No matter how much he tries to eschew his elitist upbringing, there’s a part of him, possibly the most fundamental part, that can’t and possibly doesn’t even want to. But once we become aware of his former life after his father suffers a debilitating stroke, the cracks in his persona widen. At first, he seems to be pretty content, with friends and a loving girlfriend, Rayette (Karen Black). We see not just a man who doesn’t fit into traditional society, but who has purposefully abandoned his privileged position in it, and how he grapples with being caught between two different worlds.įive Easy Pieces is the story of Robert “Bobby” Eroica Dupea (Nicholson), a former concert pianist turned roughneck, who has left his wealthy intellectual family in favor of a nomadic, working-class lifestyle. But despite his frequent adherence to this very specific character type, his most underrated work (and the performance that earned him his second Oscar nomination) is in Five Easy Pieces, where he portrays the same kind of malcontented social outcast while also showcasing a rare internal conflict. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to Jack Torrance in The Shining, his most famous roles have been borderline malicious eccentrics operating on the margins of society. ![]() He’s always at his best as a charming misanthrope, the smirking anti-establishment figure who was simply too cool to be a part of your mainstream system. More than most other actors, with Jack Nicholson, you know what you’re going to get.
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