My Favorite Actors - Jack Nicholson

Thanks to the influence of my mom and several siblings, I've always been a movie fan. As a kid, I watched more violent action flicks and horror movies than would be recommended, and always liked more "age appropriate" family movies, too. As a teenager, my tastes didn't change too much until I was about 18 in the magical year 2000, when I began to expand my tastes by seeking out older films and different genres. 

One of the big revelations to me at this time was the brilliance of Jack Nicholson. I had seen him in a couple of movies - Batman and The Shining - but from 2000 to 2002, I went into "Jack" overdrive, seeking out everything I could of his to watch. This was before I switched over to DVD's, so I would rent VHS tapes from Blockbuster or Hollywood Video, record movies off of AMC or TCM, and I even bought some tapes sight unseen from eBay! Obviously, not all the movies were great, but Nicholson himself almost always was. I can only think of one performance that was outright bad, but I'll get to that later.

 

* Raise your hand if you're the best movie actor ever *

I can't remember which movie kicked off my Nicholson obsession, but I think it was either One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or Chinatown. I know I watched both for the first time during that summer of 2000 and both immediately became personal favorites. If you've read this blog for a while, you know how much I absolutely adore One Flew. It's appeared on so many of my "Favorite" lists over the last 4.5 years that I've almost lost count. The movie itself - the writing, direction, editing, everything - is simply brilliant, but the cast and especially Nicholson is what sets it apart from so many other movies in my opinion. As R.P. McMurphy, Nicholson gets to play just about every emotion available - from funny and sarcastic to jealous and murderous, from petty and outlandish to compassionate and subdued, and from lively to near catatonic - and he nails every single one of them. Nicholson won his first Best Actor Oscar for the role, after having been nominated four previous times in six  years. Sometimes great actors don't win Oscars for their best works, so it's nice that Nicholson won for such a deserving and flat-out iconic performance. 

McMurphy is a bit of an anti-hero and there are few actors who can play that type better than Nicholson. He gets to be charming, but also unhinged and this is probably the quintessential "Jack" performance. Over the years, Nicholson has gotten a lot of criticism for playing "himself" which essentially translates to this type of "Jack" performance. Of course, the real Nicholson is nothing like this persona and he only does it in a handful of movies, so it's always felt like a lazy bit of criticism to me. 

* Mr. Gittes got a bit too nosy *

Chinatown is a completely different type of movie and performance from Nicholson. As Jake Gittes, he's much more calm and debonair, but also shrewd in his investigations. Jake transitions from over confident and cynical at the beginning to in over his head and confused and then, finally in the end, to despondent and broken with the realization that he's powerless to help those in need. It's a wonderfully nuanced and layered performance and for nearly any other actor, it would be the crowning achievement of their career. But for Nicholson, it probably isn't even in his Top 5 performances which really highlights what an illustrious career he's had. 

Once I started watching - and rewatching - every movie of his that I could get my hands on, it didn't take long to realize why so many people loved him or why he was the Academy Awards most honored male performer. Nicholson was just that damn good in almost every movie I watched. While it's true he rarely did accents and he never lost/gained weight to play a character, his characters were all subtly different in any number of ways. Nicholson himself has a seemingly never ending supply of charisma, charm, and personality, but he's more than capable playing against those skills and inhabiting characters who were meek, reserved, or introverted. 

* Still cooler than you, even in his 60's *

As Good As It Gets was a movie where Nicholson got to play a nice combination of all of those traits. Melvin Udall is a mixed bag of neuroses, prejudices, longing, and deeply buried sensitivity, and the sublime performance netted him his third and (so far) final Oscar for Best Actor. He beat out some very talented actors that year, but Nicholson was certainly deserving. For a little while in the early 2000's, it was my favorite performance and movie of his, but it's since taken a bit of a dip, but that's mostly due to some non-Nicholson reasons - especially with the direction and editing - and because other performances grew on me even more. It's still a wonderfully entertaining movie and I never get tired of Nicholson's take on the cantankerous Melvin. Like a lot of his different performances, it's hard to imagine anyone else playing Melvin or, at least, being nearly as successful in it. 

