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10 The Last Detail
Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 5:18 pm
by PfR73
(Hal Ashby, 1973)
Release date: 27 February 2017
Limited Dual Format Edition (UK Blu-ray premiere)
"No *#@!!* Navy's going to give some poor *!!@ kid eight years in the #@!* brig without me taking him out for the time of his *#@!!* life."
When Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and Mulhall (Otis Young) are detailed to take a young sailor, Meadows (Randy Quaid), from a Virginia Naval Base to a New Hampshire Naval Prison to serve an eight-year sentence for a trivial offense they decide to show him a good time on their journey north...
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES:
• 4K restoration from the original negative
• Original mono audio
• Two presentations of the feature: the original, uncut theatrical version, and the world exclusive home video presentation of the 1976 TV syndication cut
• An Introduction by filmmaker Alexander Payne (2017, 5 mins)
• About a Trip (2017, 16 mins): an appreciation by Alexander Payne
• A Search for Truth (2017, 21 mins): an interview with editor Robert C. Jones
• An Interview with Michael Chapman (2004, 4 mins): the acclaimed director of photography discusses his work on The Last Detail
• Isolated score: experience Johnny Mandel’s original soundtrack music
• Original theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, available for both presentations of the feature
• Limited edition exclusive 28-page booklet with a new essay by Michael Pattison, and an examination of the 1976 TV cut
• UK Blu-ray premiere
• Limited Dual Format Edition of 5,000 copies
Re: Indicator
Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 6:01 pm
by MichaelB
PfR73 wrote:MichaelB,
With your work as a disc producer, I was wondering if you might be able to provide some insight into a question I have.
Last night I was doing my own comparison between the Indicator & Twilight Time releases of The Last Detail. As expected from all sources, the Indicator disc handily trounces the Twilight Time disc in almost all ways. However, there is actually one area where the Twilight Time disc is superior: the Theatrical Trailer
The Twilight Time disc has the trailer in widescreen HD, with the quality pretty close to the quality of the film transfer (good color, sound, etc).
The Indicator disc has a fullscreen trailer that is clearly of SD origin and the quality is pretty bad (lots of damage, faded colors, pretty bad sound).
They are the same trailer (both running 2:58, same cuts, same VO, same optical titles in the same places), so it's not a case of 2 different theatrical trailers being used; and since the Twilight Time disc was released first, it's not like this was a newer scan of the trailer after the Indicator disc.
Why would a licensor (in this case, Indicator) producing a newer, better disc be using a much poorer quality version of the trailer than a previously released disc (from a different licensor)? Shouldn't Sony provide the same quality trailer to both?
That disc was before my time, I’m afraid.
Re: 10 The Last Detail
Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2026 7:13 pm
by therewillbeblus
I grew up with my dad lauding this film as one of the best of the 70s, and when I finally saw it, I was too young to appreciate the complexity of humanity on display here. Revisiting it as an adult, it's a wonderful film, covering so many diverse tones under a raw, humanist umbrella. This might be Nicholson's best performance too - ferocious but warmhearted underneath the veneer (and he even shows off some great physical comedy talent during the bed bit!) I love how bittersweet the ending is, as the makeshift family the group created is dismantled, yet there's hope that everyone's small but powerful revelations were meaningful in some way, even if they drift away in the impermanence of life - which is also dolefully applied to lasting personal growth. Ashby is one of the finest directors of films about eccentric outsiders searching for belongingness in a world governed by invasive systems that work to prevent that harmony, and this is a hangout movie that reflects many shades of life, personality, and circumstance.. and somehow feels loose and breezy while containing so much strain for existential heights. It's incredibly rare to re-evaluate an artwork to the level where it suddenly becomes an all-time favorite, and I'm grateful to have experienced that with this film. Its maturity is unparalleled, and so are its detailed antics.