Hugely popular in its day and appealing to the incurable romantic in all of us, this is a highly manipulative mixture of boot camp is good for you and every girl loves a uniform. More sophisticated thoughts on human relationships form no part of Taylor Hackford's glossy hymn to overcoming a trailer-park background. Richard Gere looks a treat in his pristine white togs, and gives a performance more wooden than a wardrobe, but who cares! Not even the combined talents of Debra Winger and an Oscar-winning Louis Gossett Jr can turn this one into a great movie, but if you're in the mood for a wallow, it's perfect.

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.