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| On the road |
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| Through a glass |
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| Signalling |
Title: The Last Detail
Year: 1973
Director: Hal Ashby
Format: Blu-ray
Label: Indicator
Notes:
Another film added to my collection because of a dimly-remembered TV screening from way back when I was an impressionable youth. That's appropriate given the film's plot about a young navy man being escorted to a long jail sentence for a crime that is portrayed as nothing more than a misdemeanour. The film's subtext is clear - the military (or the state...) is a brutalising force and will not always treat young men well.
That said, the film is actually funny and endearing road movie and coming-of-age tale. It's not as surreal as the other Hal Ashby film I've seen (HAROLD & MAUDE) but there's plenty of dark humour. Your appreciation for it may depend on how much proto-Bro banter you can stomach.
Jack Nicholson is great but it was the vulnerable performance of Randy Quaid that really stood out for me - probably more so as I only really know him as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon Vacation films!
The photography is fine with a relentlessly cold colour scheme and lots of dissolving transitions keeping the film flowing. It wasn't hard to find stills to include here.
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