Highly Overrated But Still Good

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Two U.S. Navy petty officers (Jack Nicholson and Otis Young) must escort a young sailor (Randy Quaid) from Virginia to Maine where he must begin an eight-year prison sentence in a military prison for a petty crime. With stopovers in four big cities along the way, the officers want to show the prisoner some fun before his sentence. As this was the 1970s, a good time was had by all........at least until the party had to end.At the time of release, this movie was controversial for its profanity - language that would unlikely raise an eyelash by today's terms except for occasional sexist and homophobic remarks. There is also an attitude of women being objects of pursuit rather than as people with their own desires and pursuits. This attitude would be very typical in many films that would follow. But these wannabe copycats miss out on the heart and courage of "The Last Detail" thus showing their inferiority to a true original. Copying only the smut, without the soul, is a copout.Despite their rough ways, the officers show a genuine concern for the sailor as they know better than he does the fate that awaits him with cruel Marine prison guards. The courage of the film shows in its open criticism of its nation's military though this was more a reflection of its time - an attitude that would be dismissed decades later as "unpatriotic". It is best reflected in a scene in which a young, power-groping officer is in a position of authority that is beyond his years and competence.The pacing by director Hal Ashby is smooth and leaves viewers feeling like we are part of the multi-day party as well as the melancholy that precedes and follows the journey. Whether the guys visit various bars, a chanting spiritual group, a party, or a bordello, the interiors are believably low-key; they would probably have been more superficially flashy in a higher-budget film.The ending is also low-key compared to the events that precede it but we can feel the frustration and sadness of the characters.Final praise must go to the trio of actors who work very well together. Nicholson conveys so much with just a smirk or a muttered comment; Young is the perfect anchor for the group; Quaid is totally believable as someone too naïve and innocent for the world that surrounds him.And a bonus within this grand experience: a cameo role played by Gilda Radner before she became a major star.OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT: Directing by Hal Ashby

Billy Buddusky and Richard Mulhall would not normally be friends. In another line of work they would scarcely converse apart from perhaps the odd small talk and polite nod. But circumstances and life choice have pushed them together to transport a prisoner to Portsmouth Naval Prison, so they begrudgingly strike up a partnership of sorts, if only so that the five days are not too unbearable. Then you throw in the gangly, awkward Larry Meadows, a young sailor being imprisoned for a small crime, and suddenly they look like a makeshift family. Over the course of the journey, two soldiers transporting a criminal slowly becomes a family road-trip. Like any odd couple the pair have their differences on how to treat and raise their son. In the middle of the film, Mule momentarily has a change of heart, chastising his partner on his whole coddling act. It won't do him any good for the harsh punishment he is about to endure, he reason. Billy indeed acts as a helicopter parent, albeit a hostile one. He demonstrates his learned masculinity in acts of lavish drinking and violence as if Larry was a toddler who mimics all he sees. When Larry refuses to stand up for himself, Billy utters the words for him, sending back a sandwich. "You're gonna have a f*cking beer," he snarls later. Because drinking is basically a masculine rite of passage in certain social circles, this is not just a pleasant invitation, but a demand. He will not take failure for an answer. Nicholson is loud and brash, as this is the only way his character knows how. Young acts as the more moderate counterpoint, hellbent on completing the mission at hand as we witness momentarily, but he too learns to fit in and accept the camaraderie, and his role in the unit. When Larry finally has the courage to send back his eggs, the two chuckle and pat him on the back as though he was a boy learning to ride the bicycle. What a memorable moment. Quaid is the one who pulls it all together. Perhaps he does not defy his gigantic frame so much as he grows into it; his height only serves to accentuate his nervous, timid manner, the way he always seems to have his hands in his pockets and his head bowed, having to be goaded and pushed into action. The first time I watched this I had the feeling that the ending was rather incomplete. It ends on an abrupt note; there is no extra story to be told after their assignment is finished, no sign of any closure for the trio's journeys. But seeing it now it all makes much more sense. The pair don't have the courage or guts to actually do something about the injustice of an eight year imprisonment for stealing forty dollars - the best they can do is a small white lie. So instead they try to distance themselves from the act and pretend after all the fun and bonding over beating up marines and snowy bbqs they aren't actually invested in the life of their prisoner. Not a moment after they are back to bitching about the little insignificant things. And they don't even want to stick around, but rather make their own separate way back. There's something very sad about the fact.

Jack Nicholson in his early heyday. Four years after Easy Rider, and two years before One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He carries the film, as intended. Otis Young was good here, as well as a young Randy Quaid. Interesting casting as Quaid towers over Nicholson and film composition usually frowned on that. Nice turn put in by Carol Kane in a small part. Pretty good photography of the wintry Northeast, and unobtrusive direction. Apparently this movie was packaged as a comedy at one time, but I found nothing funny about it. Seems like every aspect of the tale was basically tragic. Pretty decent film, overall. A lot of profanity, which was sort of the style in the early Seventies.

Mid-December 1973 was writer Darryl Ponicson's shining moment. Over a period of six days two of his first four novels—'The Last Detail' (Dial Press, 1970) and 'Cinderella Liberty' (Harper & Row, 1973)—had their big screen debuts. Adapted by the estimable Robert Towne ('Chinatown') and directed by Hal Ashby ('Harold and Maude'), 'The Last Detail' stars Jack Nicholson as Billy "Bad Ass" Buddusky, a U.S. Navy petty officer and a "lifer," Otis Young as Gunners Mate 1st class "Mule" Mulhall, another Navy career man, and Randy Quaid as Seaman Larry Meadows. While stationed at Norfolk (Va.) Naval Base awaiting their next cruise, Buddusky and Mulhall are issued .45s and assigned to Navy Shore Patrol. Their mission or "detail" is to escort 19-year-old sailor Larry Meadows to Portsmouth Naval Prison on the southern Maine coast, where Meadows will serve an eight-year sentence for the attempted theft of $40 from a base charity box. The six hundred-mile train trip from Norfolk to Portsmouth can be done in two days but Buddusky insists that he and Mulhall show Meadows a good time before he begins his draconian prison term for such a petty offense. Overnight stops in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Boston stretch the detail to four days, during which the prisoner and his two guards get drunk together, get into various scrapes, get the virgin Meadows laid, and generally bond with each other—until Meadows tries to escape in Boston. A gritty, expletive-strewn character study of military life at the tail end of the Vietnam era, 'The Last Detail' has been praised by Navy veterans for its authenticity. More than an entertaining and memorable film about male camaraderie, 'The Last Detail' is also an unflinchingly poignant look at tragically stunted working-class lives.