The Last Detail Movie Themes

The Last Detail, a 1973 comedy-drama, is the product of many respected industry players of the time. It was directed by Hal Ashby (Harold and Maude, Shampoo) and starred Jack Nicholson (Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces), an actor who is almost synonymous with New Hollywood. The screenplay is an adaptation by Robert Towne (Bonnie and Clyde [uncredited], Shampoo) from a 1970 novel of the same name. Although it had an all-star team behind it, that alone is not what makes it a Hollywood Renaissance movie. In addition to it reputable Hollywood Renaissance team, it also shares many of the common themes of a Hollywood Renaissance movie as we have seen in class. The New Hollywood movement is “remembered as an era in which Hollywood produced a relatively high number of innovative films that seemed to go beyond the confines of conventional studio fare in terms of their content and style.” (King) It is often directly linked to the growing popularity of the French New Wave and is viewed as America’s attempt at art films. This introduction of art and modernism to Hollywood films changed the themes and visuals of the movies being released compared to those of classic Hollywood. It was also during this time that, “Hollywood made …show more content…
Buddusky and Mulhall are on a “journey” to get Meadows to a navy prison. They both begin the detail with resent, however as they travel through the wintry northeastern-states, Meadows begins to grow on them. They begin to feel bad for him and the experiences as a young man that he will be missing out on by being incarcerated. As a result, they decide to show him a good time before handing him over to the authorities. Through out the movie there are few times that the soldiers actually act as soldiers. Especially Buddusky and Mulhall, who, despite being the ones who are actively in the military, continual get off course of their mission to have a good