features
Battalion/Page 8
August 12,1982
‘An Officer and a Gentleman’ is
old-fashioned love story
good
by Terry Duran
Battalion Staff
Go see An Officer and a Gen
tleman.
If you call yourself a human
being, that is. If you don’t have a
heart and a soul and a mind,
djbn’t bother — it won’t do any
thing for you.
It’s something of an old-
fashioned love story, but it is ut
terly believable and utterly gut-
Review
wrenching in its sincerity — not
cornball at all. Richard Gere
(American Gigolo) and Debra
Winger (Urban Cowboy) give
absolutely sterling perform-
ahces, as do Louis Gossett Jr.
and the rest of the well-drawn
and well-acted cast. The dia
logue is alive, intense and as real
a$ yesterday’s argument. It’s a
Your Danskin
Headquarters
Manor East Mall
779-6718
rare film that captures your
emotions and makes you think
at the same time.
Gere plays Zack Mayo, the
son of a woman-chasing, hell
raising enlisted sailor stationed
in the Philippines. Mayo, a
tough loner, decides he wants to
fly jets for the Navy after he
finishes college, but that means
he has to become an officer —
surprise, Dad — and that means
he has to make it through the
naval aviation officer candidate
school on Puget Sound.
Winger is Paula, who works in
a paper factory near the base.
She is one of the girls the Navy
types at the base call “Puget
debs“: they race to the base after
work on Fridays to attend the
planned social functions and
shop for a naval aviator hus
band.
Gossett is Marine Gunnery
Sergeant Coley who must take
two dozen unspanked young
civilians and make officers out
of them. Gossett’s performance
may be the most surprising of
all: he takes the tired, overused
stereotype of a drill sergeant
and makes him real, gives him
an edge. Tough, fierce, but hu
man and caring. But not crusty
with a mushy interior, as is so
often portrayed.
Winger and her best friend
(Lisa Blount) meet Gere and his
best buddy (David Keith) at one
of these weekend dances, and
they begin their the-same-but-
different love affairs on the
beach that night.
Other important issues are
raised here, though, besides the
obvious love affair stuff, well
done as it is. Mayo doesn’t really
It doesn’t matter if you
are “into the military
scene” or not. This is a
story about people in
love, people being chal
lenged, people in search
of themselves. And like
all good stories about
people, it makes you
root for the people
against all the odds be
cause you know that ev
erything is on the line.
ground with the tempting wiles
of his blonde Puget deb girl
friend. The rest of Mayo’s train
ing platoon must overcome—or
not, as the case may be — their
own personal fears and weak
nesses.
It’s easy to identify with the
characters in the movie — they
are real people in the true, com
plimentary sense. We can see
something of ourselves and
others in the two main character
couples, the other officer candi
dates, the drill sergeant. The
husky-voiced Winger in particu
lar is splendid: she shows us the
naked soul of her character, ev
ery moment honest, raw and
real. Gere is not far behind: as a
man afraid of being loved but
still wishing for love, he turns in
what Lean only call a very hu
man performance.
It doesn’t matter if you are
“into the military scene” or not.
This is a story about people in
It’s something of an old-
fashioned love story,
but it is utterly believ
able and utterly gut-
wrenching in its sincer
ity — not cornball at all.
love, people being challenged,
people in search of themselves.
And like all good stories about
people, it makes you root for the
people against all the odds be
cause you know that everything
is on the line.
s U
Texas A&
Friday
HILLEL CLUB: Will hold services at the home of
George Mann. Gall (>96-7313 for more information.
Saturday
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TAMU ROADRLINNERS CT.I B:\Vill Nponsoratalkiiorf Adsoi
pre-race diet at 9 a.in. on die aerobics track, followed Wi Garcia
run. drove
1 Migle
John J. McDermott will praj 43 viei
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COMMENCEMENT: Dr
summer commencement address at 9 a.m. in G
Coliseum.
care about anybody but himself;
with that attitude, he can’t cut it
as an officer or a lover. Can he
change? And will it be in time?
