MovieChat Forums > The Last Detail (1974) Discussion > Can I be the only one? ***SPOILER ALER...

Can I be the only one? *SPOILER ALERT**

posted 19 years ago by jewoods-1
29 replies | jump to latest

Too much good is being said about this film. Can I be the ONLY person who hated this movie?

It's been 2 decades since I read the book and/or viewed the movie. Having read Ponicsan's book first I HAD MAJOR PROBLEMS WITH THE ENDING?! A more obvious perversion of a GREAT natural climatic ending doesn't come to mind.

There is nothing easier than a "happy ending" but life, as most of us know, isn't about that, not often enough anyway. Not to hurt anyone's feelings but this story has NO happy ending and ends in a particularly unforgettable misery. That was what I LOVED about the book.

Read the book people. According to Amazon it's only 150 pages long, the whole thing can be done in an afternoon or evening. Great stuff, you'll be scarred for life.

BTW - another most hated book to movie adaptation is Heinlein's masterpiece, "Starship Troopers". Absolutely fabulous, classic visionary work of science fiction converted downstream (way downstream) to a terrible, completely forgettable dismissive piece of waste. For shame!

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] rjakemaxey 18 years ago

since when did this movie have a happy ending?
no happy ending here, my friend

[–] lubycat 18 years ago

What movie where you watching? That wasn't a happy ending!

[–] DrTrannySurprise 18 years ago

Yeah, I don't really see what you can find to be happy about the ending of this movie.

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[–] hibzarecool 18 years ago

The ending for the film is perfect. I wonder if any film-makers today would have the courage to have such an unsentimental, apt and intelligent ending. We are too used to some violent conclusion these days where the baddie is killed and everyone lives happily ever after - which rarely happens in real life.

The ending shows that all 3 characters are just cogs in an impersonal system. A system to which they all voluntarily signed up to.

They way Meadows is taken away quickly and unceremoniously by the Marine guards and doesnt have time to say goodbye is perfect.

The great scene with the Marine prison officer is trying to put down Badass and Mule and then being outmanouvered. Here there is some subtle sentiment as much as Badass and Mule can allow within the constraints of their military life - where they hide the fact Meadows tried to escape and they take the rap for him being injured.

Mule and Badass leaving the prison - they are prisoners in their own way, only looking toward their next orders. Their is no sentiment towards Meadows at this stage, they have done their job and are moving on best they can. Both love and hate the system at the same time. The Navy is their life. The 2 will go their separate ways back to base and probably wont see each other again. Its interesting to note that none of the characters knew each other at the start of the film. Its just an assignment that brings them close for the period of time and then they go their separate ways which is a reflection of the way it is in real life.

The film ending is much better than the book ending which sounds a bit ridiculous. Anyone who is in the military for 20yrs isnt suddenly going to get peed off with someone else's plight which doesnt directly affect them at all and go AWOL throwing away their life and career. Both have worked their way up to petty officer, they are not going to suddenly throw that away. Its great during the film how they fluctuate towards natural feelings of sympathy for Meadows and looking after their own asses and getting the job done. They realise at the end that by opening themselves up to too much sentiment they are actually making the situation worse for both parties.

In some ways the relationship between the 3 characters is like a mother (Mule), father (Badass) and Meadows (the child) relationship as they watch him have fun and try to grow up eg. the ice skating scene

That is what military can be like, a replacement family for kids who dont have that in civilian life.

[–] krakatoa1883 18 years ago

I just love how no one actually takes any action of any kind in this film, how morality is on the backburner to duty and apathy. When Meadows tells the chanting lady at the party that he in being taken to prison by these two friends of his, she could of helped him escape, instead she suggests escape but does not go out of her way to show him how, instead she chants for him. All the cussing is a substitute for action, that is why there is so much bad language. I too thought the ending was the perfect payoff for this film. A film about inaction, I'm glad someone had the brains to make such a movie.

[–] Tabbycat (748) 2 years ago

Great points.
Think you nailed it.

[–] Badlands1 7 years ago

They way Meadows is taken away quickly and unceremoniously by the Marine guards and doesn't have time to say goodbye is perfect.

I gotta disagree, the whole movie is a build up of all three's relationship, so to just dump everything with no emotion at the end.
Don't forget the scene of Nicholson almost crying on the bench at the "picnic"
Then they just walk away casually from the prison?

