El último deber

Though the film's storyline diverges from the more existential theme of the Darryl Ponicsan novel from which it was adapted, 'The Last Detail' was, is, and remains the only real deal film about navy enlisted men. Hollywood never did sailors so well as it does them here.

If you don't care for testosterone-impelled behavior, parochial esprit de corps, scatology, and profanity - well, never mind: the dialogue here is true-to-life sailorese, and the hi- and low-jinks antics are too. If you can't take the heat, get the hell out of the galley.

Gritty cinematography of the earthy, low-rent world of enlisted sailors (for example, watching the "decent peoples' world" pass by the filth-streaked windows of a worn, smelly railway car) communicates much of the characters' experience of life in the margins and their ethos and how they came by them. The Johnny Mandel score is often oddly, and too-cheerfully irrelevant, though one suspects its breezy take on nautical marches and ditties was meant to be satirical; but it's often discordant with the serious themes - 'the individual versus society', existential choice and haplessness - of 'The Last Detail'.

In a role that could have been tailor-made for him Jack Nicholson's acting is perhaps the best of his career - a superior foreshadowing of his later turn in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'. But without Otis Young as his fellow seasoned petty officer and Randy Quaid as the naive young, brig-bound seaman, Nicholson's tour de force would have fallen as flat as a flathat (for all you landlubbers: the navy blue "Donald Duck" US NAVY-ribbon bound winter sailors' hats, which sailors hated intensely, that were abolished in the early 60's).

Politically correct left-leaning folks should discover in Gunners Mate 1st Class "Mule" Mulhall a perfect example of an African American professional sailor: serious yet fun-loving; jocular but no-nonsense; competent and quietly self-assured: in short, a sailor among sailors, a man among men. I know because I served, and when the chips were up or down no sailor cared about color, and each of us cared only that he or she could rely, or not, on our shipmates. Though it has its arcane rules, written and unwritten, the naval service is remarkably egalitarian in opportunity - and it is so without all the hue and cry of civilian "social consciousness".

Though it's a marvel of a film, 'The Last Detail' could not cram into its running time all the humor and pathos of the eponymous, tough-tender Ponicsan novel (in which petty officer Mulhall's character looms quite a bit larger than he does in the movie, and Billy Buddusky's reflexive resorting to signalling with his Signalman's semaphoring hands spells out apt clues to his worldview); and the novel (which, incidentally, I read while on active duty, before the film had been made) turns out with a dramatically different ending - with a true denouement absent from the screenplay's conclusion that left me wanting, and which is the film's only grave, if quibbling, flaw. But the screenplay incorporates characters, scenes (Carol Kane as the careworn young whore providing Quaid's Seaman Meadows his first experience of coupling), and dialogue that might also have helped the novel to better flesh out and plumb the characters and their experience. Small matter, really: the book and the film contrast and complement each other perfectly.

Anyone considering enlistment should see 'The Last Detail' because it tells enlisted sailors' life like it is. If you can take life like it is, with or without the occasional fix ('An Officer and a Gentleman' anyone?) of kitschy, unrealizable romantic fantasy, then 'The Last Detail' is your meat.

The Real Deal. Chow Call, Chow Call - All hands lay to the messdeck! Take all you want - Eat all you take. Down to 'The Last Detail'.

Nicholson's "Bad Ass" is a beautifully crafted piece of character. He cusses. He fights. He drinks. He's loud. No one else speaks Robert Towne's words better than Nicholson. In this film he overwhelms at every turn. In the bar scene, he shows brute anger and a desire for dominance. The scenes with a young Nancy Allen are delightfully witty because of Nicholson's schoolboy antics of getting a woman into bed.

It is the scenes with Randy Quaid (also wonderful) where Nicholson shines brightest. "Bad Ass" represents a paternal figure lacking in Meadows' life. He makes him a man by demanding he send back a hamburger if it's not cooked the way he likes it. He demands Meadows to stop crying and be a man. He demands Meadows to stand up for himself and fight when someone pushes his buttons. He demands Meadows to want to have sex, like other men his age. Nicholson's father figure image here is played off perfectly as Meadows sort of imitates things "Bad Ass" does. If Bad Ass has a beer, Meadows has a beer. If Bad Ass wants a woman, Meadows wants a woman. There's a secret trust between the two. It's unspoken, but it's there. That trust is broken in the end when Meadows tries to escape. It wasn't all a lie, Meadows just felt that it was time to stop learning and start moving.

I read somebody's comment that this film isn't "deep." I think that viewer missed a whole layer of the story. you have to keep in mind that this was written and produced during the vietnam war and released during the early months of Watergate.

The story is about these two working class sailors, who are completely disenfranchised, just "doing their job." They're good guys but in the end, don't lift a finger to stop a massive injustice. They don't even take the time to think about it, because they feel there's nothing they can do about it. They pay lip services to how wrong things are about the situation, but in the end they do what "the man" says and they're just as much to blame for the problem as the commanding officers above them.

Through the course of the film, the sailors meet a lot of "chatting class" folks who are mad at Nixon and discussing politics, and they meet Hari Krishnas who are chanting to change things, but nobody is really taking any ACTION. Everyone is pissed off at the injustice of the world but nobody does anything about it. It's about inaction. And that inaction slowly boils up in the main characters and turns into anger that brings the film to a sad end. (It's one of those great stories that gets you pissed off at the injustice in the world...)

