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If you haven't seen Five Easy Pieces in a while or if you've never seen it, check it out. Besides being Jack Nicholson's breakour movie after his supporting role in Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces is also a great film and, at the risk of sounding like my mother did thirty years ago, "they don't make movies like this anymore."
Other than a couple of dated refeferences, the film is timeless and could stand on its own today as an independent-type film. I've probably seen it 15 times over the years, largely because I screen it for my classes once every couple of years.
Five Easy Pieces breaks all the rules. It takes almost forever for the plot to kick in--roughly 35 minutes which means the first third of the film is all characterization and mood.
I'm a not about structure and having a story begin as quickly as possible, but in Five Easy Pieces everything moves slowly. It's all subtext and nuance until an event happens that gets the plot moving.
I never get bored watching great films over and over again. Each time I find new things and in my most recent screening I again saw things I missed before.
Give it a look. You'll learn something. |
