Cinema Revisited: The Last Detail (1973)

Directed by Hal Ashby. Cast: Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, Randy Quaid, Clifton Michael Moriarty, Carol Kane, Luana Anders, Nancy Allen. Released: February 11, 1974. Running Time: 104 minutes

Jack Nicholson had turned in a series of critically acclaimed performances over several movies in which he was nominated for awards. He was now a proven talent. In "The Last Detail," his character of “Bad Ass” Buddusky is a series of contradictions. He is loyal to the Navy, but disagrees with elements of the detail he is ordered to do. He is angry and volatile, but exhibits understanding and compassion

Buddusky and Mulhall are two navy men who are given five days to transport fellow sailor Meadows to a distant state where he must serve a prison sentence for stealing money from a charity. The charity happened to be one involving an officer’s wife, so the sentence is especially severe: eight years in prison and a dishonorable discharge. Meadows turns out to be a shy, self-effacing, withdrawn young man of 18 whose attempt at a petty theft has resulted in a severe sentence. He is confused, frightened, and doesn’t quite know how to convey his feelings.

Meadows is a virgin who has experienced little in his young life, and is headed for a near-decade prison sentence that will keep him from these experiences even longer. Mulhall, another career Navy man, and Buddusky have an understanding as to how to work around military procedure and still complete their assignment. They agree to use the full five days they have to transport Meadows and show him a good time. Their journey, then, is filled with drinking, fighting, women, hotel rooms, and bars. Throughout these sequences, Mulhall and Buddusky learn more about their prisoner, get to like him as a buddy, but still realize they must do their duty.

Each of the three lead actors approaches his character brilliantly. Otis Young, an African American actor, plays a character that is a significant part of the film but not defined as to his race or heritage. Young plays Mulhall as his own man, not one who merely goes along with Buddusky’s plans. He is part of the planning. The use of black actors in non-stereotypical roles was still building rather gradually even as late as 1973. Young turns in a standout performance.

Randy Quaid was a newcomer to films when he essayed the Meadows role, having only been active for about two years. Quaid effectively balances his performance from the shy, withdrawn sailor that Meadows is at the beginning of the film, and the bolder, more confident man he becomes after spending days and nights in the company of the more experienced Buddusky and Mulhall. Even a simple bit where he refuses to send back a cheeseburger that he is served, with Buddusky having to intervene, is significant. Later in the movie, Meadows argues with the waiter that his eggs are not cooked over medium as ordered, while Buddusky looks on proudly.

With this role, Nicholson continued to display his range as an actor. His expression usually alternates between defiance and weariness, accepting the detail and planning to carry it out without connecting to the prisoner or his situation. But almost immediately upon meeting Meadows, Buddusky’s eyes soften as he watches the young midshipman weep over his situation. Rather than dismiss the younger sailor’s emotional response, he shows compassion that is hard-edged, but not begrudging.

Robert Towne’s profanity-laced script is authentic to Darryl Ponicsan’s novel, and in 1973, this sort of dialog was still shocking. It helps to define the characters, especially Nicholson’s, whose volatility is often displayed via four letter words. Hal Ashby is the perfect director for this film, his progressive sensibilities and understanding of defiance to authority and the counterculture assisting in making the film’s point. Meadows is guilty for a petty crime. His crime does not deserve an eight-year prison sentence. Both Mulhall and Buddusky realize that the young sailor is being given harsher treatment because his petty theft directly involved a charity headed by an officer’s wife. The detail becomes more and more difficult for them emotionally as they proceed and get to know him. Throughout the movie, no matter how much fun they are having, it is not enough to completely distract any of them. At one point Mulhall and Buddusky are sitting on a park bench in the snow with Meadows out of earshot, when an uncomfortable Mulhall says, “Let’s just get this over with.” It is beautifully shot by Ashby, who has the camera closing in on the actors, framing them with the bleakness of the snowy background.

Perhaps the most interesting sequences involve two different situations where Meadows attempts to escape. The first one is impulsive, and happens on the train almost immediately after he is placed in the custody of Mulhall and Buddusky. It is simply a frightened reaction and he is quickly apprehended. The second occurs as they’re closer to their destination and have been through several experiences together. Meadows, standing a distance away from the other two, uses signals to indicate he is running away, and does so. He is eventually captured, and beaten, by Buddusky who feels oddly betrayed by the action. Meadows had been entrusted to make the journey without handcuffs, was given beer, warm places to sleep, a sexual experience, and other distractions during the five day excursion, which was treated more as a liberty than part of an assignment to transport a man to prison. His attempted escape toward the end of the movie seems abrupt and jarring, even moreso than the impulsive action earlier in the movie. When they finally arrive at their destination, a weeping Meadows is taken away to his cell without any goodbyes. As the two other men are walking away from the situation, Mulhall says to Buddusky, “I hated this chicken shit detail.”

The Last Detail is yet another one of many truly powerful films released during the great movie decade of the 1970s.