Five Easy Pieces (1970)

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.

Director:

Bob Rafelson

Writers:

Carole Eastman (screenplay), Carole Eastman (story),

Stars:

Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Billy Green Bush

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 20 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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)

Storyline

Robert Dupea has given up his promising career as a concert pianist and is now working in oil fields. He lives together with Rayette, who's a waitress in a diner. When Robert hears from his sister that his father isn't well, he drives up to Washington to see him, taking Rayette with him. There he gets confronted with his rich, cultured family that he had left behind.

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Plot Keywords:

pianist | bowling | diner | truck | waitress | 

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Taglines:

He Rode The Fast Lane On The Road To Nowhere.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 September 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mi vida es mi vida

Filming Locations:

Chemainus, North Cowichan, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$1,600,000 (estimated)

Gross:

SEK 787,060 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBS Productions, Columbia Pictures Corporation, Raybert Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Janis Joplin was approached to play Palm, the hitchhiking ecology freak.

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Goofs

Ray bowls a strike, but in the next shot when she turns to face the other bowlers, the pins behind her are standing.

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Quotes

Bobby: What else do you do?
Catherine: Well, there's fishing, boating, and concerts on the mainland.
[Laughs]
Catherine: I feel funny telling you this. This is really your home. You probably know better than I what there is to do.
Bobby: Nothing.
Catherine: Nothing?
Bobby: Nothing.
Catherine: Well, it must be very boring for you here.
Bobby: That's right.
Catherine: I find that very hard to comprehend. I don't think I've ever been bored. Excuse me.

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Connections

Referenced in Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: Just a Lazy Shiftless Bastard (2012)

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Soundtracks

"D-I-V-O-R-C-E"
Tammy Wynette

User Reviews

A masterpiece

Previously known only for creating 'The Monkees', Bob Rafelson produced an underrated masterpiece when he made 'Five Easy Pieces', a film that deserves to be a lot better known. Jack Nicholson, typically intense but atypically understated, has possibly his finest hour as Bobby Duprea, a self-hating misogynist ill at ease with himself and the world. Many people will, when thinking of Nicholson, bring to mind his pantomime pyschopath Johnny from 'The Shining'; but Bobby, a profoundly human creation, is actually far more scary. Elsewhere the film features characteristically gorgeous cinematography from Laszlo Kovaks; a soundtrack that skilfully offsets Tammy Wynette and Chopin; excellent writing throughout and some very black humour. Like a less extreme version of Mike Leigh's 'Naked', and bristling with uncomfortable truth, 'Five Easy Pieces' is a true classic of 1970s cinema. Few films today are as good.