Five Easy Pieces | Jack Nicholson, Karen Black

Five Easy Pieces | Jack Nicholson, Karen Black | Landmark Character Study

DVDs:

Five Easy Pieces

	Five Easy Pieces Jack Nicholson, Karen Black Sony Pictures, 1999 average customer review:based on 71 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Jack nicholson gives a tour de force performance in this riveting masterpiece. Special features: full screen or widescreen version mono sound subtitles: english spanish portuguese chinese korean and thia talent files and bonus theatrical trailer. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 12/21/2004 Starring: Jack Nicholson Sally Struthers Run time: 96 minutes Rating: R Director: Bob Rafelson

California not Texas

For the record, the oil field section of this classic don't take place in Texas. Try California, as in the oilfields north of LA and west of Bakersfiled. You can even see CA roadsigns in the Highway 5 piano playing scene. This may seem to be a trivial point, but it matters in the understanding of Jack's character. All that aside, this flick is a subtle classic.

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Landmark Character Study

I'm amazed that you don't hear much about this terrific film these days. Released in 1970, "Five Easy Pieces" heralded a renaissance of highly personal character driven films championed by not only since film's director, Bob Rafelson, but also Robert Altman and Hal Ashby, among others. This film focuses on people, their quirks and their interpersonal relationships. The film's central character, Robert Eroica Dupea, is not a particularly likable person but as written superbly by Carol Eastman and brilliantly assayed by Jack Nicholson he becomes sympathetic. Stifled by an austere artistic clan, Dupea escapes but leads a directionless existence going from one meaningless job after another and engages in a romance with a waitress(Karen Black) that he has little if anything in common with. Nicholson gives a carefully modulated performance, a departure from his more flamboyant work in "Easy Rider", suggesting both the anger, apathy, and sadness that seethes inside. The real revelation here is Black. A lesser actress would have portrayed Rayette as a dumb bunny. Black saw more complexity in her character. Rayette is certainly unlearned but Black brought out the sweetness and the sadness in her. It's unfathomable how Black lost the Oscar to Helen Hayes in "Airport"(?!). On a final note any film that puts Tammy Wynette and Chopin on equal footing has to be great.

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The Classic 70s Movie!

Jack Nicholson plays a concert pianist who works on oil rigs and has a beautifully singing girlfriend who is employed as a waitress. Both lead drifting, not too happy lives. Karen Black, his girlfriend, puts up with mistreatment and infidelity while Jack constantly mistreats her and longs for someone else. She even gets left in a motel room for two days while he visits his family! A good story of a man with talent who can't seem to get it together and take himself in a direction which would make his life meaningful. A visit to a father who is dying is in order but the son is lost and making more mistakes along the way. His cruelty alarms people and he doesn't seem to know where it is coming from. A very good character study without obvious answers.

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Edited DVD from Original

I saw this movie when it first came out, and upon viewing it recently (2008), it appears to be different. I remember it being in black and white, and I remember the confrontation with the character's father as being far more emotional and extended in time. Duprea said a great deal more to his father than - we never did talk much, did we? I think portions of the movie, which serve to give a much clearer picture of the relationship between father and son, have been edited out - to the detrement of artist and audience. I grew up in just such a family and had the exact same reactions of Duprea, to the sterile, narrow minded, judgemental environment in which the character was raised. I recognized the cold, life-less atmosphere of the house, peopled by those ignorant of real life, yet dangerous because of their imagined insight and superiority. I would have liked to see the original movie, uncut.

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One of Jack Nicholson's best films

I saw "Five Easy Pieces" back in 1974-I was completely blown away by Jack Nicholson's performance-It turns out he was nominated for Best Actor in 1970-Unfortunately,he lost to George C.Scott,who ironically refused to accept his Oscar for "Patton"-Sharp eyed viewers will catch a then unknown actress named Sally Struthers,who went on to play Gloria in the hit TV series "All In The Family"-My favorite scene in "FEP" is when Nicholson gets testy with the waitress in the diner-That's a keeper!-This is Jack Nicholson at his best.

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