Five Easy Pieces

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant mood piece
Review: How can you not love a movie whose soundtrack successfully intermingles Tammy Wynette songs with classical music pieces??

I like to think of this film as more of a "mood piece" than a "character study". It succeeds tremendously as both; but if I had to describe to someone what is meant by a "mood piece" I would direct them right to this film. It epitomizes the early-70s American wasteland look and feel common in some great "New Hollywood" films of its time (Jack Nicholson was in several such movies, like the classics "The Last Detail" and "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"). The scene outside the bowling alley especially captures this beautiful grit.

You all probably know the story, so I won't bother with the obligatory references to the diner scene, the hitchhikers, or the truly heartbreaking scene where Robert Eroica Dupea clumsily spills his guts to his sick father. I will admit it took several viewings to truly appreciate this film. But now I rank it as one of my favorites. It's rare to find a film that can take you to a time and place you weren't at and introduce you to people you've never known, yet feel it as if you had.

This one is not to be missed. Give it a few tries if you have to.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant mood piece
Review: How can you not love a movie whose soundtrack successfully intermingles Tammy Wynette songs with classical music pieces??

I like to think of this film as more of a "mood piece" than a "character study". It succeeds tremendously as both; but if I had to describe to someone what is meant by a "mood piece" I would direct them right to this film. It epitomizes the early-70s American wasteland look and feel common in some great "New Hollywood" films of its time (Jack Nicholson was in several such movies, like the classics "The Last Detail" and "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"). The scene outside the bowling alley especially captures this beautiful grit.

You all probably know the story, so I won't bother with the obligatory references to the diner scene, the hitchhikers, or the truly heartbreaking scene where Robert Eroica Dupea clumsily spills his guts to his sick father. I will admit it took several viewings to truly appreciate this film. But now I rank it as one of my favorites. It's rare to find a film that can take you to a time and place you weren't at and introduce you to people you've never known, yet feel it as if you had.

This one is not to be missed. Give it a few tries if you have to.

Rating:
Summary: "Do Not Go Gentle...."
Review: I saw this film when it was first released more than 30 years ago. Seeing it again recently, I was surprised by how much my reactions to it have changed during the last three decades. Nicholson's personality in the role of Bobby Eroica Dupea has become almost a cliché since 1970. Then, for example, I was wholly unprepared for the chicken salad sandwich episode in the diner; not so today. That is precisely how a Jack Nicholson character should react. All this is by way of suggesting that Nicholson as Bobby Dupea is not only a stunning performance; it also creates certain expectations to which Warren Schmidt is a courageous exception.

What is this film about? What are the meaning and significance of its title? People continue to disagree about these and other issues. To me, the film is about dysfunctional people who comprise (inevitably) a dysfunctional family. All they share in common (other than bloodline) is a love of classical music. Dupea's life is in pieces (easy or otherwise) and he really doesn't how how to fit them together. As directed by Bob Rafelson, the cast provides a number of excellent performances which are, more often than not, as out of sync with each other as all of them are with the Nixon Era in which they then lived. Most of them seem to have a "What the hell, why bother?" attitude. Rayette Dipesto is an exception. Brilliantly portrayed by Karen Black in a performance (then and now) deserving of much more praise that it has received, Rayette is Bobby's pregnant girlfriend. She seems lost amidst a violent storm and desperately seeks warm and secure shelter. He treats her with about as much respect as his character Jonathan does other women in Carnal Knowledge (1971): Not much, if any. She yearns to stand by her man. More often than not, he would rather be somewhere else.

For me, the most poignant moments in the film occur when Bobby returns home and is reunited with his father, sister Tita (Lois Smith), brother Carl (Ralph Waite) and his wife Catherine (Susan Anspach). Only then do we begin to sense -- if not fully understand -- the nature and extent of Bobby's malaise. More specifically, we begin to understand at least a few of the reasons for his anger, indeed rage...much of it consciously or unconsciously directed against himself.

Thirty years ago, there was so much angst in the American culture, not only against the war in Viet Nam but against the philosophical infrastructure of American society. So many of those in Dupea's generation and (especially) in the one which followed it raged against institutions and traditions which they considered worthless, if not inherently evil. Having once shattered all compasses and destroyed all the maps, they then had no sense of where they were...much less where they were heading. Nor did many seem to care. "What difference does it make?"

Paradoxically, Bobby combines both angst and apathy. Nicholson is among few actors I can think of who can demonstrate both at full strength within the same scene, sometimes in the same incandescent moment. If an actor were a transmission, Nicholson seems to have at least 14 gears and probably more. His emotional range and versatility are stunning. (Consider his performances as S.M. 1 Budduskey in The Last Detail, Tom Logan in The Missouri Breaks, Jack Torrance in The Shining, and Colonel Nathan R. Jessep in A Few Good Men.) Sadly, for whatever reasons, Rafelson never again produced work as a director of a quality comparable with his achievement in this film. This was for Nicholson, however, a breakthrough performance and for all we know, his best work may lie ahead.

