Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

The Last Detail

Play trailer Poster for The Last Detail R 1973 1h 45m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
87% Tomatometer 39 Reviews 87% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
When sailor Larry Meadows (Randy Quaid) is sentenced to eight years in a New Hampshire prison, Navy lifers Billy Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and Mule Mulhall (Otis Young) are assigned to escort him there from Virginia. Along the way, they warm up to their prisoner, indulging him in small ways such as making excursions to a brothel, and to his mother's house. As they get closer to their destination, their fondness for Larry makes it harder for them to execute their orders.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

The Last Detail

The Last Detail

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Very profane, very funny, very '70s: Director Hal Ashby lets Jack Nicholson and the cast run loose, creating a unique dramedy that's far out to sea.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
Pauline Kael The New Yorker 09/21/2023
This picture sounds realistically profane and has a dark, grainy surface, and by Hollywood standards, it's strong, adult material, but the mechanism is a vise for our emotions -- the mechanism is schlock. Go to Full Review
Judith Crist New York Magazine/Vulture 10/02/2019
Add immaculate casting, a noteworthy debut for cinematographer Michael Chapman, and a spare and subtle score by Johnny Mandel, and you're left with a gem of a film. Go to Full Review
Anton Bitel Little White Lies 02/27/2017
Meadows' 1st beer(s), 1st joint, 1st sexual experience, 1st attempt at assertiveness... represent not just a concentrated and expedited coming-of-age narrative, but also an elegy for a nation's broader loss of innocence in its military excursions. Go to Full Review
Josh Larsen LarsenOnFilm Jun 26
3.5/4
... a laconic reappraisal of America in the dismal 1970s. Go to Full Review
Noah Gittell Washington City Paper 08/15/2024
It’s the essence of New Hollywood filmmaking, which broke down our myths and revealed in their place a world of everyday losers who looked so much like ourselves that we couldn’t turn away. Go to Full Review
Ian Kane Epoch Times 08/28/2023
4/5
“The Last Detail” is a sometimes funny, sometimes bittersweet drama that features believable characters and situations. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Jim N Oct 15 All of Jack Nicholson's best films were done by 1980: 'Five Easy Pieces', 'Carnal Knowledge', 'Chinatown', 'The Passenger', 'The Shining', and of course his masterpiece 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'. The decade of the 1970s was arguably the greatest decade for American cinema, focusing largely on the gritty depiction of real lives, before the commercial conveyor belt of special effects and sci-fi fantasy buckled the industry and made it wholly materialistic. This is a film with a simple story effectively told, and as ever in those days Nicholson is eminently watchable with a zesty devilish charm. See more thiago s @Thiagostone May 4 Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, o elenco é bacaninha, e poucos ajudam a melhorar o filme, a história é fraca, os personagens sao fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes para fazer o filme ser bom. See more Alain E @AlainE Jan 22 Instead of a road movie, here we have a railroad movie and I hope Amtrak thanked the filmmaker. Although Nicholson is the best known actor, all three main characters deliver very strong performances. This is a movie of low tones. Two seasoned sailors go on a trip to deliver a convicted clueless young seaman to serve a long sentence. Gradually, the leader played by Nicholson, pities the prisoner and uses the allotted time to allow him to experience many things he will be deprived of for the next eight years. There is pretty accurate depiction of American society during the Nixon years. See more Dec 29 Great Nicholson performance. But all so much more of the same. The early ‘70’s Nicholson performances are all very much alike. A snide, foul mouthed, good ole boy. And of course, true to the era and Cuckoos Nest, Jack gets a young man laid as an answer to something. Ashby’s direction is brilliant though. Too bad it all comes out just plain boring. See more Ovidius N 12/08/2024 Loved it. Nicholson superb. Some laugh out loud moments as well as an underlying poignancy. Will be watching it again. See more Wayne K 09/10/2024 Jack Nicholson has been around so long and left such an incredible legacy on the world of cinema that it’s hard to remember that he was once a plucky up-and-comer, working hard to establish himself with roles in Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and The Last Detail. In this film, it feels like he was given free range to act out and act up as much as he wanted, and this created the perfect environment for him to play the role of the aptly nicknamed Bad Ass. Much of the film was censored at the time of release, mostly because of the heavy use of curse words, and watching it nowadays reflects just how sensitive they were about it back in the early 70s. It’s a film about male bonding, about maturing in a difficult environment and coming to appreciate and even respect those with who you have seemingly little in common. Baby-faced Randy Quaid is a character you’re supposed to initially dislike because of what he did, but the film gradually reveals his decent nature and optimistic outlook on life, and you come to feel very sorry for him at the end, and the fact he’s separated from the trio so unceremoniously just makes it more painful. It’s Nicholson that really steals the show, displaying the perfect blend of mad, wild-eyed intensity and subtle, brooding sensitivity that came to define his career and make him a screen icon. It’s a film that’s more about the important moments of life than it is about the overall story, and so uncomfortable pauses and awkward encounters are left in so that we get to fully experience what the characters are going through. It’s not held in the same regard as some of Nicholson’s other films, but its one of his most enjoyable roles, and one of the early indicators that he was something special, and that the world should take notice. See more Read all reviews
The Last Detail

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
California Split 87% 83% California Split Watchlist Stand by Me 92% 94% Stand by Me Watchlist TRAILER for Stand by Me The Big Chill 69% 77% The Big Chill Watchlist TRAILER for The Big Chill Punchline 57% 44% Punchline Watchlist Wrong Is Right 27% 38% Wrong Is Right Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis When sailor Larry Meadows (Randy Quaid) is sentenced to eight years in a New Hampshire prison, Navy lifers Billy Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and Mule Mulhall (Otis Young) are assigned to escort him there from Virginia. Along the way, they warm up to their prisoner, indulging him in small ways such as making excursions to a brothel, and to his mother's house. As they get closer to their destination, their fondness for Larry makes it harder for them to execute their orders.
Director
Hal Ashby
Producer
Gerald Ayres
Screenwriter
Robert Towne
Distributor
Columbia Pictures
Production Co
Acrobat Productions, Columbia Pictures Corporation, Bright-Persky Associates
Rating
R
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 12, 1973, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 16, 2012
Runtime
1h 45m
Sound Mix
Stereo
Aspect Ratio
35mm
Most Popular at Home Now