On his journey of self-discovery, Zack falls for a feisty and independent factory worker. Foley may prove an insurmountable obstacle. Graduating from the elite program will secure Zack’s future, but Sgt. Navy’s Officer Training School, but his drill sergeant (Louis Gossett, Jr.) doesn’t like his arrogant attitude. If you’re a fan of the 1982 movie, you’ll likely love the updated musical version.īut even if you weren’t a fan of the film, you may still appreciate how it’s been modernized while remaining true to its origins.Īnd if you somehow managed not to have seen the movie, here’s a synopsis: Zack Mayo has the determination and stamina for the U.S. Still, this is a love story at, and to, its very core. “In the musical, she’s interested in more than just the guy.” The bigger the dream, the bigger the heartbreak if it doesn’t come true.” “She needs to dream of being a lawyer, he believes. “The Richard Gere character, Zack, reflects back to her that her dream isn’t big enough,” Scanlan said. (The factory gives her a place to showcase her penchant for advocating for her fellow workers.) But she has a dream: She wants to be a paralegal. In the stage adaptation, Paula’s still in a small town and still a factory worker. She’s all reaction to Richard Gere.” And the other female lead is single-mindedly determined to marry a military officer. “But there’s a lot we don’t know about her character and what motivates her. “Hers is my favorite performance of the movie,” Scanlan ( Thoroughly Modern Millie, Everyday Rapture) said.
An officer and a gentleman movie spoiler update#
We felt a mandate to update that.”ĭebra Winger’s character (Paula), for instance, isn’t fully realized in the film. “The way we look at the female characters today is much different than it was in the early 1980s. “We needed a reason to tell the same story again 39 years later,” said Dick Scanlan, co-author and director of the musical adaptation of the 1982 film, An Officer and a Gentleman.