[Link to video.]
Cool. But they — Movieclips — missed the one I would name: "Easy Rider." Movieclips is a great website, by the way. Looking for clips there is very different from YouTube.
ADDED: I can't see how to resize the video to fit on the blog, something that's very easy to do at YouTube.
March 18, 2011
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56 comments:
I knew who he was, obviously, but didn't really love his work as an actor until Batman. Korny, I know, but there it is. For what it's worth, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Nicholson first saw Heath Ledger's performance in the same roll. They couldn't be more different approaches, but Jack's feedback would have been good stuff, I'm sure.
I remember seeing "Easy Rider" when it first came out. The moment Nicholson entered the story, everything became immensely more fun. I've rarely laughed as long and hard at the movies as when Jack said he had a helmet (and it turned out to be a football helmet). The only reason that was so funny was because Jack had a way of saying things.
Don't know about falling in love, but I first thought JN was the epitome of cool in "Five Easy Pieces".
"One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest" should have also been in the clip
For you, Nicholson. For me, Brando.
Fell in love watching On The Waterfront in a Brooklyn movie theater.
Cuckoo's Nest.
If you really want to post the video, you can go into your edit-comments feature, hit the html tab, and resize the video there by simply replacing the width/height numbers in the html with proportional numbers that will fit on your blog. This does take a little math to accomplish. You will have to know how much width your blog allows (it is in the template somewhere) and then figure out the ratio between the original width/height of the clip and the width/height you want to convert it to -- you want to end up with a width of the amount your blog allows, with the proportionate height.
I have done this a few times with a family Blogger blog. I am somewhat math-challenged but managed to figure it out with only a modicum of cussing -- so it can be done, if you want to badly enough.
"Here's Johnny!"
wv: wedew (...)
Yeah you can't handle the truth! is his best line ever.
Yeah you can't handle the truth! is his best line ever.
Oh, I don't know. I have always liked...
"Women! A mistake? Or did He DO IT TO US ON PURPOSE???"
That whole scene in the church is pretty fantastic.
There's a "copy embed" button at the bottom of video. The object width and height are specified in the html object tag. You can probably specify different parameters in the html.
<object width="560" height="304" ...
I was a senior in high school. I had won four tickets to Disneyland as a door prize at the Academic Decathlon. I arranged a double date with my best friend, but when we arrived at Disneyland it was closed for some corporation's exclusive use. We ended up at the Orange Cinedome, which we referred to as the Big Tit Theater due to its resemblance to such. There was nothing there we wanted to see, but we had to see something so we bought tickets for Five Easy Pieces. I didn't like the movie-- didn't get it-- but I sure knew who Jack Nicholson was after that.
Short version of Mrs. Whatsis's post:
When you copy the HTML code and paste it into your blog window, change the "w=506" and "h=300" numbers you see at the very beginning of the code. 400 width is good for blogger, 300 height is already fine.
"Creature from the Haunted Sea." Yes, I have issues.
Isn't it interesting how certain actors regardless of part and how well they play that part, emanate something that says "Yeah, that's _________"
Nicholson definitely has it. Tom Hanks has it. Paul Newman had it. Unfortunately there are some "bad actors" who emanate it regardless of how well they play the part. They're doomed. Brendan Fraser, I'm looking at you.
(PS A different Nicholson)
Never. Can't stand him. Even in something like "Easy Rider," all of his annoying "Jack-isms" throw me out of the story. Now, I will admit that it is probably because he seems to be playing the idea of Jack Nicholson rather than whatever character he's supposed to represent that he annoys me and I backload that onto anything he's in. But except for "Chinatown" - and that more because it's a period piece - I don't care for Nicholson.
Now, William Holden - THERE's an actor!
Brendan Fraser, I'm looking at you.
I thought he did a really good job of shaking off that Brendan Fraserism in the first Mummy flic. Seemed like a job well done completely outside his normal range.
Everyone else hearing about the temp. restraining order issued in WI that blocks implementation of the new labor rules? Just saw a little blurb on TV, no details.
Never saw Witches of Eastwick, Scott, but it's a good line :)
I'm straight.
"When did you first fall in love with Jack Nicholson?"
Never. He's one of those actors whose movies I avoid.