Rating:
Summary: This is jus' a sad an' beautiful thing...
Review: I think my own inability to be content with my life is what drew me to the character of Bobby Eroica Dupea in 'Five Easy Pieces'. I first watched this movie in high school, jus' as I was developin' an extreme admiration for Jack Nicholson's work, an' right in the middle of some pipe dream I had 'bout becomin' a filmmaker. It stayed heavily on my mind for some time. But it wasn't until I got outta school, moved outta my moms' house, started workin' fulltime, started jumpin' from place to place, an' strugglin' to balance a lovelife amidst it all, that I realized jus' HOW MUCH I related to Bobby in this movie. Is' obvious from the first scene of him workin' at his construction gig to his bitter interaction with his girlfriend, is' automatically clear that he is completely unhappy with the direction his life is goin'. An' probably has been all his life no matter what he did. The way he pushes away his friends an' refuses to let anyone get too close to him are jus' the makings of a tortured soul. I think a lot more people relate to Bobby than are willing to let on, because as I watch this movie now I can see things that Bobby did an' the ways he handled certain situations that wholly mirror my own. Even the smallest thing, like after he finds out his father is dying and decides to go home for a few weeks, greatly upsetting his long-suffering girlfriend Rayette (played with excellent conviction by Karen Black). She sits there weeping an' moaning in bed as he packs his suitcase and starts out the door, but as he gets in his car, his conscience seems to kick in, an' after a barrage of loud obscenity-filled screams to himself, he angrily gets outta the car an' goes back in the house to tell Rayette to come with him. She's overjoyed an' they ride all the way out to Washington an' end up stayin' in a motel. When Rayette queries Bobby 'bout how mad he looks an' he refuses to talk to her she says "Well, if it's me your mad at, I could jus' catch a Greyhound back." Infuriated, Bobby says "Oh, you're not gonna kill yourself this time. I wish I'd known..." A line like 'at is priceless an' the kinda sarcastic comment that people who're discontent thrive on.

When Bobby finally goes back home to his folks' house, the situation only gets worse. Is' apparent that even his family doesn't have an inkling of an idea of how to relate to him; is' as if the closest people to him are the ones who understand him the LEAST. The real key to his insecurities comes out in his tearful attempt to explain his life to his father in one'a the final scenes out on the shoreline. The scared little boy inside of Bobby all comes out here.

I don't wanna give too much away, but the ending is all at once heartbreaking an' thought-provoking (I wonder a lot if put in that position I woulda done the same thing). I'd say this is very close to bein' my favorite movie of all time. The subtle complexity of Nicholson's performance is the stuff the younger generation of actors should be studying, because is' one'a the finest, most believable an' most clearly-carved of all time. (Oh, an' by the way, my absolute FAVORITE scene comes toward the beginning where Bobby an' Elton have jus' been eighty-sixed from the job site an' are stuck in a traffic jam. As he sips on a half-pint'a bard liquor, Bobby gets outta the car frustrated at the gridlock. He sees a piano on the back of a moving truck, climbs aboard an' starts playin' the piano frantically an' angrily as the truck pulls away. Is' the first hint at the other side'a Bobby an' a classic image that will stick with you forever.)

Rating:
Summary: A Great Film
Review: In a story of two worlds and what happens when they collide, Jack Nicholson gives a performance that should have won an Academy Award. As Bobby Dupea, Nicholson abandons his privilaged life for that of an aimless drifter- something he will eventually apologize for. He goes from being a talented musician to working as an oil rigger but a family illness will bring him back to his affluent roots and it is here that he must decide the course the rest of his life will take. And while all the perfomances are excellent, it is Nicholson that keeps us spellbound. In a long career, he has played many facinating characters but in my humble opinion, it is as the wasted talent Bobby Dupea that Nicholson shines the brightest.

Rating:
Summary: The Cornerstone Of Great Filmaking!
Review: Jack Nicholson In a unbelivably well played talored made role for an actor of his magnuitude. Nicholson is Bobby Dupea, an emotinally distant outcast who goes from job to job,woman to woman is forced to confront his past failures while visiting his dying father. A Powerful moving film drawing it's strength from a detailed point of view displaying the frailty of the human soul. The end of film is truly memorable when Nicholson Leaves his beautiful but annoying girlfriend stranded at a Gas Station while he hitches a ride with a Trucker up north. A Classic showing of a tortured soul purely by his own doing never going anywhere worthwhile in life and as a result fails to be a decent person.

