It was on 12 December in 1973, that Columbia Pictures released the film, ‘The Last Detail’. The film, directed by Hal Ashby, starred Jack Nicholson and Otis Young as two US Navy Petty Officers assigned to a temporary detail as Shore Patrol, bringing a third Sailor, played by Randy Quaid, from the Naval base at Norfolk, Virginia, to the Brig in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
In the film, the two career Sailors take pity on their charge and attempt to school him in the ways of the world before he endures a usually harsh sentence for petty theft. The film was shot chronologically, and on location, as the trio make their way up the East Coast of the USA.
The film would be nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Actor, Supporting Actor and Screenplay.
The clip below was assembled by the Austin Film Society for a series they sponsored in which the film was featured.