On this day in movie and book history - The Last Detail (1973)

The Last Detail

directed by Hal Ashby,

written by Robert Towne,

based on the novel by Darryl Ponicsan,

was released in the United States on December 12, 1973.

Music by Johnny Mandel.

Cast:

Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, Randy Quaid, Clifton James, Carol Kane, Michael Moriarty, Nancy Allen, Gilda Radner, Jim Hohn, Luana Anders.

Recommended reading - The Last Detail (1970)

The Last Detail

by Darryl Ponicsan.
 
First published 1970.
Published by Skyhorse.
Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1510727752
ISBN-13: 978-1510727755

Description:
 
The acclaimed novel that was the basis for the classic movie starring Jack Nicholson.
 

Unlike the other branches of the armed services, the navy draws its police force from the ranks, as temporary duty. The risk is that men on Shore Patrol might bring their humanity to the task. This accounts for the underlying tension in "The Last Detail", which takes place during the height of the Vietnam War. Billy Bad-Ass and Mule Mulhall, two career sailors in transit in Norfolk, awaiting permanent orders, are given a "chaser" duty. Their assignment is to escort and deliver Larry Meadows, an 18-year-old sailor, from Norfolk to Portsmouth, N.H., where he is to serve an eight-year sentence in the brig. It's good duty, on the face of it, until the two old salts realize the injustice of the sentence and are oddly affected by the true innocence of their prisoner, even though he is guilty as charged. Failure, or refusal, to carry out their duty is never a question, no matter how much they hate the detail or how wrong it seems, and yet something must be done, some gesture made in order to help their hapless prisoner survive the long ordeal he faces, and to purge their own sense of shame. "The Last Detail" was Darryl Ponicsan's first book and it catapulted him into the front rank of American novelists. It was made into the 1973 film starring Jack Nicholson, and has become a classic of the Golden Age of American cinema. This new edition of "The Last Detail" coincides with the publication of its long-awaited sequel, "Last Flag Flying", also available from The Wright Press.

Born on this day – Robert Towne:

Robert Towne

Writer

Director

November 23, 1934 – July 1, 2024

Credits:

47th Annual Academy Awards (1975); 50 Films to See Before You Die (2006); 8 Million Ways to Die (1986); A Classy Broad (2016); A Decade Under the Influence (2003); A Sad Flower in the Sand (2001); AFI Life Achievement Award (2008); AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains (2003); American Masters (1998–2008); Armageddon (1998); Ask the Dust (2006); Behind the Mission: The Making of 'M:I-2' (2000); Bonnie and Clyde (1967); Bookmark (1988); Breaking Point (1964); Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That (2005); Budd Boetticher: An American Original (2005); Cadillac Desert (1997); CBS Mornings (1990); Chinatown (1974); Chinatown Revisited with Roman Polanski, Robert Evans and Robert Towne (1999); Chinatown: Filming (2007); Chinatown: The Beginning and the End (2007); Chinatown: The Legacy (2007); Cisco Pike (1971); Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961); Crimson Tide (1995); Days of Thunder (1990); Deal of the Century (1983); Drive, He Said (1971); Fort McCoy (2011); Frantic (1988); Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984); Hal (2018); Halloween Monster Bash (1991); Heaven Can Wait (1978); Hollywood Insider (2021); Independent Lens (2006); Last Woman on Earth (1960); Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989); Love Affair (1994); Mad Men (2014–2015); McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971); Mission: Impossible (1996); Mission: Impossible II (2000); Mission: Remarkable - 40 Years of Creating the Impossible (2006); Orca (1977); Personal Best (1982); Playing the Field: Sports and Sex in America (2000); Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film (2002); Rescued from the Closet (2001); Revolution! The Making of 'Bonnie and Clyde' (2008); Robert Towne (2009); Salinger (2013); Screenwriters: Word Into Image (1982); Shampoo (1975); Suspect Zero (2004); Tequila Sunrise (1988); The 32nd Annual Golden Globe Awards (1975); The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made (2004); The Bedroom Window (1987); The Celluloid Closet (1995); The Century: America's Time (1999); The Escape Artist (1982); The Firm (1993); The Godfather (1972); The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002); The Last Detail (1973); The Lloyd Bridges Show (1963); The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964); The Missouri Breaks (1976); The New Centurions (1972); The Outer Limits (1964); The Outsider (2005); The Parallax View (1974); The Pick-up Artist (1987); The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011); The Tomb of Ligeia (1964); The Two Jakes (1990); The Yakuza (1974); The Young Racers (1963); The Zodiac Killer (1971); Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987); Villa Rides (1968); Welcome to the Basement (2013–2017); What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (2018); Without Limits (1998); Wonderland (2003).