Five Easy Pieces main backdrop
Five Easy Pieces main poster

Five Easy Pieces

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7.1/10 • 549

1970-09-121h 38m

Drama

He rode the fast lane on the road to nowhere.

A drop-out 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.

Directors
Bob Rafelson
Editors
Gerald Shepard

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Jack Nicholson

    Jack Nicholson

    Robert Eroica Dupea

  2. Karen Black

    Karen Black

    Rayette Dipesto

  3. Susan Anspach

    Susan Anspach

    Catherine Van Oost

  4. Lois Smith

    Lois Smith

    Partita Dupea

  5. Ralph Waite

    Ralph Waite

    Carl Fidelio Dupea

  6. Billy Green Bush

    Billy Green Bush

    Elton

  7. Irene Dailey

    Irene Dailey

    Samia Glavia

  8. Toni Basil

    Toni Basil

    Terry Grouse

  9. Lorna Thayer

    Lorna Thayer

    Waitress

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Jul 16, 2025

7/10

“Bobby” (Jack Nicholson) is a talented pianist from a successful family of musicians who has spurned the easy life and adopted a grifting existence working construction where he can and when he needs to. That itinerant life suits him. He is a man who seeks casual fun and who shuns any sort of commitment to his gal, to other people, or even to himself. Gradually he begins to become a little disaffected with his choices in life and with the emptiness it has left him with, and so returns to the family home where he discovers his dad has suffered from a few seizures. This new state of affairs compels “Bobby” to finally start to put a few things into perspective. It’s been three years since his last visit home and so, naturally, he is not the only one with reconciling to do - and there are a few at home who don’t quite have forgiveness first upon their lips. The question for everyone here is whether or not there can be any catharsis or is it all just too dyed in the wool. This is, for my money, the best effort Nicholson ever presented on screen. Coupled with some really quite poignant writing and paced at times as if it were a fly-on-the-wall documentary, we see a man about whom we probably couldn’t have cared less at the start expose his flaws, demons and humanity - and even then, there’s still a distinct possibility we won’t care. It’s good to see Ralph Waite - forever “John Walton” - take on a much more substantial and nuanced role as “Carl” and on that front, plaudits also have to go for an emotionally charged effort from Karen Black’s “Rayette” - the long-suffering girlfriend whom you frequently wonder shouldn’t just drop him like an hot brick. The soundtrack also plays quite a powerful role in this film with a sensitive mix of predominately country music ballads paired with some of the finest pieces of classical piano works - supposedly emanating from “Bobby” and from his sister “Partita” (Lois Smith). Essentially, it is a coming of age story only this one isn’t so much about in the traditional vein of loved-up hormones, more about adulthood and growing up by a man who lives in an uncomfortably claustrophobic world largely of his own choosing.

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  • Five Easy Pieces poster
  • Five Easy Pieces poster
  • Five Easy Pieces poster
  • Five Easy Pieces poster
  • Five Easy Pieces poster
  • Five Easy Pieces poster
  • Five Easy Pieces poster
  • Five Easy Pieces poster
  • Five Easy Pieces poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
$18,099,091.00
Keywords
musiciandinerroad triphitchhikerdrifterclass differenceswashington stateoil fieldrebelliousness