The Last Detail

A huge hit in '73, The Last Detail was a further boost to Nicholson's already rapidly-rising star. Nicholson plays Navy seaman Buddusky, who has been ordered to take naive young sailor Meadows (Randy Quaid) to prison within two weeks. Meadows stole $40 from a charity box and is sentenced to eight years (the Admiral's wife was a member of the charity).

Buddusky and his fellow-seaman Mulhall (Otis Young) decide to show the kid a good time before delivering him as ordered. They have two weeks...

Nicholson himself initiated the project, bringing in his friend Robert Towne to write the script from Daryl Ponicsan's brilliant book and getting Hal Ashby (who also made Harold and Maude) to direct.

Ashby coaxes superb ensemble playing from the key players. Funny and powerful, The Last Detail is a tremendously salty tale of lost innocence with the young Randy Quaid giving a wonderfully likeable performance. Predictably however, it is Nicholson's bawdy bad-assed performance that dominates the film. Classic Jack.

Review by Danny Carr
Taken from EUFS Programme 1993-94