THE STORY and the characters are not new: Young rogue decides to prove himself a man in the military. He faces adversity in the form of a sadistic drill sergeant, oppressive service regulations and constant self-doubt. He encounters attractive, good-hearted local gal. She falls for him at the very first base mixer. Commitments, responsibilities and emotions cloud what had once been his crystal-clear me-first world view. The goal is in sight, but the her--wonders whether it's all just another pointless game, whether he should just let them all go to hell--like he's always done.

As obvious and unoriginal as that, An Officer and a Gentleman still works. The tension and yearnings pent up inside of aspiring Navy pilot Zack Mayo (Richard Gere) are vivid and believable. You may think you're too sophisticated for an underdog-gets-crewcut-and-makes-good saga, but wait until Mayo is face down in the mud, "doin' 50" for that bastard Sergeant Foley. You'll suddenly find you own tightly clenched fist pounding the arm rest with every rep. "Yes SIR! I'd LIKE to do some more push-ups, SIR!"

The keys to success for this lough old-style romance are the two relationships pulling Mayo apart with the strength of plow horses. The son of a drunken sailor, he enlists in the Port Ranter Naval Aviation Office Candidate School to learn to fly jets. There he crashes into Foley, whom I ours Gosset Jr. masterfully molds into a merciless embodiment of martial discipline. There is no heart of gold beneath Foley's taut Black skin: the scorn he displays for his charges on the first day of their 13-week baste training stint changes only to bitter, unstated resentment by the day they leave for flight school as ensigns whom he must now call "sir."

The veteran slave driver instinctively picks out Mayo as his bad boy, and the two grow to hate each other effortlessly. As much as Foley demeans the trainee. Mayo feels compelled to struggle on, to prove to himself more than anyone else that he can outlast his opponent When the two part company at film's end. Ensign Mayo concedes without emotion that he wouldn't have persevered without Foley's reverse-psychology butt-kicking. Gosset draws his lips into a by-now familiar tight line and hisses. "Get the fuck out of here."

While the Navy, in the person of Sgt. Foley drags Mayo towards his officer's stripes. Paula Pokrifki (Debra Winger) lures the man out from behind the James Dean-punk facade. Paula is a factory girl from across the bay, apparently one of a breed specializing in purposely getting knocked-up by pilots-to-be, hoping for a shot-gun wedding and an escape from their dreary existence. But Mayo's motel bedmate turns out to be different sensitive, self-aware, and genuinely in love with an Italian stud tast becoming an admirable person as well. Winger is not only beautiful, but wonderfully in touch with the uneducated common sense and honesty of the character she plays.

AT THE CENTER IS Gere's version of a schmuck making the transition to a mensch Unlike most of his previous performances, and especially his role in the laughable American Gigolo, Gere's Mayo has definition and direction. First, he seeks the pride the could never have achieved living above a cat house with his degenerate father. Second he learns about the price of integrity, avoiding false emotionalism in his early relationship with Paula. Third, he discovers that he can combine these with true friendship and generosity. In a subplot that could have become hokey, but somehow doesn't Mayo provides the final burst of encouragement a lone female trainee needs to prove herself physically capable of making the grade.

Another key aspect of mensch-hood is a certain degree of ambition: it's not enough merely to be a good guy. This is where An Officer and a Gentleman raises some legitimate ambiguities about the pursuit of military glory. Unfortunately, the film's creators do not take the time to explore them thoroughly.

Mayo never stops to consider Foley's off-hand remark that part of an officer's preparation is coming to grips with "dropping a little napalm on a village where there might even be women and children." Later, in a rather superfluous confrontation with a bar-full of townies, the hero ignores the taunt of "warmonger" and breaks noses only when the locals actually threaten him and Paula.

Director Taylor Hackford need not have resolved the paradox of loyalty, honor and duty channelled into the overall profession of maiming and mangling, but in a movie with so much introspection afoot, it seems strange that not a single character broods about the fundamental premise of the military way.

Perhaps this film's only other flaw is an awkward contrast to the Mayo-Paula duo. Mayo has a buddy, Sid Worley (David Kieth), who enters the service to try fill the shoes of a brother killed in Vietnam. Sid falls for the curves of one of Paula's factory floozy colleagues--but the pairing ends in a rather melodramatic tragedy out of place in an otherwise down-to-earth film.

These shorcomings aside. Hackford's rendition of Douglas Day Stewart's story is tasteful and touching. Zack Mayo never would have thought he'd make it into a cockpit neither would his father nor Foley. But he does, and An Officer and a Gentleman will leave you satisfied and humming quietly to yourself.

"I didn't know, but it's been said ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR Air force wings are made of lead. ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR And I don't know but I've been told ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR Navy wings are made of gold ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR."