Zack Mayo is an aloof, taciturn man who aspires to be a navy pilot. Once he arrives at training camp for his 13-week officer's course, Mayo runs afoul of abrasive, no-nonsense drill Sergeant Emil Foley. Mayo is an excellent cadet, but a little cold around the heart, so Foley rides him mercilessly, sensing that the young man would be prime officer material if he weren't so self-involved. Zack's affair with a working girl is likewise compromised by his unwillingness to give of himself.
An Officer and a Gentleman is the best movie about love that I've seen in a long time. Maybe that's because it's not about "love" as a Hollywood concept, but about love as growth, as learning to accept other people for who and what they are.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
23 Oct 2004
rotten:
Macho, materialistic, and pro-militarist, it's an objectionable little number made all the more insidious by the way Hackford pulls the strings and turns it into a heart-chilling weepie.
– Geoff Andrew,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
fresh:
Rarely does a film come along with so many finely-drawn characters to care about.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
6 Jul 2010
rotten:
Taylor Hackford's 1982 film is an awesomely, stiflingly professional piece of work, with a fleet, superficial visual style, perfectly placed climaxes, and a screenplay that doesn't waste a single character or situation.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
31 Jul 2013
rotten:
It is full of bang-on melodramatics and simple, romanticized characters with carefully supplied motivations.