#150: The Last Detail

Release Date: December 12th, 1973

Format: Streaming (Tubi)

Written by: Robert Towne

Directed by: Hal Ashby

4 Stars

The Last Detail is a great ‘70s hangout movie.  The story involves two Navy officers, Billy “Badass” Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and Richard “Mule” Mulhall (Otis Young), tasked with transporting a young Navy seaman, Larry Meadows (Randy Quaid), from a Navy base in Virginia to a Naval prison in Kittery, Maine.

What did the young Meadows do? He stole $40 out of a donation jar, and for it, he’ll serve 8 years in prison. Badass and Mule think that’s a pretty stiff sentence, but hey, not their problem. They have a scheme to get Meadows up to Maine quickly, so they can pocket his and their per diems and have themselves a little vacation on the way back.

But it’s along their journey that they learn Meadows is just a messed up, naive young man. He’s far from a bad guy, and in fact, is pretty sensitive and vulnerable.

A new dilemma arises for Badass and Mule: Do they actually take this kid to prison, or do they let him go and say he escaped? 

I really liked the simplicity of the storytelling, from a script by Robert Towne, directed by Hal Ashby. In the style of a lot of bummer, hangout ‘70s movies, we slowly learn that all of our protagonists are dealing with their own shit. Badass is in the navy because his marriage failed and he can’t stand working a straight job. Mule is there for a safe, steady paycheck, which he sends to his sick mom who he supports. And Meadows? It seems he’s there to escape abuse and neglect.

On their journey, out of sympathy, they take him to New Jersey to visit his mom and see his hometown. His mom isn’t home, so they decide to wait for her inside to get out of the cold. Upon opening the door they see a mess of a living room, with open liquor bottles on the coffee table. It’s pretty heartbreaking. This kid has been dealing with some stuff.

And dad? Dad is in Seattle, Meadows tells the guys. He’s married to a different woman now, and Meadows might have a half sister. He says this with a slightly upbeat tone, the poor, poor kid.

As good as Nicholson is in the movie, playing the showy role as the angry, young anti-hero, I think Randy Quaid is even more dynamic. It’s really an all-time great performance. Only 22-years-old when it was shot, he commands your attention whenever he’s on screen, this tall boy with a hangdog expression, dressed in uniform like it’s a Halloween costume. You just want to hug the guy.

The ending of the film is unsentimental, and inevitable, which makes it more sentimental in a way, if that makes any sense. Made at the height of public nihilism during the Nixon administration and the Vietnam war, The Last Detail shows us that life is cold and unfair. We have each other in fleeting moments of tenderness, but really we’re alone, traveling to a destiny we can’t avoid.