A dropout 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.A dropout 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.A dropout 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.
- Nominated for 4 Oscars
- 11 wins & 23 nominations total
- Elton
- (as Billy 'Green' Bush)
- Betty
- (as Sally Ann Struthers)
- Twinky
- (as Marlena Macguire)
- Spicer
- (as John Ryan)
- Junkie
- (uncredited)
- Baby
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- Trivia"Five Easy Pieces" refers to a book of piano lessons for beginners.
- GoofsWhen Bobby plays the piano for Catherine about three quarters through the movie, the music in front of him is clearly not what he is playing (Chopin's "Prelude in E Minor"). On one hand, this emphasizes his improvisational nature and rejection of the life prescribed to him by his class, but it also shows his musical prowess and memory. He reveals that the song was memorized when he later says "I picked the easiest piece I could think of".
- Quotes
Bobby: I'd like a plain omelette, no potatoes, tomatoes instead, a cup of coffee and wheat toast.
Waitress: [points at his menu] No substitutions.
Bobby: What do you mean? You don't have any tomatoes?
Waitress: Only what's on the menu. You can have a number two, a plain omelette, it comes with cottage fries and rolls.
Bobby: Yeah, I know what it comes with, but it's not what I want.
Waitress: Well, I'll come back when you make up your mind
Bobby: Wait a minute, I have made up my mind. I'd like a plain omelette, no potatoes on the plate, a cup of coffee and a side order of wheat toast.
Waitress: I'm sorry, we don't have any side orders of toast. I'll give you an English muffin or a coffee roll.
Bobby: What do you mean you don't make side orders of toast? You make sandwiches, don't you?
Waitress: Would you like to talk to the manager?
Palm Apodaca: Hey, mac...
Bobby: Shut up.
[to the waitress]
Bobby: You've got bread and a toaster of some kind?
Waitress: I don't make the rules.
Bobby: OK, I'll make it as easy for you as I can. I'd like an omelette, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce, and a cup of coffee.
Waitress: A number two, a chicken salad sand. Hold the butter, the lettuce, and the mayonnaise, and a cup of coffee. Anything else?
Bobby: Yeah, now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a cheque for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules.
Waitress: You want me to hold the chicken, huh?
Bobby: I want you to hold it between your knees.
[Palm Apodaca sniggers]
Waitress: [points at a sign behind her] You see that sign, sir? Yes, you'll all have to leave! I'm not taking any more of your smartness and sarcasm!
Bobby: You see this sign?
[he sweeps all the glasses off the table onto the floor]
- ConnectionsEdited into Citizen Cohn (1992)
- SoundtracksStand by Your Man
Written by Billy Sherrill (as B. Sherril) & Tammy Wynette (as T. Wynette)
Performed by Tammy Wynette
[Played over the opening titles]
Meanwhile, unfolding alongside the Dupea character, was Karen Black's tour de force performance as the big-haired clingy-dependent waitress girlfriend, Rayette, and doing it to a medley of apropos Tammy Wynette tunes. Karen Black's performance perfectly captured and spot-on nailed an almost ubiquitous sort of woman prevalent in that era, when the social changes wrought by the women's movement had not yet taken fruit.
As for the notorious diner scene, this one scene essentially dominates the whole movie. It is something that people who have seen the movie will bring up and talk about, even decades later. Yet the scene is in no way pivotal or important to the story. At most it once and for all permanently affixes in the viewers' minds that Dupea was an impulsively flippant and angry person, not one to meekly abide any of life's minor frustrations. But we were already getting that picture of him before this scene happens. And, courtesy of Dupea, the scene provides a snippet of gratuitous social commentary about inflexibility and the stupidity of mindless adherence to meaningless rules. Something for the viewers to cheer and say, "I can relate to that!" Those things aside, to me the real value of the scene was that it provided an entertaining contrast in a bleak drama, a needed change of pace. But regardless of whether it was a statement about Dupea's attitude, or a social comment about stupid rules, or a needed amusing interlude, no matter which of those it is, its lasting impression renders its importance out of proportion to the movie as a whole. Surely, as he made this film, director Bob Rafelson's never intended that 35 years later this particular scene be the main thing viewers took away and remembered about the film. In this sense, as entertaining as it is, the scene therefore must be viewed as being a bit of a story-telling flaw. In retrospect, it should have been toned down just a skosh. But, then, on the other hand, were it not for this scene, perhaps the film would hardly be remembered at all. It is already a largely overlooked masterpiece.
This movie pops up on the movie channels on a semi-regular basis, and when it does I always stop and am riveted. The cinematography is superb. The acting is superb. Nicholson turning in one of the performances from that era that made him the unhinged star in the first place, long before he became a parody of himself. But be warned, it is not a "happy" film. It is the product of an era that did not as a rule produce happy films. But it is nevertheless a film that must be seen.
- tightspotkilo
- Sep 27, 2005
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Mi vida es mi vida
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $1,600,000 (estimated)