I was introduced to The Shining when I was 12. I distinctly remember watching it for the first time with my sister at her boyfriend's house and it was the first time I remembered being really scared by a movie. I had seen all the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street flicks and a ton of other cheesy horror movies by then, but The Shining was different. It was a grown up horror movie. At this point, after having seen it probably a dozen times, I don't get scared anymore, but the whole thing is still creepy and unsettling. Nicholson's performance is maybe a smidgen over-the-top, but it's what director Stanley Kubrick wanted and it's become a culturally iconic performance, recognized the world over and parodied more times than anyone could count. Nicholson's Jack Torrance is a bit off even before the haunted hotel gets its hooks into him, but as his madness becomes full blown, Nicholson gets to chew the scenery in a way that he rarely does. His guttural screams while he's chasing Danny through the hedge maze never fails to send a chill up my spine. While his performance here isn't among his best, the movie as a whole is nearly flawless and I can't imagine any other actor in the role. 

I think one of his best and under seen performances came in The Pledge, which in January of 2001 became the first movie of his that I saw in the theater. Nicholson plays Jerry Black a recently retired police detective who makes the titular pledge to a murder victim's family to find the killer. Jerry is definitely an anti-"Jack" character - he's solemn, quiet, and despondent and only gets more so as the plot twists to its heartbreaking conclusion. To see Nicholson on the big screen delivering such a powerhouse performance was a bit of a transcendental moment for me. It was like I was finally experiencing what a movie could really offer me, like finally having a fancy and expensive meal after eating nothing but McDonald's for years. I have a distinct memory of not even eating the popcorn I had, that's how engrossed I was with the performance and the film. 

* The many faces of the Joker *

Considering how massive of a star he is/was, Nicholson actually has a decent amount of movies and performances that seemingly flew under the radar. In addition to The Pledge, I'd encourage any fan of his to check out Blood and Wine, Ironweed, and The Crossing Guard. All three films feature compelling stories, superb supporting casts, and excellent - and very different - Nicholson performances. All three films were released between the years of 1987 and 1996 and during that time both Batman and A Few Good Men - two more iconic Nicholson films and performances - also came out, so they might had just been a bit overshadowed by those two huge hits. Nicholson's Joker remains the definitive portrayal of the character for me, but I imagine a lot of that comes from Batman being such a huge part of my childhood and Nicholson himself being so integral to my movie fandom. I know a lot of people prefer Heath Ledger's Joker, but despite his excellent performance in The Dark Knight, I don't think he'll ever overtake Nicholson for me. A Few Good Men is a film from a mostly bygone era, the adult orientated big budget drama. Very few courtroom dramas can compete with its intrigue and intensity and Nicholson's Colonel Jessep is a big part of the appeal. While he's only got a few scenes, Nicholson overpowers the rest of the talented cast - even Tom Cruise in his prime - and steals the whole movie. It's a performance that changes from fun and charming to scary, sometimes within moments of one another. Very few actors possess Nicholson's combination of charisma and intensity and the role requires both. It's one of his finest supporting roles and he's had quite a few. 

Nicholson won his only Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his brilliant work in Terms of Endearment, the 1983 Best Picture winning dramedy. Nicholson plays perfectly off of fellow Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine as her neighbor and love interest, the free spirited astronaut Garrett Breedlove. Garrett is the polar opposite of MacLaine's Aurora, but they learn to love each other through some alternately hilarious and tender moments. The film itself is perfectly fine - maybe a bit too "80's Movie of the Week" treacly for me - but Nicholson really elevates all of his scenes and makes the whole thing much more rewatchable. 

* Costello's not afraid to get his hands messy *

Another superb supporting performance came late in Nicholson's career when he teamed with Martin Scorsese for The Departed. I remember reading about the movie in either Entertainment Weekly or Premiere magazine months before it came out and predicting that Nicholson's involvement would finally net Scorsese his first Best Director Oscar and I was right! I also figured Nicholson would get nominated and maybe even win, but that didn't come true. His performance as mob boss Frank Costello is lots of fun in a psychotic and terrifying way, especially with several moments of outright comedy sprinkled throughout. It's not top tier Nicholson, but he's still very good and meshes well with the rest of the talented cast. 

