Review of Five Easy Pieces (1970) by Scott B — 30 Oct 2007

Nicholson's Bobby Dupea had all the hallmarks of a man abandoned by his country as it desperately tried to salvage it's own pride after the embarrassment and atrocity that ended in Vietnam. He was volcanic, on the edge, paranoid, denied love, abandoned his art; never before had the disillusionment of a whole nation rested upon a sole protagonist in an American film, and the fact that the film had no resolve was a frightening testament that American culture would never be the same again.

Five Easy Pieces is a monumental film in the post-Vietnam cannon, and Dupea's disposition is just as relevant in a post-September 11 world as it was back then. A highly significant film and cultural artifact.