Review of Five Easy Pieces (1970) by Mat H — 01 Apr 2008
As perfect a movie a was produced in the 70's, even though it's a quintessential 60's movie. 'Easy Rider' gets off on pissing on the establishment only veer into ironic destitution near its end, but 'Five Easy Pieces' is the movie that recognizes the fallacy of the counterculture from minute one.
Nicholson (in one of his greatest performances) is a loser, an asshole, a shitty boyfriend (to Karen Black, who is fantastic), and a paradigm of wasted talent for no reason whatsoever. That we stay with this character throughout is a tribute to the film's success (today, he'd have to save a puppy from a fire).
A beautiful character piece of as nominal and honest maturity as humanly possible. Come for the legendary "Chicken Salad Sandwich" scene, stay for the greatness of American short-story-writting expanding into feature-length greatness.
This review of Five Easy Pieces (1970) was written by Mat H on 01 Apr 2008.
Five Easy Pieces has generally received very positive reviews.
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