Last Detail

UPC: 043396003491

Studio: Columbia TriStar

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Humor, Profanity, Sexual Situations]

Summary: 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. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Category: Comedy Drama

Awards: Best Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Picture – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – null Best Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Actor – Cannes Film Festival Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Actor – New York Film Critics Circle Film Presented – Telluride Film Festival Best Supporting Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Actor – National Society of Film Critics

Features: Digitally remastered audio & anamorphic video
Production notes
Interactive menus
Audio: English (mono)
Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai
Talent files
Theatrical trailers
Scene selections

Last Detail

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 12/14/1999

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen, 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, 1 USA & territories, Canada

Runtime: 104 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,Spanish,Portuguese

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 -- Widescreen
0. Scene Selections
1. Start [:47]
2. Buddusky [2:21]
3. Chasers [3:23]
4. Larry Meadows [3:22]
5. On the Bus [4:19]
6. On the Train [4:59]
7. Meadows Bolts [5:14]
8. A Meal in a Booth [1:10]
9. Time for a Beer [5:07]
10. The Hotel Room [11:43]
11. His Mother's House [3:15]
12. Back on the Train [5:07]
13. In the Head [2:17]
14. Sausage Stand [:58]
15. Hustling [2:46]
16. Nichiren Shoshu [3:53]
17. Times Square [2:08]
18. On the Ice [1:24]
19. Donna [2:10]
20. The Party [5:19]
21. Whole-Hearted Chant [1:47]
22. Train to Boston [3:36]
23. The Cat House [6:03]
24. Like a Duck to Water [3:58]
25. Picnic in the Park [4:29]
26. Brave. Yankee. Bye-bye. [4:44]
27. Portsmouth [:55]
28. Reaming the Chasers [6:26]
Side #2 -- Full Screen
0. Scene Selections
1. Start [:47]
2. Buddusky [2:21]
3. Chasers [3:23]
4. Larry Meadows [3:22]
5. On the Bus [4:19]
6. On the Train [4:59]
7. Meadows Bolts [5:14]
8. A Meal in a Booth [1:10]
9. Time for a Beer [5:07]
10. The Hotel Room [11:43]
11. His Mother's House [3:15]
12. Back on the Train [5:07]
13. In the Head [2:17]
14. Sausage Stand [:58]
15. Hustling [2:46]
16. Nichiren Shoshu [3:53]
17. Times Square [2:08]
18. On the Ice [1:24]
19. Donna [2:10]
20. The Party [5:19]
21. Whole-Hearted Chant [1:47]
22. Train to Boston [3:36]
23. The Cat House [6:03]
24. Like a Duck to Water [3:58]
25. Picnic in the Park [4:29]
26. Brave. Yankee. Bye-bye. [4:44]
27. Portsmouth [:55]
28. Reaming the Chasers [6:26]

Brendon Hanley

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. ~ Brendon Hanley, Rovi

Cast and Crew: James Horn  Actor 
Gilda Radner  Actor 
Kathleen Miller  Actor 
Michael Chapman  Actor 
John Castellano  Actor 
Derek McGrath  Actor 
Luana Anders  Actor 
Nancy Allen  Actor 
Pat Hamilton  Actor 
Jim Henshaw  Actor 
Gilda Radner  Actor 
Don McGovern  Actor 
Gerry Salsberg  Actor 
Hal Ashby  Director 
Johnny Mandel  Composer (Music Score) 
Charles B. Mulvehill  Producer 
Gerald Ayres  Producer 
Robert Towne  Screenwriter 
Jack Nicholson  Actor 
Otis Young  Actor 
Randy Quaid  Actor 
Clifton James  Actor 
Michael Moriarty  Actor 
Carol Kane  Actor 

Country: USA