to Lynette, and she accepts at first, but when Sid tells her he has dropped out, she says the pregnancy was a false alarm. Sid wants them to marry anyway and move to Oklahoma, where he will resume his old job at a department store and work his way up. Lynnette rejects his proposal, insisting that she wants to marry a pilot and live overseas. A brokenhearted Sid leaves. Zack and Paula arrive soon after, looking for him; Zack accuses Lynette of faking the pregnancy, which she denies.
Zack and Paula find Sid at a motel where he has hanged himself. Blaming himself, Zack returns to the base and tells Foley he is quitting. Foley angrily challenges him to settle their differences in martial arts combat. Zack lands several blows on a surprised Foley, who then incapacitates him. Foley tells Zack that whether he quits or not is up to him.
Zack completes his training and is commissioned as an officer. He and his successful classmates, including Seeger and Perryman, receive their first salute from Foley. Zack thanks Foley, acknowledging that he would not have graduated without him. As Zack is leaving the base, he sees Foley greeting another incoming class of AOCs in the same way his own class was greeted when he first arrived.
Zack surprises Paula at her workplace. They embrace and he carries her outside to the applause of her co-workers, including Lynette.
Cast
Production
Writing The film was based on Douglas Day Stewart's own experiences as a Naval Aviation Officer Candidate. Stewart had enrolled with the intention of becoming a pilot, but was later disqualified due to a medical issue, and was transferred to a unit overseeing the transportation of 7th Marine Regiment to Vietnam. After leaving the navy, he found success as a television and film screenwriter, and decided to write a script based on anecdotes from Candidate School.
The character Paula was based on a local factory worker with whom he'd had a relationship during Candidate School, though he did not go on to marry her.
Casting Originally, folk music singer and occasional actor John Denver was signed to play Zack Mayo. But a casting process eventually involved Jeff Bridges, Harry Hamlin, Christopher Reeve, John Travolta, and Richard Gere. Gere eventually beat all the other actors for the part. Travolta had turned down the role, as he did with American Gigolo (another Richard Gere hit).
The role of Paula was originally given to Sigourney Weaver, then to Anjelica Huston and later to Jennifer Jason Leigh, who dropped out to do the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High instead. Eventually, Debra Winger replaced Leigh for the role of Paula. Rebecca De Mornay, Meg Ryan, and Geena Davis auditioned for the role of Paula.
In spite of the strong on-screen chemistry between Gere and Winger, the actors did not get along during filming. Publicly, she called him a "brick wall" while he admitted there was "tension" between them. Thirty years later, Gere was complimentary toward Winger when he said that she was much more open to the camera than he was, and he appreciated the fact that she presented him with an award at the Rome Film Festival.
R. Lee Ermey was originally considered for the role of Gunnery Sgt. Emil Foley due to his time of being an actual drill instructor for the United States Marine Corps at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in the 1960s. However, Taylor Hackford instead cast Louis Gossett Jr. and had Ermey coach him for his role as the film's technical advisor. It was there where the "steers and queers" comment from Gossett's character in the 1982 movie came from, which was later used for Ermey's role in the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket. James Woods was also considered for the role, but turned it down as he didn't want to play a drill sergeant.
Hackford kept Gossett Jr. in separate living quarters from other actors during production so Gossett could intimidate them more during his scenes as drill instructor. In addition to R. Lee Ermey, Gossett was advised by Gunnery Sergeant Buck Welscher, an actual drill instructor at Aviation Officer Candidate School, NAS Pensacola. He can be seen leading the senior class after the run.
Although there were no mutual scenes, the film reunited Gossett with Victor French who portrayed Paula's stepfather. The actors had appeared together in a 1976 televised episode of Little House on the Prairie.
Filming locations The film was shot on April 20, 1981, on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, at Port Townsend and Fort Worden. The US Navy did not permit filming at NAS Pensacola in the Florida panhandle, the site of the actual Aviation Officer Candidate School in 1981. Deactivated US Army base Fort Worden stood in for the location of the school, an actual Naval Air Station in the Puget Sound area, NAS Whidbey Island.
A motel in Port Townsend, the Tides Inn on Water Street (), was used for the film. A plaque outside a room at the motel noted it as a filming location, although the room has been extensively refurbished. Some early scenes of the movie were filmed in Bremerton, with ships of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in the background.
The "Dilbert Dunker" scenes were filmed in the swimming pool at what is now Mountain View Elementary School (Port Townsend Jr. High School during filming). According to the director's commentary on the DVD, the dunking machine was constructed specifically for the film and was an exact duplicate of the actual one used by the navy. , Mountain View Elementary was closed and was home to the Mountain View Commons, which holds the police station, fire station, food bank, methadone clinic, counseling center, homeless shelter and the YMCA, the last of which holds the pool.
The filming location of Paula Pokrifiki's house was 1003 Tremont in Port Townsend. As of 2009, the house was shrouded by a large hedge, and the front porch had been remodeled. The neighboring homes and landscape look identical to their appearance in the film, including the "crooked oak tree" across the street from the Pokrifiki home. This oak tree is visible in the scene near the end of the film in which Richard Gere returns to the home to request Paula's help in finding his friend Sid. In the film, the plot has Paula leaving on a ferry ride away from the naval base. In reality, Paula's home is located approximately 8 blocks from Fort Worden.
Lynette Pomeroy's house was located on Mill Road, just west of the main entrance of the Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill. The house no longer exists, but the concrete driveway pad is still visible.
The interior of the USO building at Fort Worden State Park was used for the reception scene near the beginning of the film.
The concrete structure used during the famous Richard Gere line "I got nowhere else to go!" is the Battery Kinzie located at Fort Worden State Park. The scene was filmed on the southwest corner of the upper level of the battery. The "obstacle course" was constructed specifically for the film and was located in the grassy areas just south and southeast of Battery Kinzie.
The decompression chamber was one of the only sets constructed for the film and , it was still intact in the basement of building number 225 of the Fort Worden State Park. It can be seen through the windows of the building's basement.
Building 204 of Fort Worden State Park was used as the dormitory and its porch was used for the film's closing "silver dollar" scene.
The blimp hangar used for the famous fight scene between Louis Gossett Jr. and Richard Gere is located at Fort Worden State Park and is still intact, but has been converted into a 1200-seat performing arts center called the McCurdy Pavilion.
The filming location for the exterior of "TJ's Restaurant" is located at the Point Hudson Marina in Port Townsend. The space is now occupied by a company that makes sails. The fictional "TJ's" is an homage to the Trader Jon's bar in Pensacola, Florida, as a naval aviator hangout until it closed later in November 2003. For years, it was traditional for graduating Aviation Officer Candidate School classes to celebrate their commissioning at "Trader's." Filming ended on June 2, 1981, after 43 days.
Props