Viking Night: The Last Detail
By Bruce Hall
January 3, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com

They now understand the hidden meaning of the song In the Navy.
With every immutable truth often comes an equally baffling riddle. For everything that makes perfect sense, there's another thing that makes absolutely none. For every sensible physical law in the universe, somewhere there's a black hole inside an asteroid. For every great man there are ten more who should be, but aren't. It's a crying shame, but if you want proof of it, look no further than The Last Detail. Not only is this one of my all time favorite films, but it also represents a unique existential conundrum unto itself. But it isn't because of anything overtly philosophical. It's because within The Last Detail exists two polar extremes. The immutable truth here is that Jack Nicholson is a damn fine actor, and he turns in a damn fine performance. But the black hole inside the asteroid is Randy Quaid, who is a minor revelation. His career is filled with curious peaks and valleys and in the end, I couldn't have been more disappointed to discover that Eddie Griswold is pretty much who he really is.

But this isn't for me to judge. What is for me to judge is what a terrific experience this movie is. If you aren't familiar with it, don't feel bad. Most people are into new releases, so if a flick is older than six months and they haven't seen it, chances are they never will. And even if you're a casual movie buff, you may still have needed someone to refer you. In the days before the World Wide Web it wasn't so easy to stay on top of an actor's filmography. I like Jack Nicholson a lot, but like most great actors his recent work often overshadows the little gems of yesteryear. For the record, I like Randy Quaid too. But like most celebrities who are allegedly being stalked by an international cabal of elite assassins, their troubles have a tendency to obscure the old resume.

So, let's set the Way Back Machine to 1973 and re-live the good old days, shall we?

Back then there was no such thing as political correctness. This sometimes made movies better, and more often made things worse if you were in the Navy and had a case of sticky fingers. This is what happens to Larry Meadows (Quaid), a young sailor who is sentenced to eight years in military prison for trying to lift 40 dollars from a polio donation box. This is sick and wrong for two reasons. One, because in the civilian world, that gets you maybe 40 hours of community service. The second reason is because they cured polio back in 1952. If anyone should be arrested it's the scumbag who's still collecting donations for it. This makes me think there may still be money in smallpox.

At any rate, ordered to transport Meadows to prison are Petty Officers Bill “Bad Ass” Buddusky (Nicholson) and Richard “Mule” Mullhall (Otis Young). Buddusky and Mulhall are a couple of hardscrabble guys who owe their very existence to Uncle Sam, so they reluctantly accept the assignment, if only for a chance to get off base and see the big city. The sailors are given five days to haul the prisoner from Norfolk, Virginia to the Naval Prison at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. For those of you who failed geography, that's one week to travel about five hundred miles. Buddusky and Mullhall concoct a cunning plan to take a train straight up, pool their travel money and spend the rest of the week partying. Your tax dollars at work, people.

A hitch develops when on the way up, they begin to get to know the prisoner. Meadows is an awkward, unassuming kid with droopy eyes and a disarming drawl. He loves his mother, dreams of being a veterinarian and is also a kleptomaniac. Mule and Bad Ass catch the kid stealing, and drag him off the train a sobbing, snotty mess. The prospect of spending eight years getting punched in the head by the Marines at Portsmouth is more than an 18-year-old can handle. To make matters worse, it comes to light that young Meadows has never had sex, enjoyed a beer, eaten an Italian sausage sandwich from Sabrett's, or beaten up a bunch of Marines in a bus terminal bathroom. When all is said and done, the poor kid will have spend a third of his life behind bars without having truly lived a day in his life. Struck with sympathy, Mule and Bad Ass resolve to spend five days showing Meadows the time of his life before they send him up the river. This they do, and in splendid fashion.

They take Meadows ice skating, they stop by his mother's house. They get drunk and trash a hotel room. They take him to The Best Little Whorehouse in New Jersey. They play darts, they spot Gilda Radner at a Zen Bhuddist temple (no seriously, look for her) and they walk the streets at night singing sea shanties. It's a man's Navy, and over the course of the week Seaman Meadows begins to grow into one. It's not all fun and games, of course. There's a Japanese proverb that says when you travel with someone, they become your family – and anyone who's been on a road trip knows there's some truth to this. When three men spend five days in closed quarters trying to stave off the drumbeat of certain doom, they're going to learn a thing or two about each other.

And this is the best part about The Last Detail. It's a fairly typical road movie in many respects, but there is atypical depth to the characters, making it an unexpectedly rich experience. Buddusky takes particular relish in his nickname, and spends as much time as possible living up to it. In some ways he's a borderline psychopath, prone to unpredictable fits of anger and random spurts of violence. He lives every day like it's his last and seems to harbor some pretty substantial regrets. Yet, as he takes Meadows under his wing we see an empathic side of him that just wouldn't be present in a garden variety nut bag. The character comes across like a brooding only child who has jumped at the chance to be a big brother to someone. The experience proves as rewarding for him as it is for Meadows.

The same goes for Mule, a poor man from New Orleans who still supports his mother and considers the Navy his salvation. If Bad Ass is looking for a little brother, Mule was born to be a father figure, calmly reigning in his hot tempered partner and acting as Unusually Permissive chaperone for their young companion. Meadows is just an impressionable kid who loves Jesus and has a heart stuffed full of forgiveness and innocence. He's terrified of jail, but is nonetheless resolved from the start to do his duty and pay his penance, like the good soldier he always wanted to be. As he bonds with his captors, he bears them no grudge and even comes to pity them when he realized they're not any more eager to complete their assignment than he is. Eager not to disappoint them, Meadows embraces his fate all the more, almost making him the most mature of the bunch.

Well written characters mean nothing if the actors can't pull off the role, and here is where the movie truly shines. Jack Nicholson is a straight up tour de force. He's utterly brilliant and I consider this to be his finest role. As I mentioned, there are many subtle notes to Buddusky, and Smiling Jack plays them like the virtuoso he is. Randy Quaid shows little sign of his eventual insanity here, in what was one of his very first roles. For such an inexperienced actor, he comes away with flying colors, subtly endowing his character with both the strength and virtue of a true martyr. I hate to speak ill of the dead (he passed away in 2001), but Otis Young is perhaps merely serviceable here. But his serene, avuncular presence is sufficient to counterbalance his two costars, and is more than worthy of mention.

As with any good product, The Last Detail does come with a warning label. Remember that these characters are sailors, and by God do they act like it. They curse, they fight, they covet women, and pound for pound, there may be more profanity in this film than anything not made by Martin Scorsese. I don't consider it an issue, but if you have tender sensibilities, beware.

But while some may find it jarring, the film is shot in a subdued, almost documentary style that gives it a modest, genuine feel. It never comes across as over the top, never tries to be flashy, and best of all it never tries to convince us that the story is anything other than what it is. It's about three simple men on a complex road to self discovery. Mule and Bad Ass set out to teach Meadows something about life, and to some degree, end up becoming students themselves.

Which reminds me - there's another Japanese saying that tells us “even monkeys fall from trees”. We all make mistakes, yet we all remain worthy of redemption. The Last Detail doesn't provide us – or its characters - with all the answers, but it definitely poses some worthy questions.