Excellent but underrated film

Absolutely the worst movie.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Bobby Dupea (Jack Nicholson) is a worker on a Californian oil rig. He lives with his girlfriend Rayette and their relationship is starting to cool. Upon visiting his sister in Los Angeles, Bobby discovers that his father is gravely ill. He travels to Washington state to see him, but this forces many sore subjects with his family to come to the fore.Had potential but is clumsily written and the main theme is underdeveloped. The scene setting has far too many sub-plots that go nowhere and just seem like drama for the sake of drama. Even once the movie starts to find its focus - when Bobby visits his father - there are still several detours and digressions that lead nowhere and add nothing.Other than padding the movie, the other effect of these digressions is to lessen the weight and impact of the main theme - Bobby turning his back on his upbringing and father's wishes, and his reconciliation with his father. This is massively underdeveloped, and the is basically only explored in any detail in one scene. Even then this scene, which should have been the climax of the movie, is pretty short and shallow.Can't fault Jack Nicholson's performance in the lead role, a performance for which he got his second Oscar nomination (after Easy Rider, a year earlier) and first Best Actor nomination. Karen Black was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Rayette. Some of the supporting cast's performances are quite cringeworthy though, with Billy Green Bush (as Elton) overacting and Ralph White (as Carl) just plain annoying.

Jack Nicholson is one of the world's finest actors who has enjoyed a long and successful career. To 21st century audiences who may not know him from movies other than The Departed, The Bucket List and frequent appearances at Knicks games he was probably one of the most in-demand actors of the 70's and 80's who starred in memorable movie after memorable movie, turning in fantastic performances gaining two academy awards along the way (another in '97). Five Easy Pieces was released one year after his breakthrough performance in 1969's Easy Rider and includes Karen Black and Toni Basil from that film as well and not including Basil earn much meatier roles in FEP. Jack plays Bobby Dupea in this movie, a seemingly tough but sentimental character. His wide acting range is in full display here showcasing lots of emotion and the typical Jack Nicholson fire he is known for. Some key examples to look out for are his interactions with Black who plays his girlfriend, the famous chicken salad sandwich restaurant scene, the bedroom with Susan Anspach and the scene with his father close to the end. The end of that restaurant scene is actually pretty funny .."See this sign ????.." You can see Helena Kallianiotes before it cuts to the next scene try not to break out laughing.While the ending left me in confusion, it didn't ruin the story as a whole. Its always refreshing to check out the early movies that famous movie stars we know today built their careers on and led them on the path to stardom. At one point they were once struggling actors as well. It might just be me but it feels like Leonardo DiCaprio honed a lot of his craft on early Nicholson. Check out this movie and maybe Easy Rider then watch a 2005-present Leo movie. Anyway Five Easy Pieces = Great Movie, Great Story, Jack Nicholson. CHECK IT OUT

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.

'Five Easy Pieces' is a tough one to review. It all comes down to excellent acting with material that is a little muddled. Nicholson is obviously very good in it as is Karen Black but I just felt the writing wasn't all that strong in how it developed it's characters. We get that Nicholson's character is trying to abandon his privilege because of tremendous guilt and yet his motivations are just too vague and inaccessible to the audience. Nicholson has a beautiful scene with his father who has suffered a stroke but otherwise the character is just too unlikeable especially given how much he abuses his girlfriend Rayette. In films with these subversive rebels we need a strong sense of what they are rebelling against. His home life just doesn't seem to be enough. It has two great performances but it was by and large kind of disappointing.