Other Titles • The Last Detail • Das Letzte Kommando (1975)
Synopses for The Last Detail (1973)
1.
In THE LAST DETAIL the winning combination of director Hal Ashby, screenwriter Robert Towne, and actor Jack Nicholson turned an unheralded novel by Darryl Ponicsan into one of the first of what are now thought of as the classic films of the1970s. Navy lifers Badass Budduskey (Nicholson) and Mule Mulhall (Otis Young) are given a week to escort a teenage petty thief, Larry Meadows (Randy Quaid), from Virginia to the naval penitentiary in Maine. Their plan to bring him there quickly, and spend the remaining time having a good time themselves, changes when they come to sympathize with the naive Meadows. He’s clearly an uncontrollable kleptomaniac given an unjust sentence, so they decide to include him in their plans. But as they escort him through the entire sixties scene, from bars, brawls, and drug-addled parties to a visit to a prostitute (Carol Kane), they come to feel that showing him the world he’ll be missing in prison might not be the act of kindness they intended.
The film features a breakthrough performance by Nicholson. The killer smile, quick anger, and antiestablishment attitude that brought him stardom in CHINATOWN is well controlled by Ashby’s direction. He never lets Nicholson steal the show. The balance with Quaid's and Young’s strong performances makes for a very moving character-based dramatic comedy.
2.
"No *#@!!* Navy's going to give some poor *!!@ kid eight years in the #@!* brig without me taking him out for the time of his *#@!!* life."
Jack Nicholson is at his very best in this highly-acclaimed dramatic comedy about three sailers on the loose. Two hard-boiled career petty officers, Buddusky and Mulhall, are detailed to take a young sailor, Meadows, from a Virginia Naval Base to a New Hampshire Naval Prison to serve an eight-year sentence for a trivial offense. Buddusky and Mulhall take a liking to Meadows and are determined to show him a good time on their journey north. Their escapades begin in Washington where they narrowly escape a bar fight, then get blind drunk in their hotel room. In New York, they tangle with some Marines, and in Boston, Buddusky takes Meadows to a brothel for his first sexual experience. Finally , after reluctantly turning in Meadows, Buddusky and Mulhall realize they are as much prisoners of their own world as Meadows now is of his.
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