There is no feeling I dislike more than dread. When you know something bad is on the horizon, yet you have to get through however many days it takes for it to actually happen. Whether it's an end of the month bill payment, a trip to the dentist, or in seventeen year old sailor Larry Meadows' case, a trip up the coast from Virginia to New Hampshire where he will be spending eight years (six if he behaves himself) in the brig, punishment for trying (but failing) to steal forty dollars out of the Navy's charity poor box. Fortunately, he's got "Badass" Buddusky and "Mule" Mulhall as the chaperones assigned to his detail and despite the sword of Damocles hanging over his head, they're not planning on letting him miss the best days of his youth in prison without one last good time.
Jack Nicholson plays Buddusky and here in 1973 we get him as a star just about to breakout into the superstar stratosphere. After a decade of doing various gigs in Hollywood, "Easy Rider" in 1969 launched him onwards and upwards with his charismatic intense performances showing he was not going to be forgotten without tasting some more of the big time's pie. He's got a plum role here, as the Navy "lifer" who starts out planning on sprinting Meadows up to New Hampshire as fast as possible and then using the rest of his week and pay on a "lost weekend" in the major cities of the Northeast, until he decides that Meadows must experience the sex, drugs, youthful indiscretions he will sorely miss in prison and he's the guy that's gotta lead him to it. He's not an immediately likable character (it's a role you'd normally see someone like Joe Pantoliano in) and the Nicholson persona is not complete yet, but Nicholson's unparalleled charisma and ability to play every scene in an interesting, but unobtrusive way make Buddusky a character we enjoy spending time with. Meadows (played by a baby-faced 22 year old Randy Quaid; he and Nicholson both got Oscar nominations for this film) isn't a fully formed man yet with no opinions of his own and Buddusky takes it upon himself to act as his Id, lashing out at mistaken burger orders and cheap prostitutes on Meadows' behalf. Buddusky is able to paint himself and his feelings onto the blank canvas that is Meadows and it's only right for him to give him the best time he can before he and Mulhall are forced to pull an "Old Yeller".
There's not much to the first two-thirds of this movie other than watching the three sailors engage in "Animal House"-like activities throughout Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston, but the way it plays out reminded me of two of my favorite storytellers, JD Salinger and Wes Anderson. I've never seen any other piece of fiction that captured the tone of "The Catcher In The Rye" as well, even if it wasn't on purpose. There's obvious comparisons between the two, what with immature youths wandering through the big city, grime and all, trying to delay bad times to come, but there's also a melancholia that hangs over the proceedings that called to mind many of Salinger short stories. Wes Anderson, so influenced by Salinger in "The Royal Tenenbaums" also calls Hal Ashby (director of "The Last Detail") one of his favorite directors. Ashby's "Harold And Maude" might contain more of the whimsy associated with Anderson's oeuvre, but "The Last Detail" more accurately predicts Anderson's obsession with the things left unsaid. Meadows, Buddusky, and Mulhall spend a lot of the picture on trains where subtle explanations to their behavior are sometimes revealed and I can only assume Anderson remembered those scenes when he made "The Darjeeling Limited". I see a lot of "The Royal Tenenbamus" here as well. The cities Buddusky and friends travel through merge into one gigantic uber-Metropolis with an atmosphere that reminded of "Tenenbaums" New York except slightly more real.
There is a constant malaise that hangs over the first two-thirds of "The Last Detail" despite the fun the main characters seem to be having. Meadows displays very little outward emotion toward his unfortunate future, but happily participates with glee once Buddusky starts feeding him beer and buying him prostitutes to "pop his cherry". The three become first acquaintances and then friends, with Meadows even classifying Buddusky and Mulhall as his very best friends but it's clearly not meant to last. The circumstances lend themselves to the three characters having a
memorable time, but it's not something that could ever be repeated in another walk of life. I've had many a wild time in places like New York City and London with
people who were great companions at that time, but just at that time and
any attempts are reliving those early twenties years would end in
disaster I suspect. These three work well together precisely because of the circumstances. This is not a farewell party and there's no light at the end of this tunnel. Thus, the film ends exactly how you'd imagine it end were it to happen in real life.
It's a simple story and most definitely a product of the seventies, and as a time capsule it holds up well. You're not going to get a ton of surprises when the entire film is basically a travelogue of good times, but the overarching plot looming in the background adds sobriety to every scene. We get to know these guys, especially Meadows and Buddusky very well and I spent the last half of the film waiting for the shoe to drop. When it did, I was left with a despondent feeling of hopelessness, but the best kind of hopelessness. The kind you get from watching a great film.
Rating - 4 out of 5 stars.
Random Thoughts -
I didn't say much about Otis Young's performance as "Mule" Mulhall and that's because there's not much to say. It's a fine job and his character is amiable enough, but he's mostly used as a counterpoint to Buddusky's wild plans and doesn't have a whole lot to do. I do think it's cool that only fifteen or so years after "The Defiant Ones" was a whole film about how hard it is for a black guy and a white guy to be handcuffed to each other, "The Last Detail" doesn't bring up race once. It's perfectly normal for two men of separate races to be in the navy together and treat each other civilly.
The first twenty minutes of "The Last Detail" could have been a stand alone short film. There are many serene shots of the characters traveling on trains with little character idiosyncrasies popping up, like Meadows' constant kleptomania. We learn a little of everyone's backgrounds and it plays out with a patience that is only seen in "art house" films today. Actually, this would totally be a Fox Searchlight production in 2012.
The first scene is Buddusky and Mulhall being assigned shore duty because it's their turn. Both of them accept the duty without much excitement, but I'd been thrilled. I used to love when teachers would choose me to deliver messages to the principal's office, like a little quest. I even remember in middle school being called over the intercom to the guidance counselor's office where she asked me to show a new student around. I still don't know why I was asked out of the 200 kids in my grade, but any excuse to get out of class was awesome. Here I just would have been like "Mission? Hell yeah!".
The score is at various points polka and classical and both work great. The polka that plays over quiet scenes on the train is surprisingly perfect. I don't normally notice scores unless the melody stands out, but the juxtaposition used with different styles of music and scenes going on were interesting enough for me to make note of.
There's a few future stars who pop up here. Gilda Radner has a cameo as a member of the super seventies Buddhist church thing Meadows finds alluring in New York City. She even gets to do a silly monologue. Carol Kane is the waif-like prostitute who ruins Meadows' quest to lose his virginity by causing him to explode with one stroke. My favorite "Law And Order" actor ever, Michael Moriarty is the asshole Marine Duty Officer who pisses of Nicholson at the end.
Next - On Halloween, the Swedish thriller "Headhunters"
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