It might be considered formulaic these days, but this movie is one of the classic ‘underdog bucks the obsticles, makes it, and gets the girl to boot’ military flicks a-la Top Gun. Gere works well as the come from behind Mayo and you can’t do better than Gosset as the rough-hewn drill sergeant. Debra Winger is also a great fit as the factory girl just trying to me a good person and do well in life, and in the process helps Mayo become a better man. I also liked Robert Loggia as the bosing/cheating/unfaithful dad that created the deamons that Mayo had to overcome.