Two Navy lifers, "Bad Ass" Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and "Mule" Mulhall (Otis Young), draw escort detail for an awkward, callow kleptomaniac, Meadows (Randy Quaid), on his way from Virginia to New Hampshire to serve a stiff eight-year sentence for pilfering a charity box. Inspired by the unbelievable passivity of their pathetic charge, the two older salts take a little detour in order to initiate him into the world as they know it before turning him in. In an American rite of passage--a few days between separate prisons--they move by bus and train up the Eastern seaboard, stopping in bars, brothels and dingy diners, and are lured by the unearthly chants of a Nichiren Shoshu Society meeting to sample the oddities of civilian life. Cockiness barely covers for the brusque love that begins to show around the edges as the "Navy of three" inches reluctantly towards New Hampshire. Robert Towne's rowdy, hilarious script is perfectly tuned to Jack Nicholson's turns in this eccentric showcase for his talents, the sentimental education of Bad Ass Buddusky.