The Last Detail

Hal Ashby (director)
Darryl Ponicsan (novel)
Robert Towne (screenwriter)
Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, Randy Quaid, Carol Kane (starring)

Culver City, CA: Columbia Pictures, 1973. Vintage studio still photograph from the 1973 film.

Based on the 1970 novel by Darryl Ponicsan. Two foul-mouthed sailors are assigned a shore patrol to escort a young seaman to a Navy prison in Maine to begin a heavy-handed eight year sentence. The pair decides to take their captive out for a few adventures before his prison term, including getting drunk, skating in Rockefeller Center, going to a brothel, and more. Screenwriter Robert Towne faced difficulty adapting Ponicsan's novel for the screen, largely due to Columbia Studios' concern over the novel's profanity. The film eventually gained the dubious distinction of the most uses (65) of the word "fuck" in a motion picture at the time of its release.

Set and shot on location in New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, and Virginia in the US, and Ontario in Canada.

10 x 8 inches. Near Fine.


[Book #158868]