- Actors: Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, Otis Young, Clifton James, Carol Kane
- Directors: Hal Ashby
- Writers: Darryl Ponicsan, Robert Towne
- Producers: Charles Mulvehill, Gerald Ayres, Joel Chernoff
- Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language: English
- Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai
- Region: (US and Canada This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
- Release Date: Dec 14 1999
- Run Time: 104 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B000022TS6
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #14,372 in DVD (See Top 100 in DVD)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Amazon.com Essential Video
Overshadowed by his high-profile leads in such '70s landmarks as Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Jack Nicholson's remarkably complex turn in this raucous yet ultimately somber road movie also remains his most underrated. As the snarling, hedonistic, but emotionally lost Navy lifer Billy Budduskey, Nicholson teams with fellow sailor "Mule" (Otis Young) on a seemingly simple duty of escorting a naive thief (Randy Quaid) from the Norfolk naval base to the brig in Massachusetts. Though polar opposites--Mule is hard-nosed Navy, while the first image of Budduskey shows him asleep in a chair, tattered and tattooed, gripping a near-empty bottle of cheap wine--both sailors learn that the 18-year-old will lose eight years of his life for a petty theft, and agree to cram his lost years into one booze-, sex-, and drug-infested (lost) weekend. From bizarre religious ceremonies to drunken nights in New York brothels, the two sailors provide all the sins they can think of, while their charge, Meadows, appears to go along just to please his escorts. The older sailors are definitely having more fun, essentially projecting all of their own lost freedom onto Meadows. The young sailor's ultimate doom mirrors the daily prison lived by both Budduskey and Mule, and director Hal Ashby hangs a decisive air of bleakness and claustrophobia over screenwriter Robert Towne's profane humor. When the question of whether to let the poor teenager escape ultimately arrives for the two sailors, the final decision is relatively pointless: in or out of prison, all three men are trapped by the Establishment and their own lost free will. --Dave McCoy
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
SIMPLY THE BEST,
By
This review is from: The Last Detail (DVD)
When I first saw this great film I was living in Australia and this was my first taste of east coast 70"s USA in winter and it was spot on.Since then I have spent many a long cold winter in Pa ,thats why I now live happily in Fla. Other reviewers have told the story of the film really well but I feel that this was easily Nicholsons best as he nails every scene without smothering his two "shipmates: .I will turn on this masterpiece of real life just to see a certain scene when I have the time.The beginning; " when you"re in the navy , and you"re in transit no one knows where the f--k you are, so go tell the M A A to go f--k himself." or to relive the bar scene where Nicholson loses it when the bartender refuses to serve the kid as they try to show him a good time before he goes to the brig for 8 years.Yes it is certainly a film that ranks with the greats , I watch it regularly and I strongly recommend it to anyone 17 years and older.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gets better with each viewing; an overlooked classic,
By
This review is from: The Last Detail (DVD)
This is one of my favorites, but it's also one of the most difficult movies to describe to people. Yes, it's about two experienced guys in the Navy who are assigned to escort a young charge (whom they don't know) to Naval prison. And yes, they have some fun along the way, knowing how sad the situation really is. But there's an indescribable something about "The Last Detail" that just gets to me on a pretty deep level. First of all, it's the acting. I mean if you ever question Jack Nicholson's talent and depth as an actor, then watch this movie. I beg to argue about who on earth could have ever embodied this role this deeply. I don't think any of the other big and great actors of his time could have pulled it off this perfectly (Gene Hackman, Al Pacino, George C. Scott, Robert DeNiro). Also, Otis Young and Randy Quaid are pitch-perfect in their roles as well, though the movie clearly belongs to Nicholson. This is a GREAT PERFORMANCE!! It's the definition of one! But in addition to the acting, the photography of the film is brilliant. It captures the times and places in a rather bleak yet very haunting way. The guys drinking beer in the parking garage in D.C. The three of them pressed into the small hotel room in D.C., along with all those empty beer bottles. Walking a quiet and snowy residential block in Camden, NJ. Walking the streets of nighttime NYC. Playing darts in a bar in NYC. Going to a late night party in an NYC apartment. Going to a Boston brothel. Trying to grill and have a picnic in the middle of a snowy park in Boston! I don't know if it's just my fascination with the time that causes me to find it so darn striking, but it just is. I find these scenes so haunting, and so REAL. To me, those two things are what make this film so exceptional. The dialogue is also brilliant, as is the complexity of the emotions that are raised by the story. I guess it works on a lot of levels. Just don't miss it, whether you're a Nicholson fan or not. But if you are a Nicholson fan, don't miss out on what is probably his greatest performance!!
4.0 out of 5 stars
A touching, extremely well acted film,
By
This review is from: The Last Detail (DVD)
Two older, grizzled sailors, transport a baby faced, vulnerable youngsailor to 8 years in prison for stealing $40. The acting is very good, especially Jack Nicholson and Randy Quaid, and the film has lots of wonderful moments and details. That said, I've never loved it quite as much as many others do. It feels a bit sappy at times, 'cute' at others, and the story feels a bit too predicable. We know from the start the two old salts will soften and come to care for their charge, and they will all bond before the journey ends. Without the high level of talents involved, that predictability could have sunk the film, but the brio of Nicholson, the sure hand of director Hal Ashby, and Robert Towne's salty, idiosyncratic script keep it afloat and always worth watching, if not quite rising to 'great film' level for me.
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