Heeeeeeeeeeere's Jaaaaaaaaack!
It has come to my attention that Jack Nicholson recently turned 70. That means he has been in the movie business for 51 years, since he made his first film, a Roger Corman cheapo called Cry Baby Killer when he was 19. That’s quite a career. One suspects the guy must have talent.
Jack, of course first came to widespread public attention with the sort-of biker pic, the iconic Easy Rider playing the failed Midwestern alcoholic, football helmet donning, latecoming stoner alongside Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda. He’s the poor loser who gets his brains bashed out by a couple of rednecks, but he is the pivotal persona of a film that, while it hasn’t aged well, still boasts arguably the best soundtrack of any film. And it boasts Jack, and his career fully took off from there.
He is also probably the best film actor of not only his generation, but one who can sit right up there in the pantheon with Brando, Bogart, Tracy and whoever else you might consider a giant, and he is arguably more versatile than any of the aforementioned. Of his contemporaries the only ones who come close to Jack would be Morgan Freeman, Pacino, Duval and DeNiro.
But, what makes Jack even more significant is that he is ‘cooler’ than all of them. He’s still cool at an age in which most people have been drawing a pension for at least five years. He’s cool in the true sense of the word, much like Bob Mitchum was, and that is that he’s not self-consciously cool. He just is.
I’m not even going to attempt to list Nicholson’s collection of works, but only to say he can do brilliant comedy, intensity, terror, and pathos with equal élan, and he isn’t even afraid of self-parody, with the difference being, he carries it off.
My favorite Nicholson films are Chinatown, The Last Detail, A Few Good Men (Tom Cruise and Demi Moore notwithstanding), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and About Schmidt. But, I would also be prepared to say about Jack is that I’d watch him and listen to him reading the telephone book.
What’s your favorite Nicholson film?
Labels: iconic actor, Jack, venerable actor
posted by Ian Lidster at
9:17 AM
11 Comments:
My fave is The Shining. His personality transformation was brilliant. Jack could make me pee my pants in fright.
V.
I guess I am a little too young to really appreaciate Jack Nicholson. I did not like "As Good As It Gets."
I'm with you on this one Ian. I have enjoyed all his films and as you say find he is one THE most versatile actors out there...liked your other picks too. I thought he was at his best in A Few Good Men although One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a close second.
I'd have to say "The Shining". He was absolutely scary, a brilliant portrayal of a descent into madness. His face in the door.... enough to give you nightmares. Kubrick and Jack what's there not to love?
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Five Easy Pieces, Little Shop of Horrors, Easy Rider, Chinatown, About Schmidt, and A Few Good Men for starters.
One of my favorite lines in any movie is, "You make me want to be a better man." Only Nicholson could have pulled that one off.
I think my favorites are "Prizzi's Honor," and "Chinatown" and he's hilarious in "Tommy." He's not one of my favorite actors, but I like him. I guess I like more easygoing warms types like Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, James Garner and Bruce Willis, although my very personal favorite is Kevin Spacey.
My favorite is The Shining, hands down. It was the first date movie for my husband and I --ah, even then, he knew me so well! :)
Sorry Ian, I loathe Jack Nicholson and reckon he spoils any movie he's in for me. I have to admit he was great in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, but frankly, I think latterly he's been playing the same part for ages.
I would love to spend an evening with him, he is quite a character. He was terrifying in The Shining, and I also loved Schmidt and the Cuckoo's Nest.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for sure. I saw it again after a gap of, oh, 25 years and was amazed at how good it still is.
Jack's the kind of guy who could elevate scrotum-scratching to Cool.
My favourite Nicholson film (and probably my all time favourite, period)is Cuckoo. And, I must say we're on the same page regarding the best actors of that generation
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