Mayo’s baby-faced buddy, Sid
Worley (Keith), must struggle
with the legacy of Navy pilot
father and brother — the
brother killed in Vietnam — and
the clash of his Oklahoma back-
‘World According to Garp’:
no comedy, but still funny
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Nursery: All Events
by Gary Barker
Battalion Staff
The question everyone seems
to be asking about The World
According to Garp is: Is it like
Review
the book? The answer: It doesn’t
matter.
Garp is a superb-warm-witty-
funny-sad film that will dazzle
readers and non-readers. The
3.5 million readers who feasted
on John Irving’s book will feel
the film was made for them —
and non-readers will get a mod
est idea of what they missed.
The film follows the plot of
the book almost literally. Garp is
the story of a writer trying to stay
sane in an insane world. Garp is
the bastard son of a famous
feminist mother who fights for
her beliefs. The mother, Jenny,
is surrounded by unusual
women, including a transsexual
and a group of women who cut
out their tongues to protest the
rape of an 11-year-old girl, who
had her tongue cut out by her
rapists.
It is in this mixed-up world
that Garp grows up, becomes a
lln oi
The world, according to
Garp, is not a safe place.
Catastrophe creeps up
on happiness every
chance it gets. One can
never be sure of what
will happen next.
in his marriage.
The world, according R
Garp, is not a safe place.Gif
trophe creeps up on hap:
every chance it gets. Onem*’.
never be sure of what williS* 1 ’® 1 "
pen next. Irvingsymbolized®‘J u 0
catastrophic, fatal force and® 111 „
led it the “underload,” a»iB C0
that comes from ! ,, a S (
The lA H<)USt0
youngest son.
r l ,s A n
writer, gets married, has chil
dren and fights to keep fidelity
The New Look For Fall
warned, while swimmingati
ocean, to beware of thei
tow. Thinking he heard‘‘unil 1
toad,” he looks for whathti
agines to be awful creaturestl
lurk underwater.
Irving’s book is
metaphors like this one, scl Ut
more subtle, some less so.llfsAN
one of the reasons his ficdonl» a y h
become so popular and (pre-hit
earned him something of atjHoustc
following — and he deservtiBys he
Garp is superb pop fiction,ei«toove
TAFFETA
Wedding Gowns
Bridesmaids
Mothers of the Bride
Party Dresses
dally compared tp the oi
schlock that passes for ficti
today.
Unfortunately, the mo
never captures the subtler
Irving. The movie payslip
vice to the “underload”butfi
to convey the significance oil
Director George Roy HillfBi
Cassidy and the Sundance
A Little Romance and ^
Sting) replaced the subtlety*!
clever visual imagery thatki
the film moving too fast for
subtlety. But what
NOW
AVAILABLE AT.
B^udcU
BotUflue
“Garp” is a supei
warm-witty-funny-Scii
film that will fail
readers and
readers. The 3.5 milk
readers who feasted
John Irving’s book M
feel the film was mk
for them — and noi
wwv
2305 S. Texas Ave.
693-9358
College Station, Texas
readers will get a moi
est idea of what tk
missed.
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Cor
screenwriter Steve Tetf
(Breaking A way) left out in id
tlety, they made up in hunw
The movie, like the book, luj
its funny moments. It reeks
life. All the happy-sad, ecstai*
catastrophic moments thatchu
acterize the human conditit
are there. However decades'
however immoral, however vf
lent or hypocritical, theyares!
there.
In addition to the well-writH
screenplay, the actors are s-j
perb. Glenn Close as Gai
mother is perhaps the
Robin Williams, as Garp,is
joy. It was worth $3.75justtoii
Mork angry. But Williams is»
Mork here; he can act, and* 1
1 more screen experience in l
rious roles, he should get ev(
better.
The main drawback to
movie is that it left out, asitW
to, huge chunks of the bod
plot. Perhaps the main
ence in the book and themovif :
the ending. The events are d*
same, but the mood is totally^
ferent.
The ending in the movie
too happy. Though Irving is 1,1
heavyweight fatalist like Th'
mas Hardy, he still captures^
feeling of despair much b#
than the movie does. But thd
fatalism has never been popul 1 '
at the box office.
Don’t be mislead by the pf (
views, Garp is no comedy, but
is still worth seeing. The mo" 1
starts here Friday. RunningtW
is 2 1 /2 hours.
our
Chi
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