Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Director: Bob Rafelson

Writers: Carole Eastman, from a story by Bob Rafelson and Carole Eastman

Stars: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Billy Green Bush, Fannie Flagg, Sally Struthers, Marlena MacGuire, Richard Stahl, Lois Smith

A former piano prodigy (Jack Nicholson) submerges himself in a blue-collar existence as a reaction against his pompous, empty upper-class upbringing and demanding father.

 

When he learns that his father has had two strokes, he returns home for a painful visit.

 

This was one of the films that ushered in the New Hollywood and made Nicholson into a star. 

The 1970s was an era of films about irascible individualists striving against the System and every other song on the radio was about ramblin’ on. 

No doubt much of this angst and alienation from society results from the national trauma of the Vietnam War, which was only at its midpoint when this film was released.

 

Nicholson offers a brilliant portrayal of a man who cannot feel comfortable anywhere, whose every attempt to connect is closely followed by an impulse to reject. 

They don’t make ‘em like this anymore.