The Last Detail (1973)

Director:

Hal Ashby

Writers:

Robert Towne (screenplay)
Darryl Ponicsan (based on the novel "The Last Detail" by)

Release Date:

February 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

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.

Plot:

Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison but decide to show him one last good time along the way.

Plot Keywords:

Navy | Teen | Military | Bar | Pilferer

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Jack Nicholson	...	Buddusky
Otis Young	...	Mulhall
Randy Quaid	...	Meadows
Clifton James	...	M.A.A.
Carol Kane	...	Young Whore
Michael Moriarty	...	Marine O.D.
Luana Anders	...	Donna
Kathleen Miller	...	Annette
Nancy Allen	...	Nancy
Gerry Salsberg	...	Henry
Don McGovern	...	Bartender
Pat Hamilton	...	Madame
Michael Chapman	...	Taxi Driver
Jim Henshaw	...	Sweek
Derek McGrath	...	Nichiren Shoshu Member
Gilda Radner	...	Nichiren Shoshu Member
Jim Horn	...	Nichiren Shoshu Member
John Castellano	...	Nichiren Shoshu Member
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hal Ashby	...	Bearded Man at Bar in Darts Scene (uncredited)
Gerald Ayres	...	Skater at Ice Rink (uncredited)
Henry Calvert	...	Pawnbroker (uncredited)
Peter Foldy	...	Hippie at Train Station (uncredited)
Donald Warnock	...	Combat Zone Patron (uncredited)

Directed by
Hal Ashby

Writing credits
Robert Towne		(screenplay)
Darryl Ponicsan		(based on the novel "The Last Detail" by)

Produced by
Gerald Ayres	....	producer
Charles Mulvehill	....	associate producer
Joel Chernoff	....	co-producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Johnny Mandel		(music)

Cinematography by
Michael Chapman		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Robert C. Jones		(film edited by)
Ken Zemke		(uncredited)

Casting by
Lynn Stalmaster
Sylvia Fay		(uncredited)

Production Design by
Michael D. Haller		(as Michael Haller)

Costume Design by
Theodore R. Parvin		(costumes) (as Ted Parvin)

Makeup Department
Maureen Sweeney	....	makeup

Production Management
Daniel McCauley	....	unit production manager (as Dan McCauley)
Marvin Miller	....	unit production manager
Phillip M. Goldfarb	....	unit manager: New York (uncredited)
Larry Kostroff	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Alan Hopkins	....	second assistant director (as Al Hopkins)
Wesley J. McAfee	....	assistant director (as Wes McAfee)
Gordon Robinson	....	second assistant director
Samuel C. Jephcott	....	third assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
George Dunkel	....	scenic
Sidney H. Greenwood	....	properties (as Sid Greenwood)
Benjamin Duffy	....	laborer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Tom Overton	....	sound
Richard Portman	....	re-recordist
Joe Kenworthy	....	sound (uncredited)
Sharron Miller	....	sound editor (uncredited)
Karl Scherer	....	sound mixer standby (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael Beer	....	generator operator (uncredited)
Anthony Bliss	....	camera assistant (uncredited)
Michel Bénard	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Vince DeLaney	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Richard Falk	....	electrician (uncredited)
Glen Goodchild	....	second grip (uncredited)
David Kelly	....	camera assistant (uncredited)
Charles Moore	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Bill Reinhart	....	grip (uncredited)
Tibor Sands	....	camera assistant (uncredited)
Robert M. Volpe	....	grip (uncredited)

Casting Department
Karen Hazzard	....	casting: Canada (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Joyce Liggett	....	costumes (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Robert Barrere	....	assistant film editor
Pieter Bergema	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
George Brand	....	music editor
K. Lawrence Dunham	....	composer: "Good Ole Country Livin'"
Dan Wallin	....	score mixer (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Gary Flanagan	....	driver (uncredited)
Bob Holburn	....	driver (uncredited)
Jim Kennedy	....	driver (uncredited)
Wayne Thurston	....	driver (uncredited)
Rick Young	....	driver captain (uncredited)

