Product Details

• Actors: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Billy Green Bush, Fannie Flagg, Sally Struthers
• Directors: Bob Rafelson
• Writers: Bob Rafelson, Carole Eastman
• Producers: Bob Rafelson, Bert Schneider, Harold Schneider, Richard Wechsler
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: June 22, 1994
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302757096
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #132,998 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

This subtle, existential character study of an emotionally distant outcast (Nicholson) forced to confront his past failures remains an intimate cornerstone of American '70s cinema. Written and directed with remarkable restraint by Bob Rafelson, the film is the result of a short-lived partnership between the filmmaker and Nicholson--the first was the zany formalist exercise, Head, while the equally impressive King of Marvin Gardens followed Five Easy Pieces. Quiet and full of long, controlled takes, this film draws its strength from the acutely detailed, nonjudgmental observations of its complex protagonist, Robert Dupea--an extremely crass and frustrated oil worker, and failed child pianist hiding from his past in Texas. Dupea spends his life drinking beer and sleeping with (and cheating on) his annoying but adoring Tammy Wynette-wannabe girlfriend, but when he learns that his father is dying in Washington State, he leaves. After the film transforms into a spirited road movie, and arrives at the eccentric upper-class Dupea family mansion, it becomes apparent that leaving is what Dupea does best--from his problems, fears, and those who love him. Nicholson gives a difficult yet masterful performance in an unlikable role, one that's full of ambiguity and requires violent shifts in acting style. Several sequences--such as his stopping traffic to play piano, or his famous verbal duels with a cranky waitress over a chicken-salad sandwich--are Nicholson landmarks. Yet, it's the quieter moments, when Dupea tries miserably to communicate and reconcile with his dying father, where the actor shows his real talent--and by extension, shows us the wounded little boy that lurks in the shell of the man Dupea has become. --Dave McCoy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Appeals to the little bit of alienation that's in all of us, January 17, 2002

By 

Linda Linguvic (New York City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Five Easy Pieces [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Nominated for four Academy Awards, this 1970 film stars Jack Nicholson as Robert Dupea, a creative and alienated drifter who once held the promise of being a serious classical concert pianist. When we meet him, though, he's working on an oil rig, drinking, gambling, chasing women and treating his girlfriend, Rayette, badly. Karen Black plays Rayette, a loving and attractive, but not very intelligent, waitress who yearns to be a country western singer. And the sound track by Tammy Wynette, including "Stand By Your Man" are a contrast to the pieces by Mozart and Chopin that we hear later, when Nicholson visits his dying father in the family's secluded and upscale dwelling. There, he enters into an impossible relationship with his brother's sophisticated girlfriend played by Susan Anspach.

The film moves fast and held my interest, with a wide variety of episodes to further deepen the intensity of the Nicholson character. There's a nude scene with Sally Struthers as one of Nicholson's many women. There's a scene in a diner with a waitress where Nicholson tries to place an order for items not on the menu. There's a scene where he picks up two lesbian hitchhikers, who are planning on moving to Alaska. There's a scene with Nicholson's sister, played by Lois Smith, in a recording studio where she is playing classical music and treated with disrespect and contempt by the staff. And there's a scene where Nicholson defends his girlfriend, Rayette, against upper class snobbery.

This is a film that works as well today as it did in the 1970s. But it must have especially timely then and viewed as a cry for independence and freedom as the alienated Nicholson just keeps moving on. The screenplay by Carole Eastman, under the direction of Bob Rafelson, is excellent. And there's something about the story that makes us realize that there's a little bit of the Jack Nicholson character in all of us. Recommended.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jack's best - and that's saying a lot, May 10, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Leavenworth, KS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Five Easy Pieces [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Jack Nicholson is a wonderful actor, but since the early 1970s, virtually all of his performances have been variations of Jack playing Jack. This is not to say that he has not been terrific doing this, but there is a distinct impression that there hasn't been much of a stretch in his acting since Chinatown. Not so with Five Easy Pieces - Nicholson completely loses himself in the character of Bobby Dupee, and gives what is arguably his best performance ever. What's more, the film, which opened in 1970, depicts better than any other film the alienation of the generation of the late 1960s-early 1970s. Nicholson's Bobby Dupee is a talented classical musician who comes from a family of talented classical musicians. He has, however, chosen to deny his past by living (one might almost say "hiding") with his girl friend, Rayette (a terrific Karen Black) among blue collar workers. The bulk of the film centers on Bobby's return home to visit his father, who has suffered a stroke, and the interaction of Bobby (and Rayette) with various members of the household. Nicholson's acting talent was never more apparent than in the scene where he is out walking with his wheel-chair bound father and tries to explain why he has chosen the path he has taken. The scene has an improvisational quality, and Nicholson is both natural and moving. It is a moment that can stand with anything he has done since.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still Nicholson's best performance..., December 22, 2001

By 

R. Gawlitta "Coolmoan" (Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Five Easy Pieces (DVD)

This was Nicholson's first "angry young man" role (you can't count "Easy Rider" because he really just played a nerd) and it's evident that he'd found his niche for almost every other role he's played. He's a natural. His performance is layered with angst, passion, soft- sensitivity, self-doubt, and a cross-section of just about every other emotion imaginable. This was his first starring role, and it's no wonder his career took off with such a formidable foundation. Supported by Karen Black (too bad she's never had as good a role since), Susan Anspach and the wonderful Lois Smith, the entire ensemble provides a thought-provoking study of a potentially rewarding life wrought with bad choices. This is very much of a character-driven film, and Bob Rafelson gives the actors free reign, a wise decision. The DVD is of excellent quality considering the low price. "Five Easy Pieces" set a major standard for many films of the 70's (and most of Nicholsons's (Last Detail, Cuckoo's Nest). From the standpoint of its historical value, the film is most instructive. It's also immensely entertaining. Don't miss it!!