Joni Mitchell’s favourite Jack Nicholson movie
Undoubtedly one of the most acclaimed actors in Hollywood history, Jack Nicholson has created a body of work that speaks for itself. With incredible performances in masterpieces such as Roman Polanski’s Chinatown and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, many fans struggle to single out one particular film as their favourite while mentally scanning through Nicholson’s catalogue. However, that wasn’t the case for Joni Mitchell.
Throughout the 1970s, Nicholson was at the centre of the Hollywood elite’s party scene, and he became notorious for his wild habits. During that period, Mitchell also became a member of that circle and was very close to the talented actor. In fact, she famously wrote a song called ‘People’s Parties’ that was inspired by Nicholson and his awkward encounter with then-partner Anjelica Huston at a party, as perceived by Mitchell.
At a 1994 red carpet event hosted by the American Film Institute, Mitchell was asked about the Jack Nicholson film she considered to be her favourite. Although she insisted that she was a fan of Nicholson’s entire filmography, one particular project surfaced in her mind as the winner. Mitchell answered: “Five Easy Pieces, I guess. That’s just one off the top of my head, but I like Jack’s work all the way along.”
Directed by Bob Rafelson, Five Easy Pieces is considered to be one of the most influential works from the New Hollywood movement, just as it was gathering momentum during the start of the decade. In an interview with BFI, Rafelson said: “No film that I have directed, with the exception of Stay Hungry, started with material outside myself. Before Five Easy Pieces, I had written three versions of a film, partial scripts, you might say, taking place in totally different locations but always dealing with the same problems of much the same central character, who ultimately became the Nicholson character in Five Easy Pieces.”
While talking about the visual language, he added: “You have a feeling for what the movie is, and then that dictates how you use sound, how you use the camera. I find I compose right to the hairline in every movie I make. In Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens, the style was such that in the exteriors, the camera was, with maybe one or two exceptions, totally static the whole time, much the way that Ozu is totally static in many of his films.”
Nominated for multiple Oscars and Golden Globes, the film featured Nicholson in one of the most impressive outings of his career. He was fantastic as Bobby Dupea, a blue-collar worker who was once hailed as a piano prodigy. At a time when American cinema was redefining its identity, Five Easy Pieces came along and effortlessly showed audiences that new kinds of artistic expression were possible.
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