7 easy pieces for Nicholson's birthday

Jack Nicholson celebrated his 70th this week. Our invite to the birthday bash was lost in the snail mail, alas, but tribute must be paid. Here's my list of desert-island Jack movies/DVDs, one for each of his seven decades. (chronological order)

1. Five Easy Pieces (1970) -- Nicholson: "Now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules."
Waitress: "You want me to hold the chicken, huh?"
Nicholson: "I want you to hold it between your knees."

2. Chinatown (1974) -- American film noir peaks here. My pick for Nicholson's best performance, as nosy private eye J.J. Gittes. Major firepower also provided by Roman Polanski, Robert Towne, Faye Dunaway and John Huston. Paramount needs a good slapping around for its failure to update this 8-year-old DVD.

3. The Passenger (1975) -- Nicholson back on his heels again, as an existentialist journalist who swaps lives with a dead arms dealer. Michelangelo Antonioni directs the exotic road movie. Sony released the title last year, with Nicholson doing a hell of a job on his first full-length commentary.

4. The Missouri Breaks (1976) -- Nicholson, a generous supporting actor, backs up Marlon Brando in this weird, fascinating western. Arthur Penn directs.

5. The Shining (1980) -- Nicholson has to be on the crazy side; here's the evidence. His way-over-the-top performance is barely contained by the mighty Kubrick.

6. Prizzi's Honor (1985) -- John Huston directs his daughter, Anjelica, and her longtime squeeze Nicholson in this wry comedy about dueling hitmen. One of Nicholson's great comedic performances. A guilty pleasure.

7. Something's Gotta Give (2003) -- Jack as we'd like to imagine him in his swinging golden years. The sexy interplay with Diane Keaton is pure delight. Nancy Meyers directs this romantic fantasy, in which the older woman lands the (barely disguised) rogue.

If this were a top 10 list, fill it out with the obvious: "Easy Rider,""One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "The Last Detail."

Comments

[Howard Burns]

A stellar list to be sure. Not only would I rank "Chinatown" No. 1, but aside from the first two "Godfather" movies I'd say it was my all-time favorite. Seeing it on the big screen as a 14-year-old was a seminal moment for me. And Jack was never better.