Blu-ray Review The Last Detail Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Richard Gallagher]

richard-gallagher has published a new article.

The Last Detail Blu-ray Review

The Last Detail, featuring what may be the quintessential Jack Nicholson performance, has arrived on Blu-ray from Twilight Time with an...
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[Angelo Colombus]

A great film and a great performance by Nicholson and with Five Easy Pieces, The King of the Marvin Garden, and Chinatown he was one of the best actors of the 70's. Like to see The Passenger on Blu-ray soon with a good print of the film.

 

[Flashgear]

A wonderful review of an essential and great film...thank you also for your personal anecdotes Richard...THE LAST DETAIL might well be my favourite film of the '70s...I'm still waiting on my copy and am grateful for TT in giving it the treatment it deserves.

 

[Dick]

A wonderful review of an essential and great film...thank you also for your personal anecdotes Richard...THE LAST DETAIL might well be my favourite film of the '70s...I'm still waiting on my copy and am grateful for TT in giving it the treatment it deserves.

Am I the only one who finds this transfer extremely dark -- as in low on shadow detail? The sharpness and grain are perfect, but I kept wanting to adjust my brightness level.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Am I the only one who finds this transfer extremely dark -- as in low on shadow detail? The sharpness and grain are perfect, but I kept wanting to adjust my brightness level.

Robert Harris says that the lack of shadow detail is intentional and is how the film was shot. "...we'll quell discussions of improper handling of the elements by Columbia, as I'm certain some will point to the lack of shadow detail in the blacks, and cry "foul!" Gritty describes the look, and the negative is thin. There's nothing in the shadows."

 

[Wvtvguy]

So this is a limited release? I'm a huge fan of 70's cinema & this is one of the movies I've been wanting to see this.

 

[The Drifter]

Excellent review in the OP. I recently re-watched TLD and have come away with a bigger appreciation for the film than any previous viewing. Excellent movie - Nicholson (Buddusky) obviously stands out here re: his truly superb performance, but the acting by Otis Young (Mulhall) and Randy Quaid (Meadows) was also excellent. As with many great '70's films, the movie seems more like a documentary than an actual film - very natural & realistic.

I thought it was interesting how Buddusky (and to a slightly lesser extent, Mulhall) had a lot of justified righteous indignation over not only the way the "powers that be" were treating Meadows for a minor crime (i.e., sentencing him to eight years in prison for a minor attempted theft of $40, especially when he didn't even get the $) but also the way the way "lifers" (career sailors) like him & Mulhall were disrespectfully treated by the big-shots above them.

Great urban scenes of early '70's NYC & Boston in winter - very nice time capsule of the cities during this time.

Some of my favorite dialogue in the film was when Buddusky, Mulhall, and Meadows met the three intellectual hippie women at a bar, and then were invited to @ a small party/gathering. The women were very much into transcendental meditation, philosophy, politics, etc. - and didn't seem interested in much else. Despite this, Buddusky somehow felt that he & and the other two would get lucky with the women. However, Mulhall, who was either a lot more discerning - or a lot less drunk - set Buddusky straight:

Buddusky: Get rid of that silly-looking creep, and we've got the chicks to ourselves.
Mulhall: We have, huh?
Buddusky: Yeah, why not?
Mulhall: Those three chicks would rather #$%$ each other than come near us.

HA! HA!

Nice to see a young Nancy Allen as one of the party-goers.

The scene towards the end when they were cooking hot dogs in the park was very poignant; you could tell they really didn't want to take Meadows to prison for the minor infraction (and had even talked about letting him go) - but, the reality was that they had to - because their careers were on the line if they didn't. The ending scene when Meadows ran away & had to be caught by Buddusky was especially tough to watch.

Great scene at the very end, when Buddusky & Mulhall were again complaining about the way they were being treated - but also happy that they had successfully stood up to one of the big shots (a young M. Moriarty) who was giving them a hard time about some trivial paperwork.

IMHO Nicholson's best films came out during the late '60's - mid '70's era, i.e.: Easy Rider; TLD; The King of Marvin Gardens; Chinatown; Five Easy Pieces; The Passenger; & One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (and maybe some I missed). He was really on a roll during this time!

 

[Robin9]

So this is a limited release? I'm a huge fan of 70's cinema & this is one of the movies I've been wanting to see this.

This is a Twilight Time release which means 3000 copies only so yes, it that sense it's a limited release. That doesn't mean it's going to sell out within a few days.

 

[Worth]

This is a Twilight Time release which means 3000 copies only so yes, it that sense it's a limited release. That doesn't mean it's going to sell out within a few days.

And there's also a good chance it will get another release from a different company down the road, as a number of Twilight Time titles have.