‘Last Flag Flying’ Trailer Brings Us a Long Overdue Sequel to ‘The Last Detail’ (VIDEO)

One of the most underrated films of the 70s, Hal Ashby's The Last Detail features a Top 5 Jack Nicholson performance, Randy Quaid in his pre-Canadian cabin sex tape phase, and a crack screenplay by Chinatown scribe Robert Towne. It's also based on a book by Darryl Ponicsan, who wrote the book in 1970 and then penned a follow-up 35 years later titled Last Flag Flying. 

Richard Linklater, who is one of the most chameleonic directors in Hollywood, is now bringing that follow-up book to the screen, along with a change in the characters' names due to pesky rights issues. The film finds Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, and Laurence Fishburne as ex-Marines reunited for the funeral of Carell's son, a Marine himself. 

While I can guarantee this won't touch The Last Detail in terms of its legacy, I'm eager to see three actors I like do some verbal sparring in a character driven movie. We don't get enough of those anymore. While Cranston is obviously echoing Nicholson's character, I think he's smart enough to move in a different direction. No one wants to compete with this kind of brilliance...

Last Flag Flying comes out in select theaters on November 3, just in time for awards season.