Rating:
Summary: Jack's best - and that's saying a lot
Review: Jack Nicholson is a wonderful actor, but since the early 1970s, virtually all of his performances have been variations of Jack playing Jack. This is not to say that he has not been terrific doing this, but there is a distinct impression that there hasn't been much of a stretch in his acting since Chinatown. Not so with Five Easy Pieces - Nicholson completely loses himself in the character of Bobby Dupee, and gives what is arguably his best performance ever. What's more, the film, which opened in 1970, depicts better than any other film the alienation of the generation of the late 1960s-early 1970s. Nicholson's Bobby Dupee is a talented classical musician who comes from a family of talented classical musicians. He has, however, chosen to deny his past by living (one might almost say "hiding") with his girl friend, Rayette (a terrific Karen Black) among blue collar workers. The bulk of the film centers on Bobby's return home to visit his father, who has suffered a stroke, and the interaction of Bobby (and Rayette) with various members of the household. Nicholson's acting talent was never more apparent than in the scene where he is out walking with his wheel-chair bound father and tries to explain why he has chosen the path he has taken. The scene has an improvisational quality, and Nicholson is both natural and moving. It is a moment that can stand with anything he has done since.

Rating:
Summary: Requiem
Review: Jack Nicholson shines in this extraordinary 70's film by writer/director Bob Rafelson. Nicholson plays a brilliant musician who hides away from a past he tried desperately to shed. He is a womanizer, and lives with a waitress (Karen Black) who hates and loves him. When he hears that his father is dying, he decides to return to his home, where he faces the ghosts of his past, through photgraphs, pianos, and his ghost-like father. It's about a man who tries to defy the rules. Consider the famous scene in the diner, where Nicholson orders a side order of toast. The waitress frowns at him, and tells him, "No side orders of toast. No substitutions." Instead of accepting it, he tells her, "Bring me a chicken sandwhich. No lettuce, to tomato, no mayo and no chicken." She asks him what to do with the chicken, and he tells her to "hold them between your knees." But afterwards, what most people forget is the small exchange in the car when he says, "It might have been clever, but I didn't get my toast."

Rating:
Summary: THE complete film
Review: Most films lean-to characters one can judge in their first frame -- and then the plot takes over. That's the fun. In FIVE EASY PIECES the plot is driven by character -- by Nicholson's Bobby Dupea -- and finding out who he is and what moves him is the pleasure it affords. Rafelson does an amazing job of using a very communicative medium to portray a man who can't communicate, who's alienated from his family, girlfriend, his self and his talents. This stuttering is littered throughout the movie, most poignant when Dupea is trying to appologize to his comatose father and failing. (It's like writing this review -- there's so much I want to put down but just can't figure out a way to do it.) And, while the frustration Dupea feels is genuine, he's not searching, he's running away. Like the hitchhiker, he might seem to the outsider (the film is very much his POV) as just grumbling. And everyone's an outsider.

This is an amazing, powerful film. It has great range: Nicholson's acting is at once pensive and passionate; Rafelson's direction realist and symbolic; the film, like Brecht's plays, is engrossing but not to the point that one forgets the message.

But I'm full of it. Experience it for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Hold It Between Your Knees
Review: Movie Summary: Robert Dupea is hiding from himself and his piano playing past while working on an oil rig in Texas. He has a flakey girlfriend who loves him even though he doesn't deserve it. He is a rude person and basically unhappy with his entire life. When he finds out that his father is dying, he is forced to return to the life he has been running from for so many years. Once there, is he tempted to enter that life once again.

My Opinion: They call this movie a 70's character study. It follows a piece of the life of Robert Dupea an unsympathetic character who spends his life running away from himself. Jack Nicholson gives a terrific performance as Robert Dupea. The movie is very artistically done and well planned out. I can see it being studied in film school as an example of good acting and directing. Despite all this, I wasn't entertained and I didn't enjoy it much. I wasn't able to feel sorry or care about Robert or his girlfriend. The plot was a complete downer. I didn't believe that Robert really fell in love with Catherine whom he met at his family's house. I saw him jumping from woman to woman just like he jumped from job to job. I didn't get any sense that the thing with Catherine was anything different. She just happened to be from the world that he ran away from. Basically this movie just felt like homework instead of entertainment. I believe that a movie can be both technically brilliant and entertaining but I didn't find this one to be one of them.

DVD Quality: Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1 as well as full screen, DD2.0 Mono. Both sound and picture leave something to be desired. Trailer and Production notes do little to increase the quality of this DVD release.

What You Should Do: Skip it if you are not into Just Jack or Character Studies. If you are, then wait for a better DVD release than this one.

Related Movies To Check Out: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, As Good As It Gets, Easy Rider