Taylor Hackford directs Richard Gere, Debra Winger and Louis Gossett Jr. in this romance where an emotionally stunted man takes his last shot at a naval academy but a relationship threatens to weaken his resolve.

Say what you like about Eighties cinema but it made devastating cultural impressions like no other decade. Maybe that has partly to do with VHS, music videos and The Simpsons allowing iconic imagery to be regurgitated into our homes unfiltered? But really how can your tastes not be informed by a song that was everywhere, a star who was everywhere, a final shot that was everywhere…? All stirring deeply implanted emotions every time they are revisited. No other decade does it so bold, so pure, so slick. The story itself is actually tougher and grittier than anything made by studios today. But it is Winger’s good time girl / ethical factory worker who adds all the charm and sparkle. A fantastic and sexy Friday night in for adults.

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Perfect Double Bill: Urban Cowboy (1980)

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