* Warren Schmidt after a cathartic moment *

Nicholson's most recent Top Tier performance came in 2002 when he starred in About Schmidt from writer/director Alexander Payne. Warren Schmidt is a passive, indecisive, and uninspired insurance actuary who's left to his own devices when he retires and his wife suddenly dies. Much like Jerry in The Pledge from the previous year, Warren is nothing like the "Jack" persona that people sometimes claim is all Nicholson can do. Warren is a sad, broken man with few prospects for his golden years and has to undergo an introspective road trip to realize what's actually important in life and what his future could actually hold. Nicholson is simply breathtaking in the role, hitting all the right notes and completely disappearing into the role. It is one of the best performances of the new century and a perfect example of what a titan Nicholson was, even 40 plus years into his illustrious career. As of this writing, it represents his last Oscar nomination and even though Adrian Brody was sublime in The Pianist, I think Nicholson was robbed of the award. It would have given him an Oscar in four consecutive decades and while the awards are ultimately meaningless - I'm sure Nicholson himself doesn't care about them - it would have been a nice little trivia tidbit for Oscar historians. 

Of course, no actor could work consistently for five decades and not have some terrible movies or performances on their resume. For Nicholson, I haven't seen any of his early TV or low budget movie roles, but I've seen almost everything of his from 1969 and onward. Of his 42 film roles since Easy Rider, I've seen 37 of them and he's either good or better in all but one: Man Trouble from 1992. The movie itself is terrible and Nicholson seems like he didn't want anything to do with it, turning in a sleepy, lazy performance. The only redeeming purpose watching the movie served was showing to myself that I wasn't some sort of blind "fan boy" and could be critical of his work. If you haven't seen it, I'd strongly suggest keeping it that way. 

The other movies of his that I haven't gotten around to checking out include Reds - the only Oscar nominated role of his that I haven't seen - and The Passenger. I once rented Reds from Blockbuster, but the VHS tape was messed up and couldn't play and I have never tried to seek it out again. For The Passenger, I've actually owned the DVD for more than a decade. For both films, the subject matter just doesn't seem all that interesting to me and for The Passenger in particular, I'm a bit worried about it being a boring and pretentious slog to get through. One of these years, I'm going to bite the bullet and sit down to watch them both. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised! 

Nicholson hasn't acted in a movie since How Do You Know in 2010 and if he does stay retired, it'll be a lackluster way to end his career. I've heard conflicting reports of why he stopped acting. Some have stated that he was experiencing diminishing mental capabilities specifically related to his memory, but some - and I think an interview with the man himself - said it had more to do with nothing grabbing his interest and how he wasn't going to work just for the sake of working. I really hope it's the latter explanation, which would leave the door open for a potential new role coming at some point, but since he's 84 now, I'm not going to hold my breath. If it happens, I'll be in line to see it as soon as it's released, that's for sure. 

* Okay... this one deserves to be a bit bigger - one frame for every feature film appearance *

And, since I love to list and rank things, here's my ranking of all of Nicholson's movies that I've seen. Some of these haven't been seen in years, so I'm going by my IMDb ratings. If I re-watched some, the ratings and rankings would probably change. 

1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - 10/10

2. The Shining - 10/10

3. The Departed - 10/10

4. Chinatown - 10/10

5. About Schmidt - 9.5/10

6. As Good As It Gets - 9/10

7. The Pledge - 9/10

8. A Few Good Men - 8.5/10

9. Blood and Wine - 8.5/10

10. Broadcast News - 8/10

11. The Last Detail - 8/10

12. Ironweed - 8/10

13. The Crossing Guard - 8/10

14. Something's Gotta Give - 8/10

15. Batman - 7.5/10

16. Terms of Endearment - 7.5/10

17. The Bucket List - 7.5/10

18. Five Easy Pieces - 7/10

19. Carnal Knowledge - 7/10

20. The Witches of Eastwick - 7/10

21. Hoffa - 7/10

22. The Evening Star - 7/10

23. The Two Jakes - 7/10

24. Wolf - 5.5/10

25. Heartburn - 5.5/10

26. Easy Rider - 5.5/10

27. The King of Marvin Gardens - 5/10

28. Prizzi's Honor - 5/10

29. The Border - 5/10

30. The Postman Always Rings Twice - 5/10

31. Goin' South - 5/10

32. The Missouri Breaks - 5/10

33. How Do You Know - 4.5/10

34. Anger Management - 4/10

35. The Last Tycoon- 3/10

36. Mars Attacks! - 3/10

37. Man Trouble  - 2/10

What do you think of Jack Nicholson? What are some of your favorite performances or movies of his? 

