Five Easy Pieces

[The Bone]

What a great movie! What island is Jack Nicholson's family supposed to be on?

[Mik]

Mars

[El Tedesco]

It's the narrow road one travels in pursuit of the "American Dream". Those were the days when the country was still wide open to searching souls of brave individuals.

[getbent]

I always thought it was whidby island, but I don't know for sure....

everyone always remembers the diner scene.... but my favorite is when Jack plays something and his brothers wife (If I remember) kinda over hears it and he knows it and when he is done she is kind of turned on and weepy and says, "that is beautiful" or something like that and he squints and says "I played it better when I was 5, it is the easiest thing I know."

[BritishBluesBoy]

Funny, I just watched that again a couple of days ago along with The Last Detail. Both fantastic movies. They really don't make 'em like they used to do they...??

[Bako]

Some of that movie was filmed in good ole Taft, Calif., about 30 miles west of Bakersfield. Great movie.

[tiktok]

They never specify, but if it were "reality", Whidbey or Vashon Islands would fit the bill. Although, it wasn't filmed at either of those.

[jimbach]

This is one of my favorite movies ever. Below is a review I wrote of it about four years ago.

Five Easy Pieces
(Bob Rafelson, 1970)

It had been many years since I'd last seen Bob Rafelson's Five Easy Pieces, and really all I remembered were the oil rigs, Nicholson's swagger, and the "hold the chicken between your knees" diner scene. So I was quite unprepared for the full force of what I saw last evening. As a matter of fact, the film may be the key work of the new wave of American cinema, that glorious period that began with Bonnie and Clyde and ended sometime between the summers a shark attacked and the Jedi were given a new hope.

This is, of course, the film that made a star out of Jack Nicholson, which is fitting, since no other actor, aside from Dustin Hoffman, embodied the new, independent spirit of Hollywood movies of that era. Jack was not handsome. Jack was not even likable, in the way James Stewart was likable, or admirable, the way Gregory Peck was admirable. No, Jack was a funny looking, sarcastic rogue, with enough charm to appeal to men and women alike, but a far different charm than that of Cary Grant or Clark Gable. Perhaps the closest to a prototype for Nicholson's onscreen persona was that of Humphrey Bogart, but even that doesn't fit. Bogart, for all his physical shortcomings - his lisp, his height (or lack thereof) had an inner grace that Nicholson couldn't be bothered with.

In this film Nicholson plays Bobby, a man drifting through his life, running away "when things start to get bad". He was born into a family of musicians (his middle name is Eroica), and ever since he started to play the piano, at age eight, he began running from it. Currently he's working at an oil rig in Southern California, shacking up with Rayette, a waitress into Tammy Wynette, and hanging out with his pal Elton, who lives in a trailer with his wife and small child. Bobby is content enough with this life, that is, until things start to get bad, as they do when Elton tells him that Rayette is pregnant. Bobby runs into his sister, who tells him their father is dying, and this precipitates a trip to visit the family, who live on a small island in Washington state (presumably in Puget Sound). Against his better judgment Bobby brings Rayette with him.

At this point the film (a) goes from great to a masterpiece, and (b) becomes the best Ingmar Bergman film ever made by an American director (take that, Woody). Nicholson's character, which up to this point was merely fascinating and fun to watch, becomes deep and complex, and Nicholson's performance takes on a luster which, sadly, he was rarely called upon to duplicate later in his career.

In 1970 America was divided, and this film, without mentioning politics once, even in passing, demonstrates that divide as well as any film of the era. The distance travelled by Bobby from his family home, full of intellectual discourse and framed portraits of Beethoven and Schubert, to the oil rigs and bowling alleys of Southern California, and back again, is a gap that we have yet to bridge. It's a testament to the films of the early '70s that we could see that gap, and an indictment on the current American 'indie' film scene that, when they show the diversity of our society at all, they only do so to ridicule one side or the other. It's a sad thing that there hasn't been an American film made in the past 10 years that could hold a candle to Five Easy Pieces, and I don't see one on the horizon that will, either.

[The Bone]

but Nicholson just takes over a movie, and it is just a tour de' force. Even though he has some of the same mannerisms movie to movie, he is just a fun guy to watch.

"They really don't make 'em like they used to do they...??" As cliche as that may be, I really do wonder. We watched Werner Herzog's Nosferatu the other night for Halloween. Not a lot of dialogue, no explosions or car chase scenes, kinda' campy at some times, but really a great movie.... again, maybe we're getting old, music and movies just don't seem the same....

[The Bone]

not Bainbridge?

[EdgarHF]

Jack Nicholson started an incredible string of great movies with Five Easy Pieces. He went from Five Easy Pieces to Last Detail to Chinatown to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I don't know if any other actor ever had such a string.

[Skully]

Some of that movie was filmed in good ole Taft, Calif., about 30 miles west of Bakersfield. Great movie.

