1973 movieRating: 16/20
Plot: Two Navy lifers have to transport an inexperienced kid to a Marine prison because he tried to steal forty dollars. Along the way, they decide to treat him to one last good time for his eight year sentence begins.
Perhaps I'm a dope, but I was sold on the authenticity with this one. I imagined that this is exactly what life in the Navy was like in the 1970's. Jack Nicholson distracts me in nearly every movie he's in, but he, Otis Young, and Randy Quaid (speaking of dopes) delivered realistic portrayals of Navy men at similar but completely different points of life--being young and fearful of losing freedoms you always imagined you'd have and being older and feeling trapped by your decisions and dismayed at the ennui. The dialogue is crispy and sometimes lewdly funny, and the rapport between the three men develops perfectly as they travel together and trash hotel rooms, locate whores, drink, drink again, and enjoy the perfect fifty cent sandwich. If nothing else, this movie made me want to grow a mustache, wear one of those Navy hats around, smoke a big cigar, and say things like "Grab your cocks and drop your socks! We're going to party!" An entertaining and different sort of buddy road movie. Oh, and before I get angry comments from the Randy Quaid Appreciation Society, I'm not saying that he's a dumb guy or anything. His performance here as a mild dope (as opposed to the absurdly dopey or mentally challenged dopey characters he seems destined to play) is very good, and I found it very easy to identify with his character. So get off my back, Randy Quaid Appreciation Society. Get off my motherfucking back.