Family reading.
We were waiting for a play (One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest) to begin last week and we began discussing Nicholson films. As will happen to people of a certain age, retrieval of our favorites was hazardous. We remembered an early one about military men as CINDERELLA LIBERTY (nope, James Caan) and not until the intermission did we finally label it as THE LAST DETAIL. We all like different Nicholson vehicles best. What would your choice be?
39 comments:
Chinatown.
Probably "The Shining."
Cuckoo's Nest comes to mind, of course. As Good As It Gets ranks high. Another up on my list is the first one I remember seeing him in although I didn't realize it was him until years later.
Little Shop of Horrors is one of those films that's so bad that they're memorable. I'd always ranked that one high for years and, until his rank rose, Nicholson was just a bit actor playing the dentist's patient.
There are plenty that I like, and plenty that I haven't seen, or saw so long ago that I don't really recall them, but I think for me the answer to this one is simple..... forget it Jake, It's Chinatown (which I saw at the Michigan last night).
In terms of Jack being an actor, I'd probably say Terms of Endearment. In terms of Jack being JACK, probably A Few Good Men. In terms of Jack surprising everyone and reminding the world that yes, I can really act, As Good As It Gets. One of my wife's favorite movies (and one I can't really comment on since I've only seen it once) is The Crossing Guard.
CHINATOWN. The only acceptable answer.
ABOUT SCHMIDT would not be my absolute favorite (CHINATOWN) but it showed an older Nicholson could still create a compelling character.
Unlike say, THE BUCKET LIST.
IREN-You lucky dog.
Okay. The first time I saw Something's gotta Give I thought his performance was over the top. But I watched it again and found it very touching. Same with As Good as It Gets. I think his films bear more than one watching.
'Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown.'
Chinatown again.
I see a consensus gathering. I wonder if I asked a group of romance loving women, what would they choose? I may try that.
I'm going old school with Five Easy Pieces. For his newer movies, definitely About Schmidt.
It would be a close call between "Five Easy Pieces", "The Shining", and "Chinatown". If forced to choose I'd have to go with "Chinatown" which, on some days, I consider to be the greatest American movie.
THE TERROR. No. (Though since he can be fleetingly seen in THE TERROR in TARGETS, I could be a complete Nicholsonian smartass and say TARGETS.) While Nicholson channels Jerry Lewis effectively in LITTLE SHOP, this is not necessarily something to be desired (though I like his commitment). I keep just missing THE CROSSING GUARD, so I might have to agree with CHINATOWN...though CARNAL KNOWLEDGE might be his bravest performance that comes to mind. (I am irrelevantly reminded that his daughter was a year ahead of me in high school. Didn't know her, but she was beautiful.) ABOUT SCHMIDT seemed a bit easy to me, but the audience was the most amusing aspect...they, or at least a whole lot of them, groaned loudly at the display of Kathy Bates's body, as if the similar display of Nicholson was somehow more esthetically pleasing.
My ex Donna always thought he was good-looking, even as late as THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK and thereabouts, which might explain in part why she thought another overweight balding guy with a long nose a tolerable sight. Would your romance folks be inclined toward that film, or even more AS GOOD AS IT GETS?
And that bothered me too, the Kathy Bates thing. I saw THE CROSSING GUARD and it was a movie that was better than I expected but pretty unmemorable. But maybe everything is now.
I think that what makes Chinatown the right answer is that as a film it's got a first class screen play, direction, and performances by a lot of people, including Jack that are top drawer. One of the reasons that it is so good is that Jack is just part of the story. I have to say that; The Shining, The Last Detail, Psych-Out, The Departed and several others are all well worth checking out. About Schmidt is a film that I really liked, that I thought Jack carried well.
Asking me which Nicholson is my favorite is like asking my preferred form of chocolate. Every few seconds brings to mind another performance I enjoyed on some, usually multiple, levels. I still have to go with the gathering consensus:
Chinatown.
A lot of his later work suffered the engorgement of his ego, I think. But again, sometimes the second look tells me differently.
The Last Detail, definitely. Or The Pledge.
I'm blanking on THE PLEDGE. Off to look it up.
Dana-A more varied career than most actors, I'd say. Nobody picked The Witches of Eastwick.
THE PLEDGE is another I've been meaning to see.
Just how many exes does Todd have?
I'm no Jack Nicholson nor Frederik Pohl (Tommy Manville?), if that's what you're asking. There are two women who were brave enough to sustain a years-long-term affair with me whom I consider my exes, several women smart enough to merely date me briefly, and one who was foolhardy enough to live with me essentially platonically for two extended stints.
Never been a real big fan but I thought he was [intentionally]scenery-chewing entertaining as The Joker. Liked him in Easy Rider too. And then there was the incredible "W.T.F.?!?" moment I had when I seen him in an old black and white episode of the Andy Griffith Show.
John McAuley
John-I saw that just a few weeks ago. I looked around for someone to tell but it was just me.
Todd-Didn't know about Frederick Pohl. I picture you quizzing these women about books and movies and always finding them wanting. Or maybe their political views leave something to be desired. Only kidding, of course.
Frederik Pohl has been married, iirc, to five different fellow writer/editors over the years, the mostly lucky fellow (at least two were physically stunning, all seem/seemed at least extremely bright).
No, I definitely qualify as the more lacking of my major (and even minor) duets, I'd say. No quizzing, not being a character from DINER. If anything, burbling, the opposite of quizzing, to a fault, though several women have chosen to find that aspect charming.
I see Jennifer Nicholson in middle age has darker hair, put on some weight, and is generally resembling her father much more than she did when we were adolescents. Interesting how that can happen as one ages (I'm not sure that my brother and I, who if anything are looking more similar as we age, are looking more or less like our parents...we certainly both seem to have split the difference between the 'rents).
That was a great concept in Diner, wasn't it. You just knew how long that marriage would last. Or any of them. Yes, charming indeed.
I think its easier to say which ones I didn't like if I could think of one. Easy Rider maybe...his role was OK but not like the Nicholson we have come to know.
I have been thinking about the post last week or the week before about books I would like to re-read and I think now it may be...Solzhenitsyn,
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Missouri Breaks
That's a good choice for a reread as we read it at a young age. And also the world has changed so much.
Gary-Now why am I not surprised. Didn't he do another western too? Going South? I'll have to check it out on IMDB.
He did a really good western with the great Warren Oates called THE SHOOTING (1967) directed by Monte Hellman. Like most of Hellman's work (Two-Lane Blacktop, Ride the Whirlwind, The Cockfighter), it's sometimes painfully "arty" in a very sixties kind of way, but there are plenty of cool moments to make it worthwhile. I mean, come on: Oates and Nicholson.
Archavist, back in the late '70's I went to a lecture / discussion in which the speakers were Frank Capra and King Vidor. Capra said that he didn't think there was such a thing as a bad movie; Vidor answered, "I guess you haven't seen The Missouri Breaks".
I have never seen it myself so I don't know if I would agree with you or Vidor.
I know I've seen it but I seem to just remember Marlon Brando swaggering around.
CrimeNerd-I like those Monte Hellman movies though. Especially Cockfighter. I know there meandering and pretentious sometimes, but he was trying to make art and not just money. Ah, those seventies. And Warren Oates is the best.
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