Still Far from Easy after All These Years

Working out on the Nordic Track is almost the only time I watch movies anymore, and I still have a ways to go with the Woody Allen collection. (Small Time Crooks was marginally better than I remembered; The Curse of the Jade Scorpion just as lame as I’d recalled.) Occasionally we’ll view one at night on our kinda puny TV, which we don’t much otherwise turn on. But sometimes I’ll watch one on my laptop in the evening while Beth reads.

Given the fact that I went ahead and listed my favorite movies for this blog’s profile, I decided it was time to re-view one. The first five are my all-time faves, in order, and I realized it had been a while since I’d watched Five Easy Pieces. So a couple of nights ago I popped in the disk and took myself back to 1970, when some segments of society were still stuck in the fifties and Jack Nicholson’s hairline hadn’t completely receded. (Jeez, we’re talkin’ nearly 40 years here! Back then would I have watched a movie from 1930?) 

 

It’s gotten to the point where I can practically recite the dialogue along with the actors. “You play that thing one more time, I’m gonna melt it down into hairspray.” ... “We’ve had our break, Miss Dupea.” ... “I don’t even want to talk about it.” ... “I’m sitting here listening to some cracker asshole compare his life to mine.” ... “You play the piano all day and then jump on a horse, you could get cramps.” ... “Where we’re goin’, it’s gonna get colder than hell.” And of course the immortal “I want you to hold it between your knees.”

Robert Eroica Dupea, who abandons a career as a classical pianist for a haphazard life in the blue collar world, is one of cinema’s most fascinating character studies, as well as one of Nicholson’s standout roles. He seems to be a man unsure of what he wants to do but determined to resist other people’s expectations. Yet he can’t easily shake off an inner code that compels him to be concerned for his father’s health, show affection for his sister, and even defend his dimwitted girlfriend in front of a group of snobs. The scene with his father is particularly telling. . . . 

When Bobby says "We both know I was never that good at it anyway," does he mean piano or apology? No matter: I don’t know that Nicholson ever topped that scene.

There are other delights, of course. Great supporting cast: Susan Anspach, Ralph Waite, Billy Green Bush, Fannie Flagg, Lois Smith. There’s Sally Struthers in her first big role, and Toni Basil (Hey Mickey, whatever happened to Toni Basil?) as the less-vocal hitchhiker. The great juxtaposition of music, country & classical. And of course, best of all, Karen Black as Rayette Dipesto, pouting her way into our hearts as she sings Tammy Wynette tunes. (How, do you suppose, did screenwriter Carole Eastman settle on the names Dupea and Dipesto?)

BTW, I once corrected VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever over their entry for this film. Their snippet claimed that Nicholson’s character had been away from home for something like twenty years; I pointed out that not only would Jack have had to look a lot older, there was the scene at the dinner table where his absence was discussed as being around two years. I was pleased to see it corrected in the next edition – just my small contribution to the public record. Meanwhile, there still seem to be a lot of synopses out there that assume that Bobby’s working on an oil rig sets the early scenes in Oklahoma – but it’s really California.

Never seen it? It’s worth a rental. And I guarantee you’ll never feel the same about requesting substitutions in a restaurant.