Three sailors on a road trip. Two Navy lifers, portrayed by Jack Nicholson and Otis Young, are assigned to escort the hapless 18-year old recruit, Meadows (Randy Quaid), from Norfolk, Virginia, to military prison in New Hampshire, after he was caught stealing from a charity, which unfortunately for him happened to be the favourite charity of the Admiral’s wife. “Badass” Buddusky (Nicholson) and “Mule” Mulhall (Young), are given a week to carry out their duty, and initially aim to hustle Meadows to prison while keeping his per diem expenses for themselves, allowing for a bit of holiday drinking and whoring on their way back.
As the disproportionate severity of the eight-year sentence handed down to Meadows dawns upon them, Badass and Mule change their objective; now they want to show Meadows the best time of his life before he is incarcerated. Numerous shenanigans ensue, as the three eat, drink and fight their way across a naturalistic 1970s America.
Nicholson is a marvel to watch. Initially in a sour mood and underwhelmed by this “detail” that has been handed to him out of the blue, eventually the realisation of freedom sinks in and the prospect of fun beckons, at which point Nicholson ignites. His character, Buddusky, soon shows why he got his “Badass” nickname. He lives in the moment, is highly impulsive, and never squanders an opportunity for a good time, like the scene in which he spots some Marines entering the public lavatories at the station. He promptly follows them in to start a ruckus, drawing Mule and Meadows into the caper by dint of military solidarity. After battering the Marines in typically chaotic fashion they charge recklessly and hilariously out of the toilets and the station itself to seek their next adventure.
The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, but it failed to win any, and good critical notices did not translate into box office success. A few months later, Chinatown exploded onto the scene, and The Last Detail was somewhat eclipsed. Nicholson would soon go on to win an Oscar for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest — and quite rightly — but for me, his performance in The Last Detail is as fine an achievement as that role.
Here, we’ll see two representative scenes: first, a simple master class in how to eat and relish a hamburger, Buddusky-style; and second, the infamous bar scene in which Badass completely loses it when the bartender refuses to serve the underage Meadows and contrives to push all the wrong buttons as far as Badass is concerned. The disturbing and highly intimidating over-reaction from Badass toward the bartender is then tempered by a huge release of tension on the sidewalk afterwards as they laugh like drains at their escapade. “I am a bad ass, ain’t I?” says Buddusky. Yes sir, you certainly are.