If you're talking Taft, Bakersfield and movies, you've got to mention "The Best of Times," starring Robin Williams and Kurt Russell. The casting and direction are a bit sitcom-y in places, but it's got a very funny script by Ron Shelton, who later wrote "Bull Durham."

And if we're talking "Five Easy Pieces," we must mention the sex scene where Sally Struthers (later Gloria on "All in the Family") gets nekkid.

[Mark Davis]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with Jack was perfect casting.

Thats one of the best movies of all time all kinds of good performances in that one.

[Sidney Vicious]

[quote=El Tedesco;2121962]It's the narrow road one travels in pursuit of the "American Dream". Those were the days when the country was still wide open to searching souls of brave individuals.

I know what you mean - but respectfully disagree - as I think the country is as wide open as it ever was maybe more so - but the culture's romanticization of that searching - exemplified by that movie - is not there.

The romance of the drifter is certainly hard to recapture in the 24/7 connectedness of cell phones/email/twitter . . . . but you can still opt out and be that searcher . . . .

you can, Tedesco.

I, on the other hand, cannot as I have a wife two kids a mortgage a cell phone and email.

[kelnet]

Originally Posted by EdgarHF

Jack Nicholson started an incredible string of great movies with Five Easy Pieces. He went from Five Easy Pieces to Last Detail to Chinatown to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I don't know if any other actor ever had such a string.

I know this will really rankle, and perhaps these films aren't the great social statements that Nicholson's were. However, Kevin Costner put together a great string with The Untouchables, No Way Out, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, and Dances With Wolves.
I know, I know - mentioning Kevin Costner in here is probably about as bad as mentioning John Mayer, but all of these films are highly regarded. It was a great period for him.

(I've purposely overlooked Revenge and The Gunrunner, but then Jack did The King of Marvin Gardens and Carnal Knowledge in the midst of that string of four)

[Skully]

The King of Marvin Gardens and Carnal Knowledge in the midst of that string of four

I really like "Carnal Knowledge," even if it does really show its roots as a stage play.

My favorite exhange:

Susan (to Jonathan, after breaking up with him): I'll always be your friend.
Jonathan: Jesus, Susan, I hope not.

[EdgarHF]

Originally Posted by kelnet

I know, I know - mentioning Kevin Costner in here is probably about as bad as mentioning John Mayer

No, his films are not great social statements, but I like most of his movies. Heck, I may be one of the few people who liked The Postman. I will not miss a western if I hear Costner is in it.

[hazcat]

The famous scene. It was filmed about half a mile from my office. The Denny's is still there; I sat in that booth again recently. I wasn't nearly as entertaining as Nicholson.

OK, I'm too dumb to embed a clip. It's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElNpw...eature=related

[JimiDjango]

[The Bone]

"you can, Tedesco.

I, on the other hand, cannot as I have a wife two kids a mortgage a cell phone and email."

Exactly.

[Mik]

Originally Posted by kelnet

I know this will really rankle, and perhaps these films aren't the great social statements that Nicholson's were. However, Kevin Costner put together a great string with The Untouchables, No Way Out, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, and Dances With Wolves.
I know, I know - mentioning Kevin Costner in here is probably about as bad as mentioning John Mayer, but all of these films are highly regarded. It was a great period for him.

(I've purposely overlooked Revenge and The Gunrunner, but then Jack did The King of Marvin Gardens and Carnal Knowledge in the midst of that string of four)

Costner vs. Nicholson??

Reminds me of another great old flick: Bambi vs. Godzilla

[Groovey Records]

JD

Well thought out review, hard not to be a fan.

But Batman took care of that for me.

[El Tedesco]

[quote=Sidney Vicious;2122047]

Originally Posted by El Tedesco

It's the narrow road one travels in pursuit of the "American Dream". Those were the days when the country was still wide open to searching souls of brave individuals.

I know what you mean - but respectfully disagree - as I think the country is as wide open as it ever was maybe more so - but the culture's romanticization of that searching - exemplified by that movie - is not there.

The romance of the drifter is certainly hard to recapture in the 24/7 connectedness of cell phones/email/twitter . . . . but you can still opt out and be that searcher . . . .

you can, Tedesco.

I, on the other hand, cannot as I have a wife two kids a mortgage a cell phone and email.

Originally Posted by The Bone

"you can, Tedesco.

I, on the other hand, cannot as I have a wife two kids a mortgage a cell phone and email."

Exactly.

You guys are pulling my legs, right?
I too have email and a cell phone, which comes in very handy. This way wife and kids can let me know when to send the check for the mortgage payment.

But seriously, you're not making me the subject of your excuses, right?

Yes, I can. Why? Because, I always did.

If one thinks 150 years back, wife and kids didn't hold back the greater portion of those who came West on wagon trails.

I am talking about times when Los Angeles had a population of 800, 1 saloon, and 1 boarding house. This is how open the country was back then.

Much water went down the Mississippi River since then.

These days, in this globalistic environment, it's your resume and whatever people will read in it, that sets the pace of your progress.