Great acting, soundtrack, and editing, just a cop-out ending IMHO.

[–] Tabbycat (748) 2 years ago

Very insightful.
They were like a family.

[–] walton_n_friends 18 years ago

I don't know if you're the only one that hated this movie, but you're the only person I've ever seen describe its ending as "happy." Meadows goes to the brig where it's all but spelled out he'll have the snot kicked out of him for the majority of his sentence, if he doesn't kill himself first, and Buddusky and Mule are going back to the base even more cynical and disaffected than when the film began.

[–] dbeierl 18 years ago

I don't think either of them is exactly cynical or exactly disaffected. They live in a world in which they have considerable power and responsibility in sharply circumscribed areas -- primarily over enlisted men of lesser rate than themselves but also arising out of the circumstances of particular duties they may be assigned. At the same time they are greatly subservient to enlisted of higher rate -- who usually have seniority of years and experience as well -- and to officers of any rank. Many or even most of the officers they have routine contact with will be their juniors in age, experience or both. This power relationship is not entirely one-sided in that as senior men they know how to work the system better than the junior officers tend to, enabling them to stave off a good deal of abuse by the inept or inexperienced, like that young Marine officer. But in any serious difference with the system or with an officer who doesn't foolishly overstep his bounds they are going to lose in a big way and they know it. Mulhall and Buddusky exemplify two different ways of living with this but both are quite sincere.

They have exactly no chance to influence Meadows's fate in the slightest *except during that time in which he's in their charge* and they know that intimately and not the least bit cynically. Furthermore if they fail to deliver him safe and on time they will be in big trouble from the system even without the personal attentions of the skipper whose wife has a grudge. No matter how much personal sympathy they have for him, his trying to escape is a personal outrage -- he's taking huge advantage of their kindness to screw them and they react accordingly. But having prevented the escape and informed him concretely of their displeasure, they refrain from compounding his troubles enormously and accept a weight of displeasure on their own heads instead. That could be serious enough, but by demoralizing the officer they make it very unlikely that this will follow them home.

And incidentally US Naval Disciplinary Command, Portsmouth NH was not such a terrible place as those things go. Incoming prisoners spent a few weeks in cells but otherwise almost the entire population was housed in 80-man dormitories. I was stationed at the shipyard hospital there when they closed DISCOM in '74. They gave early outs to anyone with less than a year remaining, and sent the rest to Federal prisons. That was a *highly* unpopular move among the prisoners. But I digress.

Duty done as humanely as possible, the order of the universe requires that they crow about their small victories and be briefly somber about what has never been in their power to alter -- and then forget about it and move on. And they do. Indeed, Meadows is infinitely better equipped to serve his sentence successfully than when they began, no small thing indeed. He won't kill himself and he won't attract trouble by being ostentatiously helpless. He might even get a review board and have a big chunk knocked off his time, who knows (ok, if he really *had* gone to Portsmouth in '73 he'd have ended up in Leavenworth when they closed in '74 but hey..).

cheers,
david, ex-HM2

[–] walton_n_friends 18 years ago

Nice post, but I think you're missing the point I was trying to make. Perhaps that's my own fault. I can't speak to Buddusky's or Mulhall's overall experience in the Navy because I've never served, nor can I speak to the quality of life in the particular jail Meadows was headed for; all I know is how the characters are portrayed in the film, and in the film the impression is given that Meadows is not tough enough to handle the stockade and Buddusky mentions this repeatedly in the context of (paraphrasing) marines beating the snot out of the kid. Perhaps "disaffected" and "cynical" were not the proper words to describe Buddusky and Mulhall, and there is no doubt that they do their duty. They will likely continue to do so long after the film's end, but they sure don't seem happy about it.

[–] RubanAdhesifScotch 18 years ago

A lot more was implied than people "beating the snot out of the kid." When Badass and Mule are talking about getting Meadows laid, Badass says something along the lines of "The kid won't see a woman for another eight years," to which Mule replies "And by then he might not wanna do anything about it."

[–] Konfus_always 18 years ago

Yes, I picked that one up immediatly.. Pretty scary to imagine what that kid will be exposed to in his sentence time. Makes the movie even more scary and tragic.