Some few actors arrive at a point in their success where they and their performance become bigger and more important than whatever movie they're in at the moment is itself. Whatever this quality is, Jack Nicholson has it in spades, but John Wayne is probably the best example. Katharine Hepburn seemed to have it. Both De Niro and Pacino had it earlier in their careers, but oddly neither seems to have it any more.
The Shining.
Scariest film I have ever seen.
The Shining.
Scariest film I have ever seen.
Next to "Sex In The City" I would have to agree.
My first thought was "Five Easy Pieces" as well. As obscure as that movie was, it never ceases to amaze me how almost everyone remembers that scene in the restaurant when he swept the table clean...
Some few actors arrive at a point in their success where they and their performance become bigger and more important than whatever movie they're in at the moment is itself.
Mustn't forget Bette Davis, Gary Cooper.
Seems the older ones had it, probably because they weren't obsessed with impressing fans with purported self-importance.
@Christopher
Now, William Holden - THERE's an actor!
Yes! "Picnic" immediately comes to mind, wowzer!
As to Nicholson it would be "Five Easy Pieces" ...there's not many movies that one can recall the emotion of the last scene after decades, but when Bobby climbed into the truck...well.
I like Jack Nicholson and have a strange affinity for him because my mother told me when I was a teenager that my grin resembles his. She then amended the remark to say that it looked like Queen Elizabeth's. I asked her to stop amending at that point.
Nicholson's performance in Batman was terrible, though. A waste of celluloid. Decades in the future, people will still be watching and analyzing Heath Ledger's Joker, and only Nicholson addicts will bother with the original film.
My favorite Nicholson film is The Last Detail.
deborah said... Yeah you can't handle the truth! is his best line ever.
This isn't his line, but I'd rank it higher.
As I recall, Nicholson basically stopped acting between his early days with Corman (Little Shop and Haunted Sea) and started looking at producer roles in the '60s.
There's a distinct shift in his style when he re-emerges in Easy Rider, which he broke with Corman over because Corman (of course) wanted to do it as cheaply as possible.
He's very straight and ordinary in those early roles.
Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just going to bash your brains in.
@Fen
The Shining.
Scariest film I have ever seen.
Yes, but you could see where it was going...the scariest for me was the final scene in "Carrie". I saw it with two girlfriends and we shrieked so loud that the theater went dead quiet for a second and then broke out in laughter.
"The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith" was another...Schepisi lulled the audience with beautiful, soaring visuals.
When did I first fall in love with him? Well, I haven't yet.
400 width is good for blogger, 300 height is already fine.
Or just figure out the width you want, and delete the height, and it will automatically create the ratio for the height.
Nicholson's acting tour de force is Five Easy Pieces. Everyone talks about the diner scene, a scene that I find offensive; but Nicholson's portrayal of a deeply sensitive individual at war with that sensitivity, in fact trying to kill it and suffering all the inevitable agonies of that betrayal, is one of the great screen performances.
Bob;
Nicholson's performance in Batman was terrible, though. A waste of celluloid. Decades in the future, people will still be watching and analyzing Heath Ledger's Joker, and only Nicholson addicts will bother with the original film.
I would respectfully disagree and also point out they were going for different things and that's as much reflective of the director as with the actor. Tim Burton always shoots for dark and funny. Chris Nolan was going for dark....very dark.
Where does he get those wonderful toys? fits Burton's movie style. It would have been wholly out of place in "The Dark Knight"
My favorite Nicholson film is The Last Detail.
I'd forgotten about The Last Detail. A great scene
Chinatown. In my top 5 or 10.
Never much cared for Nicholson or Dunaway but Chinatown is close to perfection in all aspects. It did give me an appreciation of his talent.
Actually fall in love?
The night we had to carry JN to his car after he got drunk out of his mind in the Eurythmics dressing room, visiting while he was in the area filming The Witches of Eastwick.
When did you first figure out that Jack Nicholson gives you the creeps?
Hmm...Was it As Good as it Gets or was it The Bucket List? Or was it when I realized that Roman Polanski raped a 13-y-o at Nicholson's house because, well, that's just the kind of party Nicholson threw?
There was always some controversy about Jack Nicholson's birth. He always thought his grandmom was his mom and his mom was his sister. His father was unknown at the time, though he was born in NY and lived in NJ and Long Island, I believe. Additionally, my grandfather was known to cheat around on my grandmother (on my dad's side) lived in the area. So there was always some question about whether Jack Nicholson was related to someone in the family .Additionally my dad looked a lot like Jack Nicholson which only added to the controversy. They were born two years apart (my dad being two years older). Both are Irish German descent.