Thanks for reading! 

My Favorite Actors - Frances McDormand

I thought it would be fun to start a new series highlighting some of my favorite actors. I don't have any set number of actors to discuss or a schedule for publishing, so this will probably be an intermittent and ongoing series of posts. 

For the first entry, I didn't really think twice as Frances McDormand has been on my mind a lot lately. I came to the conclusion that she has slowly and steadily become my favorite actress. Over the last 25 years or so, I probably could have named three or four different actresses for that title, but McDormand has just continued to impress me where the others have fallen to the wayside. 

As I sit here writing, she's only about a week removed from winning her third Best Actress Oscar - this time for her magnificent portrayal of Fern in Nomadland - and, in a rare exception for me, I agree completely with the Academy on not only this most recent award, but both of her previous wins, as well. As Fern, McDormand shined by giving a subtle, reserved performance in a mostly quiet, introspective film. There's really nothing flashy about Nomadland or her performance, but both work tremendously well. The film was one of my favorites of last year and McDormand's performance was a big part of the appeal - she's in nearly every scene and is fully captivating, even when doing mundane tasks like repairing a cargo van or working at an Amazon warehouse. McDormand just commands the screen like few other actors - male or female - can. 

And I'll be honest with you, I wasn't really looking forward to Nomadland. The plot synopsis and trailer didn't do much for me, but I wanted to see what McDormand would do for her follow-up to her other recent Best Actress Oscar win, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri from 2017. In that film, as Mildred, she plays a completely different character than Fern, but does it equally well. Mildred is an anguished, pissed off, and desperate mother of a murdered daughter who takes on the local sheriff's department when they don't produce the results she's looking for. She's fiery and explosive - literally in some scenes - and again commands the screen, even when sharing scenes with people like Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell who are used to stealing scenes from their co-stars. Three Billboards was a movie that I was eagerly anticipating and it didn't let me down. It was easily among my Top 2 or 3 films from a very strong year.

McDormand's first Best Actress Oscar came for what might still be her signature role, as Marge Gunderson in Joel and Ethan Coen's magnificent dark comedy Fargo. Marge, or Margie to her loving husband, is a sweet, caring, and good-natured expectant mother who also happens to be an intelligent, shrewd, and fearless police officer who won't let morning sickness or swollen ankles keep her from exposing conspiracies or apprehending violent sociopaths. Marge's genuine, bright smile and "aw shucks" demeanor can flip to serious and in charge in an instant and McDormand plays both sides of the character with a natural, composed skill that would foreshadow those kinds of impressive performances to come over the next 25 years. 

If those three performances and films comprised the entirety of her career, McDormand would still rank high among my favorite recent performers, but thankfully that's not the case. She's been working steadily since her feature film debut in Blood Simple in 1984. She met Joel Coen during the audition process and they started dating and were married later in the same year. They've been together ever since - one of the rare instances of a Hollywood power couple thriving for so long - and McDormand has appeared in about half of the Coen brothers's films, sometimes in tiny, uncredited roles and sometimes in co-lead, supporting, or lead (like in Fargo) roles. She's memorably whacky and zany in Raising Arizona as Holly Hunter's overbearing and baby obsessed sister, Dot. Dot is the kind of person who's fun to watch in a movie, but who would drive you absolutely nuts if you knew her in real life. In The Man Who Wasn't There, McDormand played Doris, the accomplice and victim of several different schemes that zig-zag through the byzantine plot. With the period costumes, makeup, and black and white photography, McDormand really looked like an Old Hollywood movie star, like she would have been perfectly comfortable in roles played by Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, or Katherine Hepburn. It's just a supporting performance, but she certainly carries herself like a star. The same can be said for her work in Burn After Reading, where she played a ditsy gym employee in way over her head when she tries to blackmail a CIA agent with a violent temper. McDormand played perfectly off of Brad Pitt's even dumber Chad and the two actors seem to revel in seeing who can play the more clueless character in any given scene. Hail Caesar! from 2016 was McDormand's most recent onscreen work with the Coen brothers, and with only a scene or two, she shined as a frazzled, overworked editor who nearly gets asphyxiated by a projector. 

