# The Last Detail

The Last Detail is a 1973 comedy drama film in which two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison but they decide to show him one last good time along the way.
    Directed by Hal Ashby. Written by Robert Towne, based on the novel by Darryl Ponicsan.

## Signalman First Class Billy L. "Badass" Buddusky

* [to Meadows] Boy, they really stuck it to ya, didn't they, kid! Stick it in and break it off. Up your giggy with a wah-wah brush, stick it in an' break it off.
* [to Meadows] Welcome to the wonderful world of pussy, kid.

## Gunner's Mate First Class Richard "Mule" Mulhall

* I hate this detail. I hate this fucking chickenshit detail!
* [to Buddusky] I consider myself in jeopardy with you man, understand? In jeopardy. This ain't no farewell party n' he ain't retirin'. Understand? He's a prisoner n' we're takin' 'im to the jailhouse. N' you have a tendency to forget that. You're a menace, man. You ain't no simple shit Bad-Ass, you're a motherfuckin' menace. But from now on, MAA can go piss up a rope! You ain't no honcho! N' I wanna hear no more of this horseshit psychology jive! No more turnin' that boy's head around to prove what a fuckin' big man you are! You're a lifer like me! Navy's the best thing ever happened to me, n' I don't want'cha to fuck me up, y'understand?

## Dialogue

    Mulhall: We'd better catch that train.
    Buddusky: We still got time for a beer.
    Mulhall: Now wait a minute, man...
    Meadows: I ain't old enough.
    Buddusky: Ain't old enough for what?
    Meadows: For a beer.
    Buddusky: Everybody's old enough for a beer. Ain't that right, Mule?
    Mulhall: Yeah.
    Buddusky: I am the motherfucking shore patrol, motherfucker! I am the motherfucking shore patrol! Give this man a beer.
    Meadows: I don't want a beer.
    Buddusky: You're gonna have a fuckin' beer!
    Meadows: Hey, you guys mind if I say somethin'? That guy at the bar, why did you get so mad at him? I don't blame him not givin' me a beer.
    Buddusky: Hey, don't you never get mad at nobody?
    Meadows: Well, sure I do, yeah.
    Mulhall: Who do you get mad at?
    Meadows: Not at somebody who's doing their job.
    Buddusky: Who, then?
    Meadows: Injustice.
    Buddusky: Bullshit! You never get mad at nobody. You're just a pussy!
    Meadows: I do too get mad.
    Mulhall: Did you ever get mad at the old man for what he done to you?
    Meadows: Well, he was just...
    Buddusky: ...doin' his job. Hey, they're gonna take eight years outta your life, man.
    Meadows: Six years. You said six!
    Buddusky: Hey, what the fuck difference does it make? You don't even care about it.
    Mulhall: Come on, Badass, that don't help him.
    Buddusky: Fuck help, fuck fair! Fuck injustice! Don't you ever just wanna fuckin' whomp and stomp on someone, bite off their ear, just to do it...? I mean just to do it, just to get it out of your system?
    Buddusky: Now don't worry about a thing. I'm hustling this guy, you understand? I got him right where I want him.
    Mulhall: Maybe he's hustling you.
    Buddusky: Yeah. Maybe he is, but, uh, this is not the time to argue about because if I don't win, we don't leave New York, huh?
    Meadows: [looking at porn] Are they really doing that when they take that picture?
    Buddusky: [pause] Well kid, there's more things in this life than you can possibly imagine. I knew a whore once in Wilmington. She had a glass eye... used to take it out and wink people off for a dollar.
    [A woman hears Meadows chanting and invites him to a party.]
    Meadows: Drop your socks and grab your cocks, we're going to a party.
    Buddusky: If this kid gets pussy out of this, I'll eat my fucking flat hat, man.
    Meadows: If you're Catholic, do you think it's, uh, sacrilegious to chant?
    Buddusky: Did it get you laid?
    Meadows: No.
    Buddusky: Then Meadows, what the fuck do you want to go on chanting for?
    Mulhall: Chant your ass off, kid. But any pussy you get in this world, you gonna have to pay for, one way or another.
    Buddusky: Hallelujah!
    Young Whore: Jesus Christ! That's what I call quick.
    [Meadows has just prematurely ejaculated.]
    Buddusky: You wanna try it again, kid?
    Meadows: Yeah.
    Buddusky: [to prostitute] Okay, honey.
    Mulhall: Don't worry about it, kid... plenty more where that came from.
    Buddusky: We got all night, kid.
    Mulhall: You ever been married?
    Buddusky: Not so you'd notice.
    Meadows: After... after... well maybe it was an act for her. I mean I know she was a whore. But I think she liked me.
    Buddusky: They got feelings just like everybody else, kid; she probably did.
    Meadows: Well, it was real for me. That's what counts.
    Buddusky: He don't stand a chance in Portsmouth, you know. You know that, don't you? Goddamn grunts, kickin' the shit outta him for eight years... he don't stand a chance.
    Mulhall: I don't want to hear about it.
    Buddusky: "Maggot" this, "maggot" that... Marines are really assholes, you know that? It takes a certain kind of a sadistic temperament to be a Marine.

## Cast

* Jack Nicholson - Signalman First Class Billy L. "Bad Ass" Buddusky
* Otis Young - Gunner's Mate First Class Richard "Mule" Mulhall
* Randy Quaid - Seaman Laurence M. "Larry" Meadows
* Clifton James - M. A. A.
* Carol Kane - Young Whore
* Michael Moriarty - First Lieutenant Marine Duty Officer
* Nancy Allen - Nancy
* Gilda Radner - Nichiren Shoshu Member
* Jim Hohn - Nichiren Shoshu Member
* Luana Anders - Donna

## External links

* The Last Detail quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* The Last Detail at Rotten Tomatoes