Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Five Easy Pieces (1970) – A former child prodigy (Nicholson) returns home from a life that rejected all the trappings of his well-heeled family.

Directed by Bob Rafelson                            Starring – Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Susan Anspach,                                                                                              Ralph Waite

This was the movie that launched Jack Nicholson into stardom.  He first burst onto the screen in 1969 with “Easy Rider“, as hard drinking attorney George Hanson.  The role would earn him his first Oscar nomination.  It is this movie, the following year, that shows all the amazing talent that we have come to take for granted.  Bobby DuPea was a child piano prodigy from a musical family.  His brother (Ralph Waite in a role as far from John Walton as you can imagine) plays the violin, while sister Partita is another pianist.  Bobby ran away from it all as a young man and had only limited contact with his family.  In the interim, he has taken whatever kind of work he can find, including as an oil field roughneck.  There he meets a waitress, Rayette DiPesto (Black), and their extended relationship results in a pregnancy.  Bobby’s life hits another snag when he discovers that his father has had several strokes, and his sister wants him to come home.

Nicholson plays all the levels of his character deftly and with an understatement that is not always part of his signature.  A scene in a traffic jam that ends with him playing an upright piano on the back of a truck, the legendary chicken salad sandwich scene, the scene where he finally speaks his heart to his father even when it’s obvious the strokes have taken the old man away forever.  It’s all an amazing performance.

Karen Black also grabbed an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of the sweet, naive DiPesto.  It could have easily slipped over into caricature but Black makes Rayette someone you want to find happiness.

The movie is filled with some stand out supporting characters.  Fanny Flagg, Sally Struthers, Susan Anspach, Lois Smith, Toni Basil (yes, of “Hey, Mickey” fame), and Helena Kallianiotes as the mankind hating hitchhiker Palm Apodaca.

A curious piece of trivia – Nicholson met director Rafelson while working on the Monkee’s movie “Head”.  Rafelson was one of the originators of the TV pop group.

Why You Will Like It – Nicholson’s tour de force performance and Karen Black’s vulnerable innocence.

Rating – ***** A Must See