“Five Easy Pieces” The feeling of emptiness projected by young Jack Nicholson himself

"Five Easy Pieces" Synopsis

Bobby, who works at an oil rig, has no enthusiasm for anything and leads a self-indulgent life. One day, his live-in partner, Ray, becomes pregnant. Bobby thinks it's too much trouble to get married and considers breaking up with her, but when his sister tells him that his father has fallen seriously ill, he is still reluctant to break up with Ray and heads to his parents' house. When he returns home for the first time in three years, a new reality awaits him...

Index

• A representative film of American New Cinema
• Also featured in "My Back Page"
• A female screenwriter who knows the true face of Nicholson
• Nicholson and director Rafelson

A representative film of American New Cinema

From the late 1960s to the 1970s, a group of films known as "American New Cinema" appeared in Hollywood. The term originated from a feature on "New Cinema" in the American magazine "TIME" in 1967, and the first film to be called this was " Bonnie and Clyde " (1967). At the time in America, the civil rights movement and anti-Vietnam War movements were gaining momentum, and films that presented values ​​different from those of existing Hollywood films were being produced one after another.

American New Cinema included many films that depicted social Outsider who had not previously been in the spotlight, such as " Midnight Cowboy Cowboy" (1969), in which Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight played characters living on the bottom floor of New York, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture for its sharp portrayal of human nature despite its shocking content. Also, " Easy Rider " (1969), starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, was made as an independent film and distributed by major label Columbia, and despite the shocking plot in which the main characters are shot to death at the end, it became the most commercially successful independent film (it was also a big hit in Japan).

"Five Easy Pieces" Trailer

The film that appeared as a companion piece to Easy Rider was Five Easy Pieces(1970). It starred Jack Nicholson, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a free-thinking lawyer in Easy Rider . It was produced by the independent production company BBS. BBS's predecessor was Raibert Productions, which had success with the popular 1960s TV show The Monkees (1966-1968), and produced Easy Rider , which became a huge hit. The core members of the company were Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider. The addition of Stephen Brauner, known as S, who joined later, marked a new start for the company. Other high-quality works that represent the 1970s include Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971) and the Vietnam War documentary Hearts and Minds (1974).

Rafelson, one of the central figures of the company and director of Five Easy Pieces, passed away from cancer on July 23, 2022. As a tribute to Rafelson, who once opened up new possibilities in the independent film world, we would like to look back on the appeal of his masterpiece, Five Easy Pieces.

Also featured in "My Back Page"