Jack Nicholson is one of two Navy men who decide to show a young offender a good time before he gets locked up. Hal Ashby (Harold and Maude) directs a script by Robert Towne (Chinatown).
Screened as part of NZIFF 2007
The Last Detail 1973
Jack Nicholson and screenwriter Robert Towne's first collaboration (the second being Roman Polanski's neo-film noir classic Chinatown), The Last Detail is helmed by the marvellously irreverent and counter-cultural director Hal Ashby, who was responsible for 1971's hilarious and touching cult classic Harold and Maude. While escorting a prisoner to serve a long sentence in a naval prison for a petty and foolish cookie-jar crime, sailors Billy "Bad Ass" Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and "Mule" Mulhall (Otis Young) decide to give him a memorable time before he goes inside. A moral dilemma soon rears its head when the duo wonder whether it really is such a kind gesture to give the prisoner a taste of the spice of life that he will soon be locked away from. Typically, Towne has crafted a swag of strong, complex and multi-faceted characters who propel the story along. With a delightfully zesty performance by Nicholson, The Last Detail is downbeat but spirited, with a memorable and classic ending.