Title: THE LAST DETAIL

Date: 6/15/1995; Publication: Magill's Survey of Cinema;

Magill's Survey of Cinema

06-15-1995

THE LAST DETAIL

Abstract:
Two Naval petty officers, Budduskey (Jack Nicholson) and Mulhall (Otis Young), are ordered to escort an eighteen-year-old prisoner, Seaman Meadows (Randy Quaid), to a military prison where he will begin an eight-year term. The two men take pity on the miserable young man and go on a five-day spree that includes a visit to Meadow's home and a night in a Boston brothel.


Summary:
THE LAST DETAIL is one of those rare films that manages to be tightly controlled while appearing spontaneous and to say a great deal while seeming only to entertain. A raunchy, unpretentious "service comedy," it achieves surprising levels of humanity and passion.

A pair of petty officers at a Norfolk naval base are assigned to take a prisoner to jail in Portsmouth. What should be a two-day "detail" stretches to almost five as the result of some unplanned stopovers and excursions. On the journey, the young prisoner does a great deal of growing up, and the petty officers come to see themselves with a forgiving, naked clarity. For all three men, the trip is a winding detour that becomes a road to self-discovery.

The prisoner, Seaman Meadows (Randy Quaid), is an eighteen-year-old victim, awkward, mumbling, and shy. He possesses neither charm nor self-assurance. He now faces eight years in a military prison and a dishonorable discharge for stealing forty dollars from his commanding officer's favorite charity. But Meadows has hardly been born yet. His chaperones say he does not know enough to be angry, and his freedom is wasted because he does not know how to have a good time. The two men who become his friends and teachers are Navy "lifers," men who will stay in the service until they retire. "Mule" Mulhall (Otis Young) is a black with no illusions. He lives without choice. "The man says go and you go" -- Vietnam, Portsmouth, it doesn't matter where. His Navy pay supports his mother and gives him the best he thinks he can get out of life; and he wants to protect it.

The chief "honcho" of the detail, "Bad-ass" Budduskey (Jack Nicholson), is much wilder and less resigned. He seethes with fury at the system -- at arrogant officers, foolish work, and sadistic Marine prison guards. Over and over he describes things and people with a single crude word that is part of a litany for his barracks, his base, his job, his future. Budduskey has an instinctive sympathy for this prisoner who is about to be robbed of his youth. Step by step he nurtures a relationship with Meadows, starting with a few drinks in Washington, and continuing through a missed train, a side trip to Camden to let the boy see his mother (who is not home), winning some money in a New York tavern, chanting with some Buddhists in a Greenwich Village basement, and an encounter with some girls. In a Boston brothel he buys the boy a night of "love" that will have to last him eight years. Mulhall is at first reluctant to show any kindness lest the boy try to escape, but he gradually comes to share Budduskey's feelings, until a beautiful, unspoken moment on the Boston Common where the two men are almost ready to let the boy go free. Suddenly he tries to escape; they catch him and beat him into submission, yet at the prison they say nothing of his attempted flight and take the blame for "abusing" a prisoner. Ironically, their only victory over the system is to save the boy more punishment by claiming to be sadists themselves.

The Robert Towne screenplay, based on Darryl Ponicsan's novel, richly details the growing ties between the men. Their feelings pivot around an astonishing scene when a bartender will not serve the underage Meadows and threatens to call the Shore Patrol. Budduskey pulls out his own gun and shouts that he himself is the Shore Patrol. The act releases some of his anger and manic energy; he has shown the others that he really is a "bad-ass." Having now stood up for the boy, he feels even more responsible for him.

The men are drawn further together as they reveal more of themselves. Details are mentioned, dropped, and picked up again. The feeling is random, but cumulative, until the stunning revelation of Meadows' home. We already know that his father left when he was a baby, and Meadows is clearly not anxious to see his mother. When Budduskey opens the door to the house, the look on his face explains everything. The interior is a mess, with empty whiskey bottles everywhere. In that one view, and in Budduskey's embarrassed reaction, we know that no one has ever stood up for Meadows, so these men will have to stand up for him now.

The bonding of the sailors emphasizes a pervasive loneliness in their lives. They never discuss it, but it is there in references to women, to being once "sort-of" married, to paying for love, to moving around from one base to another. It is especially clear in a sad-funny moment when the boy tells a woman that his two keepers, whom he has known so briefly, are his "best friends." The texture of service life rings true to anyone who has ever served. The aimless anger and scatology, the futility of being ruled by fools, the long waiting, all add up to the toughest view of peacetime service since FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953).

Nicholson, Quaid, and Young form a seamless ensemble. Under a stoic exterior, Young suggests a bewildered man doing the best he can with his life and knowing it is not enough. Quaid at first is all doughy cheeks and narrow eyes, a miserable fellow cringing in a body five sizes too large for him; and his growth through the film is deeply satisfying. Watching him learn to smile is a bit like seeing a baby react. The audience feels proud and paternal. As for Jack Nicholson, he proves again that he is one of the three or four best actors in American movies. Explosive, mocking, full of hollow barracks-wisdom and lewd cliches, bitter and lonely within, he invents layers of astonishing reality for Budduskey. Acting students may note, among dozens of details, the way he smokes a cigar or chews gum. He is a man gnawing on a lifeline, at once reassuring himself and cutting himself dangerously loose.

From this film through BOUND FOR GLORY (1978) and COMING HOME (1978), Hal Ashby established himself as perhaps the best director of actors of his generation in the United States. His gift is to show eccentric characters as they reveal the humanity they have in common with us all. And his work is largely invisible. There are no stunning visual "effects" of bombardment of "production value." Ashby concentrates on individuals -- not good or bad guys but the good-bad mixture in everyone. Coming from a former film editor, it is a surprisingly humanistic approach, and it is likely to prove enduring, for it gives us more than moments or shocks. It gives us people to remember and experiences to share.


Release Date: 1973

Production Line:
Gerald Ayres for Columbia

Director: Hal Ashby

Cinematographer: Michael Chapman

File Editor: Robert C. Jones

MPAA Rating: R

Run Time: 100 minutes

Cast:
Budduskey - Jack Nicholson
Mulhall - Otis Young
Seaman Meadows - Randy Quaid
Chief Master-at-arms - Clifton James
Marine Duty Officer - Michael Moriarty
Prostitute - Carol Kane
Donna - Luana Anders
Kathleen - Kathleen Miller
Nancy - Nancy Allen
Henry - Gerry Salsberg
Bartender - Don McGovern
Madame - Pat Hamilton
Taxi Driver - Michael Chapman
Sweek - Jim Henshaw

Review Sources:
New York Times: February 11, 1974, p.50
Variety: December 5, 1973, p.20

Named persons in Production Credits:
Gerald Ayres

Studios named in Production Credits:
Columbia

Screenplay (Author):
Robert Towne
Darryl Ponicsan

Color



Video Available.
Genre:
Drama

Award Citations:
Academy Awards - Nomination - Best Actor - Jack Nicholson
Academy Awards - Nomination - Best Supporting Actor - Randy Quaid
Academy Awards - Nomination - Best Screenplay (based on material from another medium) - Robert Towne
British Academy Awards - Winner - Best Actor - Jack Nicholson
British Academy Awards - Winner - Best Screenplay - Robert Towne
Golden Palm (Cannes International Film Festival) - Winner - Feature Film Actor - Jack Nicholson
National Society of Film Critics - Winner - Best Actor - Jack Nicholson
New York Film Critics - Winner - Best Actor - Jack Nicholson

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