I may have to get a dna report to prove it, but Jack Nicholson may or may not be my uncle. In which case I expect a nice check when he dies.
That should say: His father was unknown at the time, though Jack was born in NY and lived in NJ and Long Island, I believe.
And my grandfather lived in long island, ny and NJ at the time.
"The Witches Of Eastwick"
Figures, right?
HA!Ouch!
"But Mrs. Mulwray, I goddamned near lost my nose. And I like it. I like breathing through it. And I still think that you're hiding something."
prairie--
Or was it when I realized that Roman Polanski raped a 13-y-o at Nicholson's house because, well, that's just the kind of party Nicholson threw?
Except that there wasn't a party going on at the time and Nicholson was in Colorado.
Blake, I didn't know that. I still don't like nicholson but I will stop using the Polanski story as a reason for my dislike.
Perhaps you could use it as a reason to dislike Angelica Huston? She showed up when Polanski was there with his vicitm.
Became aware of Nicholson in Easy Rider but the film that made him for me was Five Easy Pieces. Saw it at the New York Film Festival just after I dropped out of law school. Definitely identified with the character. The movie had a lot of "serious" themes but the scene that stands out is in the diner as he tries to get wheat(I think) toast. A chicken salad on wheat toast and hold the chicken salad. Where ? Between your knees.
Liked him in "Chinatown" and "The Last Detail", he was pretty good in "about Schmidt".
Always hated that waitress scene in "Five Easy Pieces" he comes off like a snotty jerk.
Nicholson doesn't play lovable. The nearest he got was in "As Good as It Gets". He holds your attention because you don't know how crazy he'll get. In "The Shining" he showed how far over the top an actor can go and still remain in character. Eat your heart out, Al Pacino. OK, he was memorable in "Five Easy Pieces" but it's not a movie I would ever want to see again. I just remember him being rude and repellent and unable to negotiate a sandwich.
William,
I've never met a waitress like the one in "Five Easy Pieces". They had to make her super obnoxious, like some sort of arrogant DMV clerk, to make Jack's even more jerky behavior tolerable. Most of the bad waitresses I"ve dealt with have been young college students, who think they're "too good" to be waiting tables.
Back to "Five Easy Pieces" I guess the movie was aimed at the teenage boomers, and the waitress is supposed to be "Mom".
Okay, Peano, I'll give you that one.
Re Five Easy Pieces, my son has taped a lot of TMC's 30 Days of Oscar, so he saw it. He wasn't that impressed except for one scene. The restaurant scene, I asked? No, he said, right after:
Palm Apodaca: Fantastic that you could figure that all out and lie that down on her so you could come up with a way to get your toast. Fantastic!
Bobby: Yeah, well, I didn't get it, did I?
Palm Apodaca: No, but it was very clever. I would have just punched her out.
Anyone seen Nichlolson in The Pledge? He's a retired cop trying to fulfill his pledge to the parents of a young girl, killed by a molester. It's one of those movies you don't quite know how to take, but you think of it frequently over the next week.
Also, I'd say he was loveable in Terms of Endearment.
It's not a great movie, but I loved his performance in Wolf.
Very bizarre to see him as a milquetoast.
I am almost more impressed by Nicholson (and Pacino) when they reign in their excesses and play it subtle. Like in Terms of Endearment, where he just played ordinary. The bat shit crazy roles are more showy, but there you get into the caricature territory. Every time a comedian does an impression of A nicholson, they almost always do one of his crazier moments. Yet, he can also play sublte very well. He just doesn't do it that often.
Even more so, Pacino has a tendency to go into his hyper Pacino rages, where you can tell he's ACTING. However, if you look back at the Godfather movies he reigns in his excesses, and you can see how subtle an actor he can actually be. (not counting the Godfather 3 movie where Pacino was being Pacino).
blake, thanks for the recommendation.
jr565, as much as I love him, I think Eastwood usually play the same charcter, from the westerns to Dirty Harry to Gran Torino, though he sometimes softens it up in movies like Blood Work.
Don't get me started on Helen Hunt, although I like her.
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