An officer and a gentleman
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | An officer and a gentleman |
| Original title | To officer and a gentleman |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1982 |
| length | 125 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Taylor Hackford |
| script | Douglas Day Stewart |
| production | Douglas Day Stewart, Martin Elfand |
| music | Jack Nitzsche |
| camera | Donald E. Thorin |
| cut | Peter Zinner |
| occupation | |
| |
An Officer and a Gentleman is an American film directed by Taylor Hackford from 1982 , a film genre mixture essentially between drama and romantic comedy . Inspired by the experiences of screenwriter Douglas Day Stewart in the United States Navy , the film also touches on emotional conflicts during military training. The main actors are Richard Gere and Debra Winger .
action
Zack Mayo grew up with his father, an alcoholic and sailor in the US Navy who roams the red light district of Manila . At that time, as an American, he was beaten up and robbed in the street by boys of the same age, but he soon learned to defend himself. As an adult, he enrolled as an officer candidate in the US Army, he would like to get his officer license at the US Navy Aviation School .
With his selfish demeanor and his smooth manner, however, he puts obstacles in his own way. In addition, he trades illegally in objects of daily military use. It doesn't take long before he clashes with his instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley. So this sergeant catches Zack doing his trickery and tries to force him to leave the training unit by dragging him. When Mayo finally collapses and confesses that he won't leave willingly because he has no other perspective in life, Foley leaves him in training. While Foley tries in his very own way to shape him into a responsible officer, Mayo also has to grapple with his feelings as he falls in love with the paper mill worker Paula, who dreams of escaping her desolate situation as the wife of an officer. Paula is herself the daughter of a candidate officer who impregnated her mother and left her after his training. Zack's best friend in the corps, Sid, also falls in love with a paper mill worker, Lynette, who is also a friend of Paula's. However, Lynette is not interested in himself, but only in a life as an officer's wife overseas and drops Sid when he gives up his training. Sid kills himself and Foley and Paula break up with Lynette over it.
Mayo becomes a better person as the training progresses and begins to help his comrades. In the end he even refrains from breaking the obstacle course record to help a friend, Seeger, during the race. After completing her training, Zack also admits his love for Paula and marches through the paper factory in his white dress uniform to finally carry Paula out of the factory hall on hands to the applause of the workers.
background
- The title refers to the duty of a US Navy officer to behave like “an officer and a gentleman” under Article 133, of the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
- “The song is not good. It's not a hit. ”With these words, producer Don Simpson strongly advocated removing the song Up Where We Belong from the film. The song later rose to number one on the US charts and won a Golden Globe and an Oscar.
- John Denver and John Travolta were considered for the lead role but both turned it down.
- Actor Lee Ermey , himself a former army instructor and later legendary in his role as ruthless Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket , taught Louis Gossett Jr. all the essentials for the role of Sergeant Foley.
- In the German translation, the names of the military ranks are awkward and sometimes incorrect. Foley's rank is translated as “artillery sergeant”, which is nonsensical because of the uniqueness of the US term “gunnery sergeant”. In the German ranking system, the rank corresponds approximately to a sergeant major . To call the cadets appointed officers at the end of the film with the English rank of " Lieutenant " is a wrong friend - while in the German-speaking world a lieutenant actually represents the lowest officer rank, the rank in the US Navy means a rank that is already corresponds to either the first lieutenant at sea or the captainleutnant. In fact, the first officer rank in the American Navy is called “ Ensign ” - its literal translation, however, means “Ensign”, which in turn would not be consistent in German, since this rank only describes a candidate for an officer .
Reviews
| source | rating |
|---|---|
| Rotten tomatoes | |
| critic |
 
|
| audience |
|
| Metacritic | |
| critic |
|
| audience |
|
| IMDb |
|
“Mixture of melodrama and military romance, whose mendacious ideology praises the military as an educational tool. Very cleverly staged for the emotional impact; good performance. "
“With subtle, cruel dressage, a Navy instructor grinds a characterless nobody in three months of basic training to become a real elite American. [...] Because "An Officer and Gentleman" manages without blood, pornography, bank robbery and apparently without politics, the critics usually classify it as a harmless, slightly ideological entertainment film. The clean product of the economic crisis turns out to be a particularly perfidious vehicle for national education for mental mobilization. [...] The entertaining Navy advertising should also have a cathartic effect on the audience. "
“An Officer and a Gentleman” is the best love film I've seen in a long time. Maybe because it's not about "love" as a Hollywood concept, but about love as growing, as a willingness to accept other people for their sake and for who they are. "
Awards
- The film was nominated for a total of six Academy Awards. Louis Gossett Jr. received the trophy for Best Supporting Actor, and there was another for the title song Up Where We Belong . It was written by Will Jennings and sung by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes .
- Nomination - Best Actress Debra Winger
- Nomination - Best Score
- Nomination - Best Editing
- Nomination - Best Screenplay
- Of the eight Golden Globe nominations, the same two were successful as the Oscar: Gossett for Best Supporting Actor, Will Jennings for Best Song in a Movie.
- Nomination - Best Picture (Drama)
- Nomination - Best Actor Richard Gere
- Nomination - Best Actress (Drama) Debra Winger
- Nomination - Best Supporting Actor David Keith
- Nomination - Best Male Newcomer David Keith
- Nomination - Best Female Newcomer Lisa Blount
- BAFTA Film Award Best Original Song - "Up Where We Belong"
- 1984: Japanese Academy Award for the best film in a foreign language
publication
After its theatrical release on July 30, 1982, the film grossed over US $ 129 million in the US alone. The film opened in Germany on September 16, 1983 and was seen by 1,122,930 cinema-goers. The film has been available on DVD since April 5, 2001 .
Web links
- An Officer and a Gentleman in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- An officer and a gentleman in the online film database
- An officer and gentleman in the German dubbing file
- An Officer and a Gentleman atRotten Tomatoes(English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b [1] at Rotten Tomatoes , accessed on February 12, 2015
- ↑ a b [2] at Metacritic , accessed on February 12, 2015
- ↑ An Officer and a Gentleman in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ An officer and gentleman. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ^ A right film at the right time on Spiegel Online , accessed on January 18, 2012
- ↑ Roger Ebert : An Officer and a Gentleman on suntimes.com from January 1, 1982 (English), accessed January 18, 2012
- ^ To Officer and a Gentleman (1982) at boxofficemojo.com , accessed April 19, 2018
- ↑ TOP 100 DEUTSCHLAND 1983 on insidekino.de , accessed on January 18, 2012