Jack : The Great Seducer

Rating:
Summary: Edward Douglas is the Pseudonym
Review: "...pseudonym of a well known biographer." This is quite funny from the start, I mean what's the deal-- the author is afraid of getting a hit put on him? The depth of his writing reminds one of writing for Entertainment Weekly...There is not much new here...most of the revealing stuff is by an ex-babe of Jack's, one that was part of his harem...her name Cynthia Basinet..an aspiring singer..the book could have benefitted by reducing her quotes to two paragraphs instead of four pages..but her dippy LA shop talk really is annoying -- particularly at the end of the book where she is quoted unmercifully..The author does an admirable job of taking the print media headlines/stories on Nicholson from the past and boiling them down to Jack's real and silver screen loves..most of the text follows the chronology of his acting career interspersed with purple passioned agendas from ex-lovers/wives who have an axe to grind...Somehow Jack bringing home some left over Mexican food is painted as cheap..when actually it reflects just a regular person (at least in that regard). The prose is light and entertaining like an article in TV Guide.. The book is not a Goldman style trash job..Jack gets more than his fair share of sexual accolades and acting attributes...towards the 90's section of his movie career, the writer just writes off most of his movies...perhaps the editor said this book is too long, so cut out all this stuff about movies no one remembers...on that list are a variety of off the wall efforts, some to be dismissed, but others are true classics like the modern day film noir, Blood and Wine...and Wolf had a lot of merit but was flawed by the superficial comic book special effects.....His dismissal of the 80's The Postman Rings Twice is also off the mark...The book hangs too much on the standard psycho babble explanation that Jack's relationships with women are derivative of his deception about his parenting...He was well set in his personna before that information was revealed....So there is really little news here...The book is essentially about Hollywood perception: salacious, money based, shallow and entertaining..It does not go any deeper...and if you look at Nicholson's career--he has assailed the obvious, cashed in on the medium and ridden the pathway of artistic vision...so f*** em..

Rating:
Summary: An excellent chronological and referenced account.
Review: "Jack: The Great Seducer" offers an excellent chronological and referenced account of his interworkings with the women in his life and career.

The book itself offers one new revelation I was unaware of in the likes of Cynthia Basinet. Depicted as one of Jack's gals and downplayed as an "aspiring singer", I found her compassion, courage, insight, and humor within what seems to have been a geninue love affair to be inspiring. Cynthia is a single mom who took to assisting W. Sahara refugees after separating from the actor. Upon further research, I discovered Miss Basinet single-handedly transformed her career as a successful model/actress into a recording artist with a philanthropic platform with no apparent assistance from JN. Her rendition of "Santa Baby" was originally recorded for Jack as a Christmas gift, and has gone on to become a Holiday favorite. It's the version often thought to be Marilyn Monroe, which appears in the 2003 film "Party Monster".

On the surface, the book resonates as a rah-rah "harem" lifestyle most men only fantasize about, however as I gave it more thought I couldn't help but wonder: where is the love?