In a raw East Coast midwinter, seasoned Navy Petty officers, Jack Nicholson and Otis Young escort guileless teenage seaman, Randy Quaid, to prison. En route, they opt to show the kid (and themselves) a good time, which includes encounters with Nancy Allen and Gilda Radner in their movie debuts. Hal Ashby makes the absolute most of Robert Towne’s Oscar-nominated screenplay, adapted from Darryl Ponicsan’s novel.

This November, Richard Linklater’s Last Flag Flying, a sequel to Ashby’s film and also based on a Ponicsan book, will revisit this trio later in life.