Review of The Last Detail (1973) by Claes L — 26 Apr 2004

I've only seen two other Hal Ashby films before I saw [b]The Last Detail[/b], and i'm happy to report that he's still batting a 1.000 average in my book. [b]The Last Detail[/b] isn't as good as [b]Harold and Maude[/b] or [b]Being There[/b], but it's still a really fun movie with some drama mixed into it.. I really wouldn't know what to call it though.. a buddy film? a road movie? much like previously mentioned films, it just kinda goes beyond classification.

the story of [b]The Last Detail[/b] is that there isn't much story. it follows two navy men assigned to escort a former navy man to a prison further up the east coast and on their way they visit Washington, New York and Boston, where they more or less get shitfaced, beat up army grunts, get laid and just basically give the kid a memorable send-off before he has to go away to prison for the next 8 years.

the highlight of the film is obviously Jack Nicholson in one of his wackiest roles.. granted, he's been playing those kind of roles all his career, but his Buddusky, nicknamed Bad Ass sure is a memorable character and has a lot of memorable (and very funny) lines.. he doesn't play the felon though, but one of the guards, or shore police as they are called. the other guard is played by Otis Young, whom i've never heard of nor seen in anything else.. he's got the most straight role of the three though so he doesn't really get to do much, but he's good even if he doesn't have a memorable character.. and lastly, as the prisoner we have none other than Randy Quaid, who along with Nicholson was Oscar-nominated for this film. i've only seen him in comedic roles, and he's surprising in this since he's playing this young, innocent boy basically.. I don't know if he deserved an Oscar nomination for it, but he was surprisingly good.

so who should see [b]The Last Detail[/b]? well any fan of Jack Nicholson obviously.. any fan of Hal Ashby too (if there are any.. not many seem to know him or his work, unfortunately). I really enjoyed it myself, much because of the Nicholson character and I warmly recommend it.

**** stars out of five.