Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Grade: 95
"Five Easy Pieces" was one of three films starring Jack Nicholson that were directed, co-written, and co-produced by Bob Rafelson (the other films were the weird Monkees flop "Head" and the more successful "The King of Marvin Gardens"). The film's lead character, an intelligent but angry drifter, was ideally suited for Nicholson.
Nicholson plays Robert Dupea, who comes from an upper-class family of classical musicians. Nicholson is a former pianist (the film's title refers to a beginner's guide to the piano), but he currently works as an oilman. He again has the urge to run, because he does not want to commit to his stupid, clinging, pregnant girlfriend Rayette (Karen Black).
Robert learns that his father (William Challee) has had an incapacitating stroke. He returns home to visit his family, which includes sister Partita (Lois Smith) and brother Carl (Ralph Waite). Robert soon finds something to do at home: start a heated affair with Carl's fiancee Catherine (Susan Anspach).
While Nicholson gives a fine performance, the female supporting cast steals the show. Black, Smith, and Anspach are excellent. Helena Kallianiotes and Toni "Oh Mickey, you're so fine" Basil have terrific supporting roles as a pair of dike hitchhikers. Sally Struthers plays one of Nicholson's 'girlfriends', and has a topless scene (No, it isn't frightening). There is also a score featuring some of Tammy Wynette's best songs.
The film's most famous scene involves a confrontation between Nicholson and a no-nonsense waitress. He wants to order a simple breakfast that isn't on the menu, but she'll have none of it. If you haven't seen the scene, it is certainly worth the trip to the video store. But the film's real strength isn't the comic relief provided by Nicholson, Black and Kallianiotes, but in the character study of Robert Dupea. He is a rebellious, philandering, wandering bastard, but he is also ashamed of his weaknesses, which are clearly out of control.
"Five Easy Pieces" received Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay (Rafelson and Carol Eastman). Nicholson was nominated for Best Actor, while Black was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
kollers@mpsi.net http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews