Search - The Last Detail on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Humor, Profanity, Sexual Situations Movie Release: 1973 DVD Release: 12/14/1999 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV,Pan and Scan Edition: Restored/Remastered Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, Korean, Spanish, Thai SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 44 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Members Wishing: 20 Genres: Comedy Drama, Road Movie, Military Comedy, Buddy Film

Two Navy "lifers" and one military innocent briefly attempt to thumb their nose at Authority in Hal Ashby's The Last Detail (1973). "Badass" Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and "Mule" Mulhall (Otis Young) are assigned to escort young sailor Meadows (Randy Quaid, who beat out John Travolta for the part) from their Virginia base to a New England military prison, where Meadows will serve an eight-year sentence for attempting to swipe the commander's wife's polio donation can. Buddusky thinks that the sentence is a waste of Meadows' formative years, and he convinces a skeptical Mulhall to show the hapless Meadows a good time by partying on their per diem for the rest of the detail's allotted week. As they head north, the comically posturing Buddusky leads Meadows through the masculinizing rituals of getting drunk, getting in a fight, and getting laid; and he teaches Meadows to stand up for himself so well that Meadows tries to escape. Despite his self-proclaimed "badass" rep, however, Buddusky is, as Mulhall tells him, "a lifer like me," and the two ultimately have a job that they were ordered to do. Taking full advantage of the new ratings system, writer Robert Towne adapted the Darryl Ponicsan novel with an ear for how Navy men really talk. Objecting to the wall-to-wall obscenities, Columbia put off releasing the movie, but, after Nicholson won the Best Actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival, finally opened it for Oscar consideration in December 1973 before a full release several months later. Even with nominations for Nicholson, Quaid, and Towne, and rave reviews despite the notorious cussing, The Last Detail failed to find an audience. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Jack Nicholson - Buddusky SM I
Otis Young - Mulhall GMI
Randy Quaid - Meadows SN
Clifton James - Chief Master-At-Arms
Michael Moriarty - Marine Duty Officer
Carol Kane - Prostitute
Gilda Radner - Nichren Shoshu Member
Gilda Radner - Religious zealot

One of the great films of the seventies, Hal Ashby's The Last Detail comes to DVD with a choice of two images. The widescreen anamorphic transfer preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is superior to the standard full-frame 1.33:1 transfer. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Mono and is closed-captioned. English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai subtitles are all accessible. Supplemental features include production notes, talent files, and theatrical trailers. If ever there were a case of the film being reason enough to own a disc, this may be it. The superb performances and Robert Towne's brilliant script all convey the same power and humanity on the small screen that they did in the theater. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide