Five Easy Pieces

Name: Five Easy Pieces
Genre: Drama
Released: September 12, 1970
Duration: 98 min
Rating: 85
Cast: Billy Green Bush, Fannie Flagg, Helena Kallianiotes, Jack Nicholson, Karen Black

1970

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 15 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Ratings

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7.6

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7.6	Your Score
7.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Columbia Pictures | Release Date: September 12, 1970 | R

Starring: Billy Green Bush, Fannie Flagg, Helena Kallianiotes, Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Lois Smith, Marlena MacGuire, Richard Stahl, Sally Struthers, Toni Basil

Summary: 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.

Director: Bob Rafelson

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 98 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Staff (Not Credited)

Deceptively simple, Pieces is one of the most complex pictures of the 1970s. Read full review

100

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

This superbly composed film comes as close to perfection as it gets. Read full review

100

Kim Newman

A key turn-of-the-decade film, with Nicholson railing against waitresses and barking at noisy dogs as Rafelson observes seedily picturesque roadside America. Read full review

Nick Pinkerton

It’s a great work of the Discover America Seventies. Read full review

Tim Grierson

A marvel of letting an antihero's restless wanderings dictate the terms of the story, Pieces doesn't explain its lead's ennui so much as honors it. Read full review

Chuck Bowen

Bob Rafelson directs in an exploratory manner that naturally syncs up with Nicholson’s intuitive performance, his formalism suggesting a fusion of vérité and expressionism. Read full review

Roger Greenspun

At first appears to be rich with a quantity of felt life, but on reflection seems both more carefully studied and more coldly casual than profoundly understood. Read full review

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User Reviews

Deanomite

Jun 8, 2020

it really becomes a great movie because of the ending. Bobby Duprea (Jack Nicholson) grew up an aristocrat, rejected the scripted identity associated with it. He spends his next phase of life as a laborer, his eccentricities accepted but he is unable to accept the lack of respect ofit really becomes a great movie because of the ending. Bobby Duprea (Jack Nicholson) grew up an aristocrat, rejected the scripted identity associated with it. He spends his next phase of life as a laborer, his eccentricities accepted but he is unable to accept the lack of respect of personal boundaries. he attempts to steal his brother's fiancee, who gives him sex but finds him dead inside, preferring his idiot brother who provides stability. Jack is too self aware to love himself, unable to love anyone else, only really happy when the center of attention. He is a narcissist, doomed to unhappiness and devoted to the destruction of himself and everyone around him. He is a better person than contemporary narcissists, who destroy everyone they know rather than just abandoning them.… Expand

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Steven1981

Mar 20, 2020

Five Easy Pieces is NOT the best movie ever made and probably has it's flaws and weaknesses like most movies but if it had any I wasn't aware or unconscious or in a state of comatosis during the time of being reduced to a spectator glaring at the box. Five Easy Pieces is a 1970 drama andFive Easy Pieces is NOT the best movie ever made and probably has it's flaws and weaknesses like most movies but if it had any I wasn't aware or unconscious or in a state of comatosis during the time of being reduced to a spectator glaring at the box. Five Easy Pieces is a 1970 drama and stars a young Jack Nicholson who did this many years before even working on Stanley Kubrick's project, The Shining. Jack Nicholson plays an oil rig worker named Bobby and him and his wife, Rayette played by the stubborn and unlikeable at times Karen Black have a nice life but not without problems. Their relationship is a bit odd with the odd argument and crap going on and misunderstanding and then Rayette (Black) acts like an idiot and throws a tantrum. However Bobby's dad is sick so he travels to spend a few days with him and Rayette turns up shortly after. It's hard to describe this film as the story is so sophisticated and complex it's hard to nail the point on the story but excellent performances except from the annoying Karen Black. The ending makes this film special but with no explanation making the viewer confused and to create their own theory on why Jack Nicholson leaves his wife stranded at a gas station and hitches a ride back the other way by a lorry driver. Then lies to the lorry driver about his jacket or an item of clothing which is bizarre to say the least. The ending leaves questions unanswered and is the weak point of the movie which should have been explained more. My theory is that Jack Nicholson just wanted to get away from his annoying wife Rayette (Black) because she's stupid and too much stress. I don't blame him because Karen Black is annoying, however Five Easy Pieces has many good scenes including at least two fight scenes, one on the oil rig and great acting. It's not the best film but a great well made story even if much of it makes no sense if very little. What saves it is the cast put effort and soul into making it and director Bob Rafelson put effort into making it too. It's a film that stands out from any other movie ever made because it leaves unanswered questions and the ending was one big question in itself. Still a great film.… Expand

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Compi24

Mar 8, 2020

Protagonism is the key to good drama. If I don't find your lead character interesting or worthy of my time, everything else surrounding them starts to crumble. The narrative loses steam. The thematics never take shape. The whole world of the film starts to crack and peel away. In the case ofProtagonism is the key to good drama. If I don't find your lead character interesting or worthy of my time, everything else surrounding them starts to crumble. The narrative loses steam. The thematics never take shape. The whole world of the film starts to crack and peel away. In the case of Bob Rafelson's "Five Easy Pieces," you're not only presented with a protagonist who's uninteresting and unworthy of your time, but one who's genuinely unlikable altogether. And I get it. "That's the point." Here's the thing, though -- if you want to challenge an audience into empathizing with a bad person, at least make them a bad person in more interesting ways than "he cheats on his girlfriend" and "he's rude." Lou Bloom is a murderer with ambition. Salieri is a schemer with an inferiority complex. Travis Bickle is a deviant with an intriguing worldview. Bobby Dupea is just. . .not a great dude and that's about the extent of it. No, he doesn't have to be a full-blown antihero for me to find him interesting to watch. Just give me something to work with. There's almost nothing worthy of note to report here for me. Nothing beyond an expectedly committed performance from Jack Nicholson and a couple of neat-looking shots.… Expand

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