I decided to challenge myself and really open the doors of my film knowledge and take on “The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide”. It’s 808 pages of movies and movie reviews from some of the most knowledgeable movie people you don’t know. It’s a book put together by a staff that praises, and destroys, some of our favorites and not so favorites. You can read the rest of my series here.
Just a quick refresher: each episode, I’m going to tackle three films from three different categories. Two films will be films I’ve never seen before and one will be one I’ve seen before or own. For the new films, well, new to me, I’m going to review them like a typical FTS review using the TOAST Rating system. But, for the films I’ve seen, I’m going give a quick paragraph or two about why I like or don’t like the film. We’ll try to include the poster and trailer for each film. “….and here. We. Go!”
In this episode of Versus The Scarecrow, we take a look at films that have numbers in the title that just so happen to total the number of this episode. Clever? You bet it is! I’ll be looking at the surprisingly funny 10, the surprisingly depressing Five Easy Pieces, and I reflect on Four Rooms.
Five Easy Pieces (1970) Directed by Bob Rafelson. Starring: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Billy Green Bush. IMDB says: “A drop-out from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn’t spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.”
“Great. You throw the big Z’s for 19 frames, and then you throw a strike on the last ball of a losing game. Wonderful. Just wonderful.”
Five Easy Pieces is a dark melodrama that builds you up and then continues to let you down. Bobby Dupea (Jack Nicholson) has made his living going from town to town working on oil rigs. When he’s not working, he’s bowling, drinking, and sleeping around. His life is going nowhere and everybody knows it. But what most don’t know is Bobby lived a life of privilige, studying as a piano prodigy. But he left it all behind, for what? I don’t know. The film doesn’t know. I don’t even think he knows. Five Easy Pieces is a tough watch because just when you think Bobby is going to redeem himself, he goes wide right and takes out everybody with him. There is rarely any humor, minus the chicken salad sandwich scene, and even then it’s only short lived.
The film kicks off by introducing you to Bobby. Working alongside his buddy Elton (Billy Green Bush) at the oil rigs, and sleeping around when he his girlfriend Rayette (Karen Black) to go home to. You can tell Bobby’s negativity has began to wear on her, no matter how hard she tries to stay positive. As Bobby begins to become more and more isolated from his current situation, he gets a letter from his sister: his father is deathly sick. Bobby then travels up to see him, reluctantly bringing Rayette. As the film progresses, we see hints and sparks that maybe Bobby is on the verge of change, but he quickly snuffs those flames, going through the film talking down to whoever and whatever. The cast is great, as they act and react towards Bobby making these one-sided relationships feel real and relatable. The music adds a somber tone, keeping the film melodramatic. Even the locations and settings have a bland color palette than leaving you feeling down or indifferent. All this negativity aside, that’s not to say this isn’t a good movie; it’s just a downer.
For you Nicholson completionists, the film is definitely worth a watch as Jack owns every scene he’s in, which is no real surprise. If you enjoy a good character study, such as myself, I do recommend this film, but do what I did and watch this film and then 10.
