Five Easy Pieces (1970)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Bob Rafelson

Writers:

Carole Eastman (screenplay)
Carole Eastman (story)

Release Date:

12 September 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Tagline:

He Rode The Fast Lane On The Road To Nowhere.

Plot:

A drop-out from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.

Plot Keywords:

Failure | Lesbianism | Class Differences | See Through Gown | Character Study

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 16 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Jack Nicholson	...	Robert Eroica Dupea
Karen Black	...	Rayette Dipesto
Billy Green Bush	...	Elton (as Billy 'Green' Bush)
Fannie Flagg	...	Stoney
Sally Struthers	...	Betty (as Sally Ann Struthers)
Marlena MacGuire	...	Twinky (as Marlena Macguire)
Richard Stahl	...	Recording Engineer
Lois Smith	...	Partita Dupea
Helena Kallianiotes	...	Palm Apodaca
Toni Basil	...	Terry Grouse
Lorna Thayer	...	Waitress
Susan Anspach	...	Catherine Van Oost
Ralph Waite	...	Carl Fidelio Dupea
William Challee	...	Nicholas Dupea
John P. Ryan	...	Spicer (as John Ryan)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Sweden:11 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | New Zealand:R16 | USA:R | UK:15 | UK:AA (original rating)

Filming Locations:

19th & L Street, Bakersfield, California, USA

Company:

BBS Productions

Trivia:

Jack Nicholson wanted Janis Joplin to have the part of Palm Apodaca, but it was never offered to her.

Goofs:

Continuity: A full rack of ten pins appears after Rayette picks up the spare following her gutter ball. This is correct but since it is the last frame of the second game, she gets another ball, which is not taken.

Quotes:

Palm Apodaca: People. Animals are not like that. They're always cleaning themselves. Did you ever see, umm... pigeons? Well, he's always picking on himself and his friends. They're always picking bugs out of their hair all the time. Monkeys too. Except they do something out in the open that I don't go for.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003)

Soundtrack:

D-I-V-O-R-C-E

Definitely one of the great American films.

This movie is most famous for a scene in which Jack Nicholson tells a waitress to hold the chicken salad between her knees so he can get some plain wheat toast, but, in a movie as good as this, that very famous scene may be its least memorable one. After that scene, I hadn't heard anything about what this film was really about, and its depth and power took me completely by surprise. It's a story of a man trapped in his own life, unable to find a place to settle. All the locations at which he has arrived have lead to nothing but disappointment and the realization that there just might not be a life for him. God, how I can sympathize. Just as I was starting to question whether Nicholson was as good an actor as everybody seems to think he is, I've come upon his very best performance. Karen Black plays his girlfriend, a hick who loves him to death. He's not sure if she's good enough for him, or vice versa. Lois Smith, Ralph Waite, and Susan Anspach give good supporting performances. A flat-out masterpiece.