The Last Detail Details

The Last Detail

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.

Starring	Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, Randy Quaid, Clifton James, Carol Kane
Director	Hal Ashby
Studio	SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time	DVD: 1 hr 40 mins
Certificate
Genres	Comedy
Language	DVD: English
Dubbed	French, German, Italian, Spanish
Subtitles	DVD: Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Released	DVD: 05 Aug 2002 Production year: 1973
Format	DVD