Title: FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW JACK ...
Date: 11/30/1995; Publication: St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Author:
William Arnold Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold Seattle Post-Intelligencer
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
11-30-1995
No major film star of the past 30 years has built a more varied or extensive
body of work than Jack Nicholson. His latest work, The Crossing Guard, opens
this weekend. Here are one man's picks of the films (all currently available on
video) that best define his unique contribution to cinema:
Psych-Out (1968)--The Nicholson persona that burst forth in the `70s was
carefully honed by the actor in a long series of low-budget films in the `60s.
The best of them--and the place where he first clicked as a star--is this
LSD-exploitation film, in which he played the pony-tailed leader of a rock
band.
Easy Rider (1969)--This low-budget, on-the-road biker picture--in which
Nicholson plays a goofy, alcoholic, small-town lawyer who drops out of the
system and is martyred for his trouble--took the movie world by storm, made him
a box-office star, and ushered in a seven-year golden era in Hollywood
filmmaking.
Five Easy Pieces (1970)--Nicholson plays a musician who turns his back on his
career to become a vagabond oil-rig worker in this unforgettable, Bob Rafelson-directed character study that a majority of
America's movie critics consider the greatest Hollywood film of the 1970s.
The Last Detail (1973)--In this adaptation of Darryl Ponicsan's
peacetime Navy novel, Nicholson has his funniest--and most enjoyably raucous
and hammy--role as the petty officer in charge of a shore patrol detachment
escorting a young kleptomaniac sailor to the brig.
Chinatown (1974)--This Roman Polanski-directed, Raymond Chandler-like, `30s-era
detective story is arguably the greatest private-eye movie ever made, and
Nicholson has his single most charismatic role as an L.A. gumshoe who uncovers
a vast conspiracy of evil.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)-- Nicholson won
his best-actor Oscar for his irresistible performance as a misfit who leads a
rebellion of patients in an
The Shining (1980)--Critically panned on its first release, this Stanley Kubrick-directed adaptation of Stephen King's novel--about
an author who goes crazy while working as an off-season caretaker in a huge
mountain resort--has aged well, and is now widely considered one of the best
films of the `80s.
Reds (1981)--Nicholson portrays playwright Eugene O'Neill in Warren Beatty's
3-hour-plus epic biography of revolutionary John Reed, and demonstrates he can
be just as effective in a totally understated role as when he chews up the
scenery.
Terms of Endearment (1983)--Nicholson won his supporting-actor Oscar in this
moving and funny mother-daughter conflict drama, and is at his subtle,
scene-stealing best as Shirley MacLaine's
ex-astronaut neighbor and sometime lover.
Hoffa (1992)--It's not entirely satisfying as drama or biography, but
Nicholson's portrayal of the controversial Teamster boss in this Danny DeVito-directed epic is one of the best things he's ever
done, and probably the most underrated performance of his career.
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