I get the sense from a lot of films of the late 60's and 70's that filmmakers wanted to capture that feeling of restlessness or unease that we all get in our twenties and sometimes later. Five Easy Pieces (1970) is one of those films, and like The Graduate that preceded it, it gives us no discernible answers just more questions, like a great movie should.
Jack Nicholson plays Robert, we first see him in the oil fields toiling and working hard. He is dating a waitress played by Karen Black. He lives about as rural a life as one would expect. Fun activities include hanging out with his local friends and going bowling. There is one scene early on in which Robert lashes out at his friend, when he compared their lives in a similar manner. We don't understand at that moment why, (they seemed to be on the same level). We soon come to find out that no, Robert doesn't belong in the oil fields. He is from a very well to do musically gifted family. Robert is always trying to escape from his families past, whether it be because he wants his own path or because he feels like a failure, of which is the truth I am not sure.
Five Easy Pieces is essentially about that universal longing to be your own person, to carve out your own destiny. Robert uses his upper middle class values when he needs too, but most of the time tries to separate himself from them. He never seems to quit know what he wants but he always knows he doesn't have it.
I had seen Five Easy Pieces previous to this review, and it had much more of an impact on me this time around. Bob Rafelsons direction is very subtle and open ended, and it works really nice in a film like this. Nicholson gives one of his best performances here because he manages to reign it in when needed. 70's cinema is know for its wondering loners, and here is one of the best.
****
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