Having said all that, on a more tangible level, the performances and scripting are full of emotion and Nicholson's and Quaid's performance are amazing and hilarious to watch. But this isn't really a comedy in the end...more tragic really (with some good laughs along the way).

Check it out!

Often regarded as a comedy-drama, 'The Last Detail' always stood out to me as a pure drama. It tells the story involving a group of Navy officers: a young and meek officer (Randy Quaid) steals some money but gets caught; the two others (Jack Nicholson and Otis Young) are to take him to prison. They (especially Nicholson) get somewhat attached to the boy when they see how young (ie.: don't know much of the world) and weak he is and decide to show him how to be a man before putting him away.

A look at the cast/crew shows how promising the film is. Hal Ashby is a fine director, whose films I always like/love (except maybe for 'Coming Home', which often gets too preachy and melodramatic); the screenplay is done by Robert Towne, the same guy who would later do 'Chinatown'; and the leading actor is Jack Nicholson, one of cinema's greatest actors.

Speaking of Jack Nicholson, he is just brilliant here. His character, 'Bad-Ass' Buddusky, is the type of character he is at best with: sarcastic and irreverent even when serious, yet very smart and caring in his own way. He acts as a father figure for the young Meadows (Quaid), trying to lift his mood and have him something to remember and be happy before having to face the harsh conditions of prison. Quaid and Young, alongside the supporting characters, end up overshadowed by Nicholson's performance, but they too make a great work with their characters.

As typical of a 70's and/or Hal Ashby film, 'The Last Detail' has great photography and is strangely comfortable to look at. The movie is very realistic too, with both situations and characters being very believable and sympathetic. The characters are very fleshed out and developed, making it difficult not to like or remain indifferent towards them. I've also heard that the way Navy/Marine officers are portrayed are also very close to the real thing, without forcing their portrayal as a way of criticism of the armed forces, which many directors would jump at the chance to do (specially considering the time this movie was made). In truth, I didn't feel that the film was a critique of the military like many say.

My only complaint on the movie is that it's supposed to be a comedy too. Yes, there are awkward situations and Jack Nicholson's typical rebellious way of dealing with everything; but the movie tends to make them more interesting than actually funny. Not that I'm saying this is bad; 'The Last Detail' is a remarkable movie in every aspect and one of the best pure dramas I've seen.

Ever since 9/11, you hear a lot of fluff in the press about our "heroes" in the armed services. Typically they are portrayed as wide-eyed, short hair enthusiasm and commitment machines. It's a nice image, but the real version is much more human, much more interesting and much more likable.

I was a naval officer for seven years. The best part of my service was the wonderful opportunity to get to know the many men and women who make up the enlisted ranks of our armed services. They tend to be from the rural towns of the south and Midwest or the inner city ghettos. Most of them were average students with limited financial prospects. The ones who succeed in the ranks enough to stay for 20 years do so because the Navy is the first place where they belong. And because they enjoy the job. They get good at it and they believe that what they are doing is much more rewarding and challenging than their friends back home.

They also love to party. To drink and to chase skirts and raise hell. They feel entitled to and they are almost always out for a good time without hurting anyone. They also love to mentor the younger sailors to show them how to survive and how to enjoy the time in.

The details of this movie are wonderful. The dreary time in transit, ironing uniforms and staring at the walls. Wanting to be at sea, something that few people can imagine until they've done it. The thrill of a few days per diem to blow in bars. The resignation of being a lifer and above all the nature of Navy friendships.

Jack Nicholson's character and Otis Young's are not natural friends. They probably wouldn't have time for one another in any other line of work, but having the shared experience of being First Class Petty Officers at the same base is enough for them to be comfortable with one another and to enjoy each other's company. They also both take to the young kid and they both know how to treat him because they've been doing it for so long.

I can't tell you how real these characters were to me. I can's say "Oh Jack reminds me of GSM1 So-and-so and Otis reminds me of QM1 Whatshisname". IT's too real for that. They both remind me of many, many people I had the good fortune to work with.

And they are flawed. They lack the guts to spare Randy Quad from this injustice. They don't even stick together on the way back to Norfolk, probably because they know they did something less than wonderful to the young man. They are indoctrinated but not inhuman.

I also enjoyed seeing shades of Jack's work in "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest". Bad-ass is kind of a rough draft of his McMuphy. This is Jack at his finest.

Randy Quaid's performance made me feel a little bit sad. Not just for the character, but for the actor. He had so much talent back then and somehow he got pigeon holed playing big dopes. He certainly has as much talent as his younger brother but not the leading man looks. I don't think I'll ever see him in the Vaction movies without cringing. He should have become so much more. (Of course his other work is entertaining but it's never touching or through provoking as it is here.) And Otis Young was terrific too. I'm not sure why he never got more good roles, but this is something to be proud of.

In short, this is the most realistic navy movie I've ever seen. If you're thinking about enlisting, or if a loved one is, this is not a bad way to see what the navy does to a man-good and bad. And it's funny that they do this without ever setting foot on a vessel.

I want to find the poster and hang it on my walls next to my commission.