best film: This one is incredibly crowded because Jack has been in (and been excellent in) 6 ½ masterpieces. It’s the most I’ve seen while doing this. He’s in Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Easy Rider and The Shining. Those are the four masterpieces on solid ground. Five Easy Pieces, Carnal Knowledge and The Departed are all graded out as masterpieces in my archives but they’re not blue chips—hence saying “6 ½ masterpieces” to start us off here. Either way, it’s staggering stuff. Of all the films only The Shining and Chinatown are in my top 100 though (there are approximately 300 masterpieces so this ratio works out). Kubrick’s 1980 masterpiece is Jack’s best film. Give me Kubrick’s audacious visuals and dedication to the steady-cam tracking shot aesthetic over Chinatown’s retro-polish and screenplay brilliance (it is truly one of the all-time finest). But these two films are extremely close- I have The Shining at #60 and Chinatown at #68.
best performance: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is Jack’s greatest performance to this day. He’s darker in Five Easy Pieces and the “hold the chicken” scene in it may be his greatest single moment in film (from a guy who gave us “you can’t handle the truth”) but Cuckoo’s Nest makes better use of his charm and sheer liveliness. He’s edgy—always has been— but he’s our hero here (or antihero) and a perfect vehicle for the anarchy. He’s utterly captivating sitting around the group meetings, in the opening interview, his battles with Louise Fletcher and the torture sequences with the electroshock therapy. Nicholson is a massive screen presence – he can’t really disappear (Hoffa is a solid attempt) or hide his smile and personality so Forman’s film is his finest vehicle (and a damn film with an all-timer of an ending). It’s just slightly more suited to his talents than the rest of his best work.
stylistic innovations/traits: Nicholson is both new age Hollywood’s golden boy and bad boy at the same time. He’s playful (reminds me of 1950’s Mifune), anti-authoritarian, full of sex and rebellion. He’s another actor that seems to be largely playing himself in at least half of his films. His resume is overwhelming. He’s been in 25 overall archiveable films, has been nominated 12 times (most for a male actor) and won three times. His top 10 performances below is so loaded that I have 6 oscar nominations and two wins that don’t even make his top 10 performances….. 6 noms and 2 wins that DO NOT make the cut—that’s a legendary career’s worth of leftovers. Michael Caine has 6 nominations and two wins….. Nicholson began in the 60’s working his way up (and making connections) in the Roger Corman’s AIP group. Easy Rider was a breakout hit and landmark film for the new Hollywood. Nicholson scorches the screen in it and it sets him off on another Pacino-like legendary run in the early 70’s (9 archiveable films in 7 years including 5 masterpieces). He’s in a landmark film with arguably the best director of all-time (Kubrick), steals A Few Good Men, Batman and pads his resume with work like As Good As It Gets, The Pledge, The Departed, and About Schmidt in the later 90’s and early 00’s.
directors worked with: James Brooks (3), Bob Rafelson (2), Mike Nichols (2) and then a murder’s row of directors once including: Kubrick, Polanski, Scorsese, Antonioni, Milos Forman, Hal Ashby, Kazan, Arthur Penn, Warren Beatty, Alexander Payne, John Huston and Tim Burton
Top 10 Performances:
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- Five Easy Pieces
- Chinatown
- The Shining
- The Last Detail
- Carnal Knowledge
- Easy Rider
- A Few Good Men
- The Passenger
- Batman
Archiveable films
1966- The Shooting |
1969- Easy Rider |
1970- Five Easy Pieces |
1971- Carnal Knowledge |
1972- The King of Marvin’s Gardens |
1973- The Last Detail |
1974- Chinatown |
1975- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest |
1975- The Fortune |
1975- The Passenger |
1976- The Last Tycoon |
1976- The Missouri Breaks |
1980- The Shining |
1981- Reds |
1983- Terms of Endearment |
1985- Prizzi’s Honor |
1987- Broadcast News |
1987- Ironweed |
1989- Batman |
1992- A Few Good Men |
1992- Hoffa |
1997- As Good as It Gets |
2001- The Pledge |
2002- About Schmidt |
2006- The Departed |
[…] The two roles he is arguably most famous for is the ax-wielding madman Jack Torrance from the Stanley Kubrick masterpiece The Shining and The Joker from Tim Burton’s Batman. Both of which he did a fantastic job at and fans to this day praise those performances. Besides that Nicholson has had Oscar nominations in the double digits and taken home three Academy Awards, two for a leading role and one for a supporting role. He has starred in films that make up many of top ten lists including One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Easy Rider, The Departed, A Few Good Men, and Chinatown. It is no wonder at age 57 he became the youngest person ever to receive the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award.[7] […]
Jack Nicholson has Turned Down or been Considered for these Following Roles
The Godfather
The GoodBye Girl
Taxi Driver
Apocalypse Now
Bonnie And Clyde “Nicholson was approached about playing C.W. Moss but he and Warren Beatty were deemed too similar”
Close Encounters Of The third kind
Coming Home
The Exorcist
The Graduate
Witness
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
The Sting
Strip Tease
The Silence of the Lambs
Sorcerer
Rain Man
Ragtime
Wall Street
Three Kings
JFK
Mosquito Coast
The Great Gatsby
Hoosiers
Down and out in Beverly Hills
I could name a few others but this will do it
@Randy- now that you mention it, Jack Nicholson would definitely be interesting in Silence of Lambs – not to take away from Hopkins’ excellence though
He is incredibly talented, and really seems to be tailor-made for characters that are at least a little crazy
Have you seen the crossing guard(1995) and the border(1982)
I think he should be the closest rival to De Niro.It’s a shame he doesnt have a late career masterpiece like the Irishman.
As for what? resume or talent? He has the departed, just like De Niro in the irishman, I wouldn’t say they are outstanding.
He has done great work for 5 decades unlike brando,bogart and stewart.His top 5 performances can be regarded as 5 of the best screen performannces of all time.And considering that some of his work that didnt make the top 10 are reds,terms of enndearment,prizzis honour,as good as it gets,the plege,about schmidt.He has an outstanding depth of filmography.Its dissapointing he hasnt done anything notable since 20007.
It’s not fair to compare Bogart, because Bogart died young. Stewart had a long career, I would say a little better than Nicholson.
It is probably because he suffers from memory loss, De Niro, Pacino did nothing remarkable in this century, apart from the Irishman.
@Aldo – well I’m comparing the resumes of what we do have. Lots of actors stopped working, died too young, etc. Bogart lived longer than some and had 84 films in his credit.
It pales in comparison with their work in the previous century- but both De Niro and Pacino have 5 archiveable films in the 21st century
My comment was addressed to @Janith, since he said that a long run is worth more than a short but padded one. I think i remembered that they have 2 and 4 respectively plus the irishman.
Have you seen the crossing guard(1995) and the border(1982) and what do you think about them?