The Last Detail is a 1973 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby, from a screenplay by Robert Towne, based on the 1970 novel by Darryl Ponicsan.

Meadows has been court-martialed, dishonorably discharged, and sentenced to eight years in the brig for attempted robbery of $40 from a charity donation box, which happened to be run by the wife of the Norfolk Naval Base Commander.

Despite their initial resentment of the detail and Meadows' habit of stealing, they come to like the young man, who is timid, naive, and resigned to his fate.

Out of sympathy for what they feel is Meadows' unjust sentence and wanting to show him a good time, the pair make stops along their route to provide bon-voyage adventures for the young man.

One of the Buddhists invites the trio to a house party, where she offers to help Meadows flee his imprisonment and find refuge in Canada.

The senior sailors buy some hot dogs and attempt a frigid barbecue in the snow at a local park, where Badass confides in Mule about his concern for Meadows and the potential abuse that he will face in prison.

The young duty officer, a Marine first lieutenant wearing an Annapolis ring, notices Meadows' injuries and berates Badass and Mule.

[5] Ayres convinced Columbia Pictures to produce the film based on his consultant's credit on Bonnie & Clyde but had difficulty getting it made because of the studio's concern about the bad language in Towne's script.

[6] The head of Columbia asked Towne to reduce the number of curse words to which the writer responded, "This is the way people talk when they're powerless to act; they bitch".

[6] Ashby was coming off the disappointing commercial and critical failure of Harold and Maude and was in pre-production on Three Cornered Circle at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer when Jack Nicholson told him about The Last Detail, his upcoming film at Columbia.

[11] Casting director Lynn Stalmaster gave Ashby a final selection of actors, and the two that stood out were Randy Quaid and John Travolta.

[13] Director Hal Ashby also appears in a brief cameo in the New York bar scene as the bearded man observing Buddusky's dart game.

[6] Guber told Ayres that he could get Burt Reynolds, Jim Brown, and David Cassidy and a new writer, and he would approve production immediately.

[6] Ashby and Ayres read navy publications and interviewed current and ex-servicemen who helped them correct minor errors in the script.

[3] The director wanted to shoot on location at the naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, and the brig at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but was unable to get permission from the United States Navy.

However, the Canadian Navy was willing to cooperate and in mid-August 1972, Ashby and his casting director Stalmaster traveled to Toronto, Ontario to look at a naval base and meet with actors.

This almost changed the studio's mind about backing the project, but the director's drug bust was not widely reported and Nicholson remained fiercely loyal to him, which was a deciding factor.

[9] Ashby decided to shoot the film chronologically in order to help the inexperienced Quaid and recently cast Young ease into their characters.

Ayres recommended bringing in Robert C. Jones, one of the fastest editors in the business, who had been nominated for an Academy Award for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

[23] Ashby was in London, meeting with Peter Sellers about doing Being There when he received a phone call from Jones, who told him that Columbia was fed up with the time it was taking for the film to be assembled.

[25] The film opened at the Bruin Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles for a special 11-day Academy Award qualifying engagement where it grossed $46,369.

[27] The film was not a box office success, despite Oscar nominations for Nicholson, Quaid, and Towne by the time of the wide opening.

[31] It was first made available on Blu-ray disc as a limited edition by boutique label Twilight Time in the United States on January 19, 2016 with two special features, an isolated score track and a theatrical trailer.

Supplemental features include two cuts of the movie, original trailer; promotional materials; new interview with director of photography Michael Chapman; and a booklet.

[35] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film four stars out of four, writing that Nicholson "continues his impressive string of performances" and that the screenplay "is both funny and wise.

"[38] In contrast, Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote in a generally negative review that "it's conceivable that this trim, foreshortened adaptation would have worked, if only the direction had been sharper.

Unfortunately, Ashby has directed as if he were a novice, unsure of camera placement and lighting and undecided about what pace the story needs and what feelings it should evoke.

[42] Paul Tatara largely credited Towne's "profane, heartbreaking script" for the film's "small details, colorful language, and utterly believable character development, which cumulatively pack a real emotional wallop.

The website's consensus reads: "Very profane, very funny, very '70s: Director Hal Ashby lets Jack Nicholson and the cast run loose, creating a unique dramedy that's far out to sea.

Linklater's adaptation, which he co-wrote with Ponicsan, was released in November 2017 and stars Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne, and Steve Carell.