The Last Detail [4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/Blu-ray]

Director: Hal Ashby Hal Ashby

Overview

Two Navy "lifers" and one military innocent briefly attempt to thumb their nose at Authority in Hal Ashby's The Last Detail (1973). "Badass" Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and "Mule" Mulhall (Otis Young) are assigned to escort young sailor Meadows (Randy Quaid, who beat out John Travolta for the part) from their Virginia base to a New England military prison, where Meadows will serve an eight-year sentence for attempting to swipe the commander's wife's polio donation can. Buddusky thinks that the sentence is a waste of Meadows' formative years, and he convinces a skeptical Mulhall to show the hapless Meadows a good time by partying on their per diem for the rest of the detail's allotted week. As they head north, the comically posturing Buddusky leads Meadows through the masculinizing rituals of getting drunk, getting in a fight, and getting laid; and he teaches Meadows to stand up for himself so well that Meadows tries to escape. Despite his self-proclaimed "badass" rep, however, Buddusky is, as Mulhall tells him, "a lifer like me," and the two ultimately have a job that they were ordered to do. Taking full advantage of the new ratings system, writer Robert Towne adapted the Darryl Ponicsan novel with an ear for how Navy men really talk. Objecting to the wall-to-wall obscenities, Columbia put off releasing the movie, but, after Nicholson won the Best Actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival, finally opened it for Oscar consideration in December 1973 before a full release several months later. Even with nominations for Nicholson, Quaid, and Towne, and rave reviews despite the notorious cussing, The Last Detail failed to find an audience.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/25/2022
UPC:	0826663231212
Original Release:	1973
Rating:	R
Source:	Shout Factory
Language:	English
Time:	1:44:00
Format:	Blu-ray
Sales rank:	3,081

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jack Nicholson	Buddusky
Otis Young	Mulhall
Randy Quaid	Meadows
Michael Moriarty	Duty Officer
Carol Kane	Young Whore
Luana Anders	Donna
Kathleen Miller	Kathleen
Nancy Allen	Nancy
Gerry Salsberg	Henry
Don McGovern	Bartender
Pat Hamilton	Madame
Jim Henshaw	Sweek
Clifton James	Chief Master-At-Arms
Derek McGrath	Nichiren Soshu Member
James Horn	Actor
Michael Chapman	Taxi Driver
Gilda Radner	Religious zealot
John Castellano	Nichiren Shoshu Member
Johnny Mandel	Composer

Technical Credits

Robert Towne

Hal Ashby	Director
Robert Towne	Screenwriter
Gerald Ayres	Producer
Charles Mulvehill	Producer
Tom Overton	Sound/Sound Designer
Richard Portman	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

The Last Detail fits very nicely into its early 1970s milieu: distinctly anti-authoritarian, the film is chock full of cursing, sexual language, rowdiness, and downright rudeness. Of course, Jack Nicholson's devilish grin was the perfect vehicle to carry this sort of pointedly subversive material, because he was so likable doing it. From Easy Rider to Five Easy Pieces to The Last Detail to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Nicholson made the role of the (often hilarious) nonconformist his own. Reclusive director/editor Hal Ashby was also a perfect fit for the film and the time period. Fresh from the offbeat critical success of the serio-comic Harold and Maude, Ashby brought an "experimental" feel to the film, most obviously in the jump cut editing borrowed from the French New Wave. Screenwriter Robert Towne was nominated for an Academy Award (his second of three in a row, following Chinatown and preceding Shampoo). Towne's f-word-strewn dialogue had Columbia shaking in their boots, and they refused to release the picture. It was only after Nicholson won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival that they gave it a run. But they never supported it much, and it died an unnecessary death at the box office. It has since come to be regarded as one of Nicholson's best, if not best-known, performances.

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