Five Easy Pieces

1970 character study

Rating: 18/20

Plot: Bob takes a break from his meaningless and directionless life of odd jobs to return to his former life with his well-to-do family of musical geniuses because Dad's dying. After a visit of a couple weeks, he returns to his directionless and meaningless life.

If this movie was made today, Nic Cage would have to play Dupea. And although he's one of the finest actors to ever grace the silver screen, he's not touching what Jack does here. Nicholson's performance is otherworldly, transcendent. This character-in-limbo study works for me, mostly because of that performance. The movie's driftless, just like his character, but Nicholson holds this whole thing together, gives it this chewy center. I could watch him attempt to order toast for hours, but that most famous scene in this movie isn't the only place he shines. His road rage is complete genius, all intensity and random shouting. "Why don't you flash your lights so we can see what else you got for Christmas?" And when his barking turns to a piano solo? Unforgettably beautiful. There's also a Nicolas Cage-esque freakout in a car, and his demonstration of Vegas rehearsal piano playing is so nutty. It's truly a virtuosic performance. I also enjoyed Billy Green Bush despite his dumb name as Dupea's buddy Elton. He's got a great southern chuckle which he demonstrates during some bowling alley antics and after pulling something out of his nose. He's also the reason I get to use my "ill-fitting underpants" tag, and, unless I heard incorrectly, he called Jack a "shit ass" at one point. One little detail that I like: during the scene where Jack visits his sister in a recording studio, you can hear the sound of a rewinding tape, backwards piano as a clue to what we're supposed to be looking for in Jack's character. I like that. Five Easy Pieces, a movie with a title I won't pretend I understand, also has arguably one of the best endings.

"Her name's Twinky."
"Twinky?"
"Yeah, cause she's so Twinky."

That's not the ending, you shit ass.