Of course, McDormand has done a lot of work without her husband and brother-in-law behind the camera. In 1988, she received her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in Mississippi Burning. It has been more than 20 years since I've seen the movie and I don't really remember much about it, other than thinking it was really good. It's definitely something I should revisit soon. In Robert Altmann's well respected ensemble Short Cuts, she got to join a huge cast of talented people. The movie didn't do a lot for me, but the cast is universally excellent and McDormand's small role contributes to that. 

In 2000, McDormand had important supporting roles in two of my Top 100 movies of all-time - Almost Famous and Wonder Boys. She scored her third Oscar nomination, another Supporting Actress nod, for her work as William Miller's overbearing but caring mother, Elaine, in Almost Famous. The role could have easily been played as one note or an over the top caricature, but of course, McDormand is too skilled of an actress to go that route. Her version of Elaine is nuanced and pulls you in, even if you're frustrated with how she treats her son. By the end, you're sympathizing with her plight as a parent despite some of her tendencies to overstep boundaries or purposely embarrass her son. And in Wonder Boys, she played Sara who is having an ill-advised affair with Michael Douglas's protagonist, Grady Tripp. Sara is another complex character who doesn't have a ton of screen time, so McDormand has to fit a lot of characterization and depth into the handful of scenes that she has. McDormand played her with an undercurrent of sadness and a quiet realization that she's made some mistakes in her life, but is too far involved with Tripp to just cut and run. 2000 was a great year for movies and McDormand really got a chance to shine in both of these roles. 

The new millennium has been really good for McDormand's career. At a time when most actresses are seeing their offers start to dry up, she's been thriving. In addition to movies I've already mentioned, she's been able to work with talented filmmakers like Wes Anderson - in Moonrise Kingdom, Isle of Dogs, and the upcoming The French Dispatch, which might be my most anticipated movie of the year, just like it was last year - and doing a lot of voice work for projects like The Good Dinosaur, Madagascar 3, and the series Good Omens and State of Grace.  Even when she's in subpar or bad movies - I'm looking at you, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and City by the Sea - she's rarely bad or uninteresting herself. 

I've seen most of McDornmand's films, but there are still a handful that I have to seek out. Darkman, Palookaville, Lone Star, North Country (where she was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress), and Promised Land all look like interesting movies and I'm sure they would be worth watching for her performances, if nothing else. I'd also like to check out her HBO mini-series Olive Kitteridge from 2014. In addition to starring my favorite actress, the cast also includes Richard Jenkins, Ann Dowd, Zoe Kazan, Jesse Plemons, and Bill fucking Murray! That's a murder's row of talent and I'm kind of disappointed that I wasn't aware of it seven years ago! 

I'm excited to see what McDormand does with this next phase of her career. She's at the age when most actresses are regulated to grandparent roles, but I don't see her falling into that trap. Hopefully she keeps choosing interesting projects and continues working for the foreseeable future. I'd love to look back in 15 or 20 years and say "Wow. I think she just kept getting better and better until the very end." For most performers, I would bet against that being the case, but for McDormand? It wouldn't surprise me if she hasn't hit her peak quite yet. 

And, since I love to list and rank things, here's my ranking of all of McDormand's movies that I've seen. Some of these haven't been seen in years, so I'm going by my IMDb ratings. If I re-watched some, the ratings and rankings might change. 

1. Fargo - 9.5/10

2. Almost Famous - 9.5/10

3. Wonder Boys - 9.5/10

4. Isle of Dogs - 9/10

5. The Man Who Wasn't There - 9/10

6. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - 9/10

7. Miller's Crossing - 9/10

8. Nomadland - 8.5/10

9. Barton Fink - 8/10

10. Burn After Reading - 8/10

11. Blood Simple - 8/10

12. Something's Gotta Give - 8/10

13. Hail, Caesar! - 7.5/10

14. Moonrise Kingdom - 7/10

15. Mississippi Burning - 7/10

16. Raising Arizona - 7/10

17. Primal Fear - 6/10

18. Laurel Canyon - 6/10

19. Short Cuts - 5.5/10

20. City by the Sea - 4.5/10

21. Transformers: Dark of the Moon - 4/10

22. The Good Dinosaur - 4/10

What do you think of Frances McDormand? Do you have a favorite performance of her's? 

Thanks for reading!