No, it ain't got no spaceships in it but it's a great movie featuring one of Nicholson's definitive performances as Billy "Bad Ass" Buddusky, a Navy "lifer" assigned to escort a naive young sailor (a very young Randy Quaid - wonderful here in one of his first roles) from Norfolk, Va. to a naval prison in Portsmouth, NH in order to serve an eight-year sentence after being convicted at a court-martial of petty theft. They've got three days to do it though and Buddusky decides to introduce the sailor to some of the finer pleasures in life along the way. If you look real close, you'll see a pre-Saturday Night Live Gilda Radner as a chanting Zen Buddhist in New York City. Nicholson's reaction shot in that scene is a classic!

One of the greats! Thanks for the heads-up :thumbsup:

"I am the mother------g shore patrol, mother-----r!"

Hal Ashby, Jack Nicholson, and Robert Towne... whadda killer combo.

I just wish they had been able to actually use the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard prison. For those who haven't seen it, it pretty much resembles a castle. Even though it has been shut up for quite some time and decay has set in, she is one heck of a good looking building for a gal her age.