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IMDbPro

The Last Detail

  • 19731973
  • RR
  • 1h 44m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
25K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,319
921
The Last Detail (1973)
Home Video Trailer from Columbia Pictures
Play trailer2:52
1 Video
99+ Photos
ComedyDrama
Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
25K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,319
921
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Hal Ashby
    • Writers
      • Robert Towne(screenplay)
      • Darryl Ponicsan(novel "The Last Detail")
    • Stars
      • Jack Nicholson
      • Randy Quaid
      • Otis Young
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Hal Ashby
    • Writers
      • Robert Towne(screenplay)
      • Darryl Ponicsan(novel "The Last Detail")
    • Stars
      • Jack Nicholson
      • Randy Quaid
      • Otis Young
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 134User reviews
    • 65Critic reviews
    • 89Metascore
    • Nominated for 3 Oscars
      • 6 wins & 9 nominations total

    Videos1

    The Last Detail
    Trailer 2:52
    The Last Detail

    Photos125

    Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, and Otis Young in The Last Detail (1973)
    Jack Nicholson and Randy Quaid in The Last Detail (1973)
    Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail (1973)
    Randy Quaid in The Last Detail (1973)
    Jack Nicholson and Carol Kane in The Last Detail (1973)
    The Last Detail (1973)
    The Last Detail (1973)
    Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail (1973)
    Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail (1973)
    Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail (1973)
    Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail (1973)
    Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail (1973)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Jack Nicholson
    Jack Nicholson
    • Buddusky
    Randy Quaid
    Randy Quaid
    • Meadows
    Otis Young
    Otis Young
    • Mulhall
    Clifton James
    Clifton James
    • M.A.A.
    Carol Kane
    Carol Kane
    • Young Whore
    Michael Moriarty
    Michael Moriarty
    • Marine O.D.
    Luana Anders
    Luana Anders
    • Donna
    Kathleen Miller
    Kathleen Miller
    • Annette
    Nancy Allen
    Nancy Allen
    • Nancy
    Gerry Salsberg
    • Henry
    Don McGovern
    • Bartender
    Patricia Hamilton
    Patricia Hamilton
    • Madame
    • (as Pat Hamilton)
    Michael Chapman
    Michael Chapman
    • Taxi Driver
    Jim Henshaw
    • Sweek
    Derek McGrath
    Derek McGrath
    • Nichiren Shoshu Member
    Gilda Radner
    Gilda Radner
    • Nichiren Shoshu Member
    Jim Horn
    Jim Horn
    • Nichiren Shoshu Member
    John Castellano
    • Nichiren Shoshu Member
    • Director
      • Hal Ashby
    • Writers
      • Robert Towne(screenplay)
      • Darryl Ponicsan(novel "The Last Detail")
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The script was completed in 1970, but contained too much profanity to be shot as written. Columbia Pictures waited for two years trying to get writer Robert Towne to tone down the language. Instead, by 1972, the standards for foul language relaxed so much that all the profanity was left in.
    • Goofs
      The MAA Master Chief is not wearing a Master-at-Arms rating badge, he is wearing a Boatswain mate rating badge. The Master At Arms rating was disestablished in 1921, but was officially re-established on 1 August 1973. Therefore, as the story takes place, a Master Chief Boatswain's Mate being assigned the collateral duty of MAA is entirely accurate.
    • Quotes

      Buddusky: If this guy gets pussy out of this, I'm gonna eat my fucking flat hat, man.

      Mulhall: Yeah and I'm going to start chanting too.

      Meadows: [returns to table with Mulhall and Buddusky] Hey, you guys? Drop your socks and grab your cocks. We're going to a party.

    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: Body Rock/Irreconcilable Differences/A Soldier's Story/Love Streams (1984)
    • Soundtracks
      Never Let The Left Hand Know
      by Jack Goga

    User reviews134

    Review
    Top review
    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.
    helpful•108
    4
    • AdamKey
    • Feb 13, 2004

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 15, 1974 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Sony Movie Channel (United States)
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Последњи задатак
    • Filming locations
      • Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA
    • Production companies
      • Columbia Pictures
      • Bright-Persky Associates
      • Acrobat Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $2,300,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 44 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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