RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Found a Bug? Squash It! Report Bugs Here
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / Upcoming / Five Easy Pieces
Five Easy Pieces

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Five Easy Pieces (1970)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
81 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:27

Fresh:22

Rotten:5

Average Rating:8.1/10

Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: FIVE EASY PIECES is one of the most notable collaborations between Jack Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson, with Nicholson in an outstanding performance as Bobby Dupea. In the film, Rafelson and... FIVE EASY PIECES is one of the most notable collaborations between Jack Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson, with Nicholson in an outstanding performance as Bobby Dupea. In the film, Rafelson and Nicholson capture the difficult, awkward life of a gifted man who hasn't discovered a way to fully express his talent or found his place in the world--and maybe never will. Bobby is a classic misfit--disillusioned about being a musician, unhappy as an oil rigger, and unable to make a commitment to his girlfriend, Rayette, who hopes for marriage. When he visits his family home on Puget Sound after a long absence, things don't get better. Bobby hates the repressive atmosphere: his brother is unbearable, his father can't speak, and his sister is involved with his father's supercilious male nurse. When Bobby sets his sights on his brother's fiancée, Catherine Van Ost (movingly played by the beautiful Susan Anspach), things seem to be getting better--that is, until Rayette arrives and Bobby realizes he is caught in a collision between his two lives. The film features characteristically gorgeous cinematography from Laszlo Kovaks and a soundtrack that skillfully offsets Tammy Wynette with Chopin. FIVE EASY PIECES is a riveting American story about a former musical ingénue whose gift becomes a burden to him as he grapples with the implications of his choices in work, relationships, and family. [More]

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Susan Anspach, Sally Struthers

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Susan Anspach, Sally Struthers, Billy "Green" Bush, Fannie Flagg, Marlena MacGuire, Richard Stahl, Lois Smith, Helena Kallianiotes, Toni Basil, John Ryan, Lorna Thayer, Ralph Waite, William Challee, Irene Dailey

Director: Bob Rafelson

Director: Bob Rafelson
Screenwriter: Bob Rafelson, Adrien Joyce
Producer: Richard Wechsler

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Five Easy Pieces

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

A key American film of its era, Bob Rafelson's moody, character-driven tale of an upper-middle class dropout established Jack Nicholson as the foremost actor of his generation in articulating the values of the new generation.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
02/26/08
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Bobby can be seen as spiritual descendant of Melville's scrivener Bartleby, preferring not to participate in a world to which he doesn't subscribe.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
12/07/07
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Jack Nicholson shines in the film that helped cement his reputation as one of the finest actors of his generation.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
07/26/07
Channel 4 Film

This episodic character study is one of the key American films of its era.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
07/26/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide

The film's nervewracking quality is consistent with its content. Nicholson's performance is a remarkably varied and daring exploration of a complex character, equally convincing in its manic and sober aspects.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
07/26/07
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film embraces proletarian chic but still gets its laughs by abusing waitresses.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
07/26/07
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader

Just give the guy a piece of toast.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
03/18/07
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

No review available.

comment Comment
04/06/06
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

The result is less a story and more a collection of incidents and character studies, all of which inform each other and extend our understanding of Nicholson's mode of survival: flight.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out

No review available.

comment Comment
09/27/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

No review available.

comment Comment
09/23/05
Michael Szymanski
Michael Szymanski
International Press Academy

Hold that sandwich! A film representing its time, and a classic.

comment Comment
10/15/04
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan

It hasn't aged as well as some of its 1970s counterparts, but it's still a heartbreaking film and a minor classic.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
06/21/04
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

No review available.

comment Comment
01/12/04
Bill Chambers
Bill Chambers
Film Freak Central

No review available.

comment Comment
11/22/03
Mark Palermo
Mark Palermo
Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

No review available.

comment Comment
10/03/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Rafelson is expert at supporting this movement, and the film proceeds from scene to scene with a quiet competent modernism that bespeaks quality, but that more often begs than provides expression.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/21/03
Roger Greenspun
Roger Greenspun
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

I expected a lot more from this film. It's basically a rambling boredom piece.

comment Comment
04/30/03
Alex Sandell
Alex Sandell
Juicy Cerebellum

We'd had a revelation. This was the direction American movies should take: Into idiosyncratic characters, into dialogue with an ear for the vulgar and the literate, into a plot free to surprise us about the characters, into an existential ending.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
03/25/03
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Nicholson at his angry, young man peak. Cynical, anti-authoritarian drama.

comment Comment
03/21/03
Bob Bloom
Bob Bloom
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
See All

More Movies

Coming Soon in Australia
Tomatometer Percentage Movie Date

80% 80% Sherlock Holmes 26/12
39% 39% The Lovely Bones 26/12
100% 100% The French Kissers 26/12
83% 83% Bright Star 26/12
— Nowhere Boy 26/12
— Alvin and the Chipmunk… 26/12
— Did You Hear About the… 26/12
05% 05% Old Dogs 26/12

What’s Hot On RT

Avatar

Avatar

Watch six new clips from the sci-fi epic

20 Must-See Films

20 Must-See Films

Your essential Summer Movie Guide

Sam Worthington

Sam Worthington

We talk with Avatar's action star

Hot Nine Clips

Hot Nine Clips

New videos from the upcoming all-star musical

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Trailer Bulletin: Robin Hood Source: ComingSoon.net
17
  • Mel Gibson Plans a Mexican Vacation Source: Variety
2
  • New Iron Man 2 Clue Posted Source: Screen Rant
18
  • Gibson and DiCaprio are Going Norse Source: HitFix
33
  • Lord of the Rings Coming to Blu-ray April 6 Source: Hollywood Reporter
7
  • Tobey Maguire Rumored for The Hobbit Source: Latino Review
26
  • Mila Kunis Talks Aronofsky's Black Swan Source: Collider.com
12
  • Visiting the Set of The Sorcerer's Apprentice Source: ComingSoon.net
7
  • Weekly Ketchup: James Cameron Plans a Fantastic Voyage
93
  • James Cameron Talks Avatar Sequels Source: Collider.com
8
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Tomatometer Watch: Will Avatar Live Up To The Hype?
236
  • Total Recall: Keith David's Best Movies
82
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Girlpower Rules Again with Princess at #1
69
  • Awards Tour 2009: Inglourious Basterds Lead Critics Choice Noms
42
  • The Gimmicks That Changed Cinema: Part 1
37
  • Awards Tour 2009: Avatar Best Picture at NYFCO!
34
  • Weekly Ketchup: James Cameron Plans a Fantastic Voyage
31
  • The Effects of Where the Wild Things Are
30
  • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
21
  • Critics Consensus: Princess, Invictus Are Certified Fresh
21
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
21
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
2
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
12
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
23
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • RT on DVD: Wassup, Bruno
3
  • Scott Hicks Talks The Boys Are Back
0
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Richard Kelly chats about The Box
2
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Five Easy Pieces at Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh Links

Featured
Virtuoso Vistas of The Lovely Bones
Virtuoso Vistas of The Lovely Bones External Link

Techland examines the visual splendor of Peter Jackson's upcoming film.

Animated Oscar?
Animated Oscar? External Link

Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.

Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Twitter
Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Twitter External Link

Get all the latest movie updates, reviews, interviews and features here.

Competitions
Win Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 prize packs
Win Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 prize packs External Link

We're giving away a bunch of stuff from the upcoming Squeakquel.

Win Inglourious Basterds DVDs
Win Inglourious Basterds DVDs External Link

We're giving away five copies of Tarantino's hit, with thanks to Universal. That's a bingo.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.