This officer’s real-life drill instructor, GySgt Buck Welcher, USMC, and Director Taylor Hackford cover the finer points of Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School and the mega-hit film “An Officer and a Gentleman.” Hackford is casual, engaging, and forthright in discussing Welcher’s talents as a key element in the production of the film, and he reveals that Welcher was not only highly influential but also largely responsible for the film’s authenticity. In 1983 Lou Gossett Jr. won an Academy Award in the category of Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as a Marine Corps drill instructor in the film. More recently Gossett received accolades from the Vatican: “His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, sends you his sincere regards and compliments for your great work as an actor! Your Performance as Sergeant Foley in ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’ has touched him deeply. His Holiness remembers you and your movie especially because it was his first visit in a private cinema in Rome after his farewell from Munich and Freising as Archbishop . . . . Grazie tante et Dio ti benedica! Padre Giovanni (on behalf of his Holiness)” Sierra Hotel Director: Taylor Hackford Cast: Richard Gere, Debra Winger, David Keith, Robert Loggia, Lisa Blount, Lisa Eilbacher, Louis Gossett Jr., David Caruso, Tony Plana, Harold Sylvester, Victor French, Grace Zabriskie, Tommy Petersen, Buck Welcher, Vern Taylor, David Marshall, Gary Stillwell, Elizabeth Rogers, Mara Scott Wood, Tee Dennard, Norbert …
Video Rating: 4 / 5