Darryl Ponicsan had two of his novels on screen in 1973: "The Last Detail" and "Cinderella Liberty". Both are about "Lifers" in the Navy, single sailors with no families and essentially no life other than the Navy. I knew Lifers like this in the Air Force in the 1960's. It's a sad existence, but they don't seem to realize how empty it really is. In "Cinderella Liberty", John Baggs is a Lifer whose outlook is changed. It's basically a sad story, but extremely well done. Caan gives a more restrained performance than he is know for, and it's one of his best. The beautiful score, including the Oscar nominated "Nice To Be Around" with harmonica solo by Toots Theielemans, was one of John Williams earliest. The lyrics were by Paul Williams, who also does the vocal "Wednesday Special", the film's Main Title.
Review of Cinderella Liberty
