Caffeinated Clint
Everyone knows “An Officer and a Gentlemen” (1982) – if even only through the ribbing it got on “The Simpsons”, or even, to use a more recent example, “Scrubs” – so there’s no need to really dissect that beast again… I must say though, fluff holds together pretty well.
Richard Gere, Debra Winger, Louis Gossett Jr
Everyone knows “An Officer and a Gentlemen” (1982) – if even only through the ribbing it got on “The Simpsons”, or even, to use a more recent example, “Scrubs” – so there’s no need to really dissect that beast again… I must say though, fluff holds together pretty well.
Much like “Pretty Woman” (1990) – yep, Richard Gere was the ‘go-to guy’ for these kinds of roles in the Reagan era – “An Officer and a Gentlemen” came into a polished hard-casing that was packaging goo… yummy goo…. But goo all the same.
Yes, it had its good performances (Louis Gossett Jr actually won an Oscar for his role as the drill instructor – before being shipped off to star in a bunch of Dolph Lundgren shit and twelve “Iron Eagle” movies); it had a great theme song (just typing that… it pops into my head) and quite a lovely story… but it was good-old fashioned fairy-floss.
The difference between what “An Officer and a Gentlemen” would be today, compared to what it was then, is that today’s version would be as hollow as a garbage bin. There’d be no substance in it. Heck, the studio probably wouldn’t have even wasted a couple of good actors like Richard Gere and Debra Winger on it… they’d probably just fill it with whoever got kicked off “American Idol” last season… and the script? Shit; they wouldn’t bother with one… not when they can get Justin Timberlake to record the theme song!
Thankfully, that isn’t the case [yet] and “An Officer and a Gentlemen” remains an 80sn guilty pleasure with both substance and sop (Enough to please the stuck-up tea-sipping aunt as well as the girlfriend that cries with the Kleenex ads).
Extras on the disc include a 30-min retrospective piece on the making of the movie, which is quite good; a featurette where Louis Gossett Jr (must be on a break from “Iron Eagle 11” returns to the original filming location; and a commentary by director Taylor Hackford (which was also on the first issue DVD release of “Officer”).
Rating : 
Reviewer : Clint Morris
