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!