Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

A Major Disappointment

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Five East Pieces was a pretty good movie in my opinion. Bob Rafelson produced a great film. The cinematography was also amazing created by Laszlo Kovaks. The camera work, lighting, and acting was also fantastic.The story was crisp and clear.This movie was one of Jack Nicholson's best films in my opinion. My favorite scene was where Jack Nicholson playing as Robert Eroica Dupea, told a waitress to hold the chicken salad between her knees so he could get some plain wheat toast.It was very interesting got me to watch a movie that has a more laid back feel to it. I liked how Bobby Dupea was an oil rig worker in a blue color environment. The plot was also very interesting to me. i liked the idea of bobby being stuck between two different worlds.This film is a great piece for its time period ( 1970's). The low key approach of this film, towards everything made it very memorable.The last scene in this movie was kind shocking to me since it didn't seem like it was supposed to end just like it did. I liked the idea of bobby leaving his girlfriend with the car full with gas. Then he went home to the girl he was meant to be with.I thought this movie was really great, and interesting. I would rate this movie an 8/10. I would watch this movie again, and I can't say that about many movies.. especially the ones made today in the 2000's.

A review of this film could be filled with cliche's like "they don't make them like this anymore" and "a masterpiece", because whenever you describe the best, hyperbole is the only thing that fits. People who were not born when this movie was made may be shocked to see there was a time when movies didn't all portray male protagonists as being obsessed a fear of loosing they're wife, family, and babies. If you feel like there is something missing, it may be that Nicholson's character isn't obsessed with his kids, he doesn't have any. His only true alliance is with himself. Not that he is selfish, he jumps in to fight when a buddy is at risk. But he see's traditional family life as too confining, and those trapped in it pretentious, faking happiness but deep down actually unfulfilled.The piece is about an iconoclast played by Jack Nicholson, who comes from a family of brilliant musicians. He decides to take off and work on an oil rig for a while, and escapes 'the asylum" as he puts it, for a few years. He develops a love interest in a bimbo waitress played by Karen Black. He decides to go back home, and drama unfolds.There are many reasons they don't make films like this anymore. One is that they usually don't make much money. The other is that we have to be politically correct and film writers, many born after this movie was made, can't even imagine a world the way it was in the 1970s. There are still men like the Nicholson character, but we don't see them on the big screen anymore , at least not as anyone we are suppose to relate to. This film is a good story and is distinctly un preachy , it just shows a man the way he is, instead of the way he should be.When Nicholson gets home his family has the typical dysfunction families have today. The father is old and sick, the brother's relationship with his love is tenuous, and the sister feels excluded. Nicholson plays a man torn between his desire for freedom and the security of love and family so perfectly that he could be performing in a documentary. His acting is the best I have ever seen, and he seems to have been born to play this role. I won't spoil it be revealing the drama that unfolds, other than to say that it is good.I don't know if we will ever make movies again that portray rugged, independent men in a positive way, it took a generation to loose them, and it make take another generation for them to return. I would just hope that young film writers would watch this sort of movie and learn. There are people who live in a way not preached by most movies, please write more of them so we can see.

The film Five Easy Pieces was a classic film that I thought was pretty enjoyable to watch. I thought the main character in this film was portrayed by a great actor and he really made the film great. While watching this film you can tell that it is a an new Hollywood film. Throughout this film there is the use of vulgarity that would not have been allowed when the Hays code was still a regulation. I thought that the parts of this film that made it new Hollywood were a good part of this film. Another thing I wanted to comment on about this film was the cinematography. I noticed during the whole film that the cinematography was great. I would say that the cinematography in this film is one of the things that made this film come together so great. Overall this was a movie that I enjoyed a lot.

So here I sit in the year 2016, years after This Film has been made and I recently watched this in is entirety on TCM and what an impact this had on me. This without doubt IS Jack Nicholson's best film ever. As far as I am concerned this is just as relevant today as it was when it was released. There are no mindless sex, violence and car chases and not one second of cgi graphics. There are many powerful scenes in this Film. The ones that came to mind is the famous 'hold the chicken between your legs' The one with Jack with his invalid father next to the lake. Jack playing the piano in the family room. My favourite is the last few minutes with Karen Black looking great wearing that animal print jacket dress with legs looking for Jack. All in all a great Film from the days of great Film making without the tripe that is films of today