{"id":4194,"date":"2009-04-22T02:56:44","date_gmt":"2009-04-22T10:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=4194"},"modified":"2009-04-28T08:05:18","modified_gmt":"2009-04-28T16:05:18","slug":"five-easy-pieces-bob-rafelson-1970-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=4194","title":{"rendered":"Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson, 1970): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Byron Potau<\/a>.\u00a0 Viewed on DVD.<\/p>\n

\"\"Many films are there for entertainment, but only a handful of them really strike a chord in dealing with life\u2019s complexities. \u00a0And that is just what Bob Rafelson\u2019s 1970 film Five Easy Pieces<\/a><\/em> does.\u00a0 This character study has incredible depth that so few films ever reach, or even try for.<\/p>\n

Angry loner and oil rig worker Bobby Dupea (Jack Nicholson) is on the run from life, afraid of being trapped in any one place.\u00a0 A former classical pianist from a wealthy and highly artistic family, he now lives in a trailer park with waitress Rayette Depesto (Karen Black) whom he stays with as much to avoid being alone as he does out of guilt for her suicide threats if he leaves her.\u00a0 When he learns from his sister Tina (Lois Smith) that their father has had a stroke, Bobby returns home, Rayette in tow, to attempt one last reconciliation with his father.<\/p>\n

This is Nicholson\u2019s tour de force all the way, and he is absolutely incredible, completely embodying the loneliness, anger, regret, self loathing, frustration, confusion, isolation, and alienation of his flawed character.\u00a0 Bobby is truly one of the most complex and explosive characters the screen has ever known.\u00a0 He lies and he cheats, he is selfish and honest, he is aggressive and charming, and he is a rebel and a coward in one.\u00a0 Aside from Nicholson, the performances are very strong with Karen Black a standout as Bobby\u2019s waitress girlfriend who loves him too much, and who despite his many flaws pathetically tries too hard to hang on to him.\u00a0 The film has a very natural look that, along with Nicholson\u2019s performance, gives the feeling of improvisation.\u00a0 The film\u2019s famous scene is the chicken salad sandwich scene in which Nicholson cleverly devises a way of ordering his toast without breaking the diner’s \u201cno substitutions.” \u00a0However, there are several scenes and sequences that deserve to be just as well remembered.\u00a0 The use of several Tammy Wynette songs works very well for the film and is one of its many strengths.\u00a0 The film\u2019s classic final scene is incredible in its poignancy and is bound to spark discussion with whomever you see it with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Byron Potau.\u00a0 Viewed on DVD. Many films are there for entertainment, but only a handful of them really strike a chord in dealing with life\u2019s complexities. \u00a0And that is just what Bob Rafelson\u2019s 1970 film Five Easy Pieces does.\u00a0 This character study has incredible depth that so few films ever reach, or even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvd","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}