Review of The Last Detail (1973) by Mjs M — 17 Sep 2008

A movie from the 70s golden age from director Hal Ashby. This one received a certain infamy for being the first Hollywood movie to really throw around the F-word freely. ?Fuck? had been a part of R-rated Hollywood cinema since it was introduced in Robert Altman?s M*A*S*H in 1970, but this was the first to have its characters really saying ?fuck this? and ?fuck that? all over the place.

It only really had about 80 of them (which is nothing compared to the 300+ in Casino), but it was pretty shocking for the time. That?s a neat thing to be remembered for, but this deserves to be known for much more than a little cussing.

The film has Jack Nicholson in his prime and a young Randy Quaid to boot. The film is rather episodic, it follows two petty Navy officers as they escort a prisoner across the country, it?s essentially a road movie.

There are a lot of neat scene, not an easy film to sum up. I enjoyed it a lot.