Other crew
Bob Forrest	....	script supervisor
Nicholas Kudla III	....	assistant to the producer (as Nicholas Kudla II)
Velda Reimer	....	production secretary
Sheila Woodland	....	production secretary
Bruce Bahrenburg	....	publicist (uncredited)
Elinor Bolton	....	script supervisor standby (uncredited)
Lillian Borden	....	production secretary (uncredited)
Samuel C. Jephcott	....	production assistant: Toronto (uncredited)
Fiona Mitchell	....	publicist (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (presents) (as Columbia Pictures)
• Bright-Persky Associates (as A Bright-Persky Associates Feature)
• Acrobat Productions (as An Acrobat/ Hal Ashby Film)

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1973) (USA) (theatrical)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (1985) (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• LK-TEL (2000) (Argentina) (DVD)
• LK-TEL (2000) (Argentina) (VHS) (re-edited)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2002) (UK) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Encore Avenue (2010) (Canada) (TV)
• Warner-Columbia (1975) (Austria) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1976) (USA) (TV)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2003) (Germany) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Edit-International Inc.  sound effects editing by (as Edit International Ltd.)
• Sylvia Fay/Lee Genick & Associates Casting  background casting (uncredited)
• William F. White International  grip and lighting equipment

Also Known As:

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:M18 (cut) | Netherlands:16 | Australia:R | Netherlands:12 (re-rating) (2002) | Argentina:16 (re-rating) | Argentina:18 (original rating) | Canada:14A (TV rating) | Italy:VM14 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (original rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Canada:R

Filming Locations:

Boston Common, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Johnny Hooker in The Sting (1973) (ultimately played by Robert Redford), to appear in this film, which was written by his good friend Robert Towne. Nicholson thought that The Sting was too commercial. Both he and Redford were nominated as Best Actor of 1973 at the Academy Awards, losing out to 'Jack Lemmon' in Save the Tiger (1973).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The P-coats being worn by the sailors aren't Navy regulation for that period, since they use black plastic buttons instead of silver ones.

Quotes:

Mulhall:Leave the kid alone...

Movie Connections:

Features Castle Keep (1969)

Soundtrack:

Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean

The Navy the Navy still doesn't want us to see

Jack Nicholson is a performer with the rare ability to completely immerse himself in a chosen role and convince the audience of the stark reality of his performance. Playing Navy Signalman First Class Billy "Badass" Buddusky in Hal Ashby's 1973 film rendition of Darryl Ponicsan's novel, "The Last Detail" is a sterling example of that uncommon talent. Rough-edged but understanding, crude but compassionate, Buddusky and fellow "lifer" Gunner's Mate First Class "Mule" Mulhall (skillfully portrayed by Otis Young) are "detailed" as armed Shore Patrol guards to escort a young sailor, Larry Meadows (Randy Quaid) from Norfolk, Va. to a naval prison in Portsmouth, NH in order to serve an eight-year sentence after being convicted at a court-martial of petty theft.

The five-day journey northward is an adventure for all three. Sympathizing with Meadows's plight, apprised of his utter naivete and realizing his sentence far exceeds the severity of the offense, Buddusky and Mulhall conduct their version of a cram course in traditional male rights of passage--ranging from a drunken spree in Washington, D.C. to duking it out with Marines in New York City and getting their charge sexually initiated with a Boston prostitute--if for no other reason than to give him some taste of what he will not be experiencing for a long time and to teach him in some small way to assert himself as an individual.

Darryl Ponicsan's novel (which hit the racks at practically the same time the film had been released--the book's ending is quite different and, to me, is much less believable than the film's) was initially hailed as a polemic against what many believed was the cold indifference of the military establishment. However, since that time, it has been judged more a compelling "slice of life" drama about the complexities of everyday human behavior and how it is shaped by our own decisions and by entities beyond our immediate purview. And, more importantly, it forces us to think about how our ever-more-complicated society is increasingly unable to find ways to help its young people constructively mark transition into adulthood.

"The Last Detail" is a sadly overlooked but superb blend of pathos, ribald bittersweet humor, hard-edged '70s realism and insightful and subtle human drama, one that brashly and subtly brought back many personal memories of my Navy hitch and a work that says something to all of us by merely focusing upon a small "detail" of a sadly overlooked and unappreciated decade that was alternately (and simultaneously) bleak yet hopeful.