I wonder if that rumor is true? That many american prisons have frequent rapes among the inmates?

Makes you wonder why people just cant settle with their right hand. If your a heterosexual I really dont see why you would rape another male. Even if you had to live without a woman for x years...

[–] jackarney 18 years ago

"Great stuff, you'll be scarred for life."

Er, I'm not too sure what would be 'great' about being scarred for life.....

[–] pierreduesing 18 years ago

"I wonder if that rumor is true? That many american prisons have frequent rapes among the inmates?"

Dude, where the friggin do you come from? Never knew anybody who had been to jail? Never watched a documentary or read articles on that subject?

As for the "why": Rape is in most cases (homo as well as heterosexual) rather about dominating and humiliating the victim than the sexual intercourse itself. Rape has been used as a powerful way of psychological warfare since ages, dude...

[–] Konfus_always 18 years ago

Hehe.. You must pardon my ignorance about the american prisons, but in Denmark it's not a common thing, no. Dont ask me why, it just isn't. Maybe it's because our prisons are small, and it's easier for the guards to control the prisons and their, ahem, behaviour. We really have it too easy here, but that's just because we're such a god damn small country.

I'd bet you a beer that you didnt know about Denmark before this post.

[–] pierreduesing 18 years ago

"didnt know about Denmark before this post"-what the friggin are you talking about dude? Know what about denmark?

"Maybe it's because our prisons are small, and it's easier for the guards to control the prisons and their, ahem, behaviour."

Yes, the state of european prisons can not really be compared to the american prisons where the prisons are often huge and overfilled and so on. The whole life is much more tensed there and people resort more often to violence.

[–] Konfus_always 18 years ago

My saying "know about denmark" where I actually should have written "knew".. Kind a dumb.. I meant that Denmark existed. As a nation.

Perhaps thats just some stupid idea we danes got.. That nobody in the world knows were here. If it's true, it certainly has an advantage.

[–] pierreduesing 18 years ago

"Kind a dumb"-No don't diss yourself dude, you just spelled something wrong but your english is really good, considering you're from asia.

[–] Konfus_always 18 years ago

Why thank you.. and just a real subtle joke there, bucko.

[–] pierreduesing 18 years ago

Thank you too. What is a Bucko?

[–] Konfus_always 18 years ago

Bucko is a another term for "pal" "buddy" and can be used for friendly or patronizing purpose.

[–] pierreduesing 18 years ago

That is nice, thank you for adding me to your bucko-list.

[–] kag2 7 years ago

For those that dislike this movie:

Granted, this is a sad story shot in depressing, seemingly barren places. Think of how much of the film shows the sailors' attempts to escape from sadness, boredom, and injustice - yet their efforts seem fruitless or lead to further sadness. They go to a bar and have a run-in with a redneck bartender. The kid's mom isn't home in depressing Camden, NJ, and had she been home it might have been worse. They get in a bathroom brawl with Marines, and they get drunk in their hotel room - a sad commentary for men in their mid-30's. They take the kid to a bordello, which he barely enjoys, while the two lifers sit in the outer room discussing their troubles (divorce, lonliness, etc.). They go to a party and Budduskey makes a fool of himself. They have a picnic and eat hot dogs without buns in that barren, frozen park. The only happy diversion may have been eating those Italian Sausages in NYC.

But the film more than works via the powerful acting by Jack Nicholson, assisted by solid performances by Otis Young and Randy Quaid. I first saw this movie alone as a high school student on a frozen winter night in a mostly empty old theater, as I was avoiding painting the basement like I'd promised my dad. The movie did not exactly cheer me up, but Jack Nicholson sure carried the show.

[–] benbo-3 11 years ago

All the commenting during the movie by Badass & Mule kept reminding me of 'Too Young The Hero', the experience of a 12-year-old sailor who served on a destroyer in ww2! At the risk of putting in a cross-post spoiler, he is raped in the Navy jail. The guy was Calvin Graham: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Graham
I wonder if this case is well known in Navy circles, and what Badass & Mule had in mind, theorizing about what'd happen to an essentially meek dumb kid in a Navy jail. Not explicitly named, but I wonder if that's what they had in mind, worrying about Meadows.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] 11 years ago

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Can I be the only one? ***SPOILER ALERT****

Can I be the only one? *SPOILER ALERT**