77 thoughts on “Jack Nicholson Movies”

1. Happy 83rd birthday to Jack Nicholson

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2. Happy 82nd birthday to Jack Nicholson.

   My total number of films seen has gone way up since I originally answered this page. I had only seen 5 then. Now my total seen is 18 movies. Five Easy Pieces is my favourite.

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   1. Hey Flora….thanks for the headsup on Jack’s birthday. So a tally that goes from 5 to 18…that is a decent amount of Jack movies to watch. Thanks for the updated tally count….I am at 47…but it has been ages since I watched a “new to me” Nicholson fan. Good feedback.

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3. 1 HI STEVE After Peter and Dennis a Nicholson video simply had to be. I have mentioned how according to Hopper Mr M refused to work alongside him so that scenes in Apocalypse Now where they appeared to be in each other’s presence were an illusion created by trick camerawork. And so it apparently was at least at times with Jack/Mumbles scenes in The Missouri Breaks with some critics spotting the alleged illusion and blaming it for a lack of chemistry between the two stars in some of the supposed shared scenes. However the pair were close friends and mutual admirers so that unlike in the Hopper situation the Missouri Breaks filming arrangements were not caused by personality issues but by conflicting working schedules.

   2 Critics have in fact expressed disappointment that the teaming of the 2 Legends didn’t produce a better movie than Missouri Breaks but in the end it hasn’t mattered because Jack and Mumbles are currently ranked 1 and 2 respectively on what IMDB claims is the “Ultimate” List of the 100 greatest Actors of All Time and although the list contains many supporting/character actors Dennis Hopper is not mentioned at all, nor is Peter Fonda whose dad is ranked No 42 on that list. [Chuck is 88th on the list and Cary Grant 43rd – I simply HAD to get in on the act and mention Cary again!]

   3 Some of the great POSTERS in your Nicholson video are in my opinion On a Clear Day, The Crossing Guard, Ride in the Whirlwind, The Shooting, The Last Tycoon, Reds, Terms of Endearment and –WOW! – The Postman Always Rings Twice.

   4 The STILLS were also first-class with the best for me being Mars Attacks, Something’s Gotta Give, Witches of Eastwick, The Raven, Batman and Missouri Breaks. Your Batman poster is one of the very best that I’ve seen for that movie and in view of what I have said in paragraph 1 above I wonder how genuine the Mumbles /Jack togetherness photoshootl was. Certainly that scene was not part of the movie as in Missouri Breaks the Jack and Mumbles characters were enemies and indeed the closing scene was one of the better ones in that flick where Jack finds Mumbles asleep on I think the prarie, shakes him and says “Wake up. I’ve just cut your throat!”

   5 For the record Cuckoo’s Nest although rightly acknowledged as a classic was never a personal favourite of mine but I have adored Jack’s work in the likes of Terms of Endearment, As Good as it Gets, Something’s Gotta Give and especially A Few Good Men. You and the Work Horse agree on 4 of Jack’s top 5 movies with Bruce having Reds in his 5 instead of Easy Rider which you have at 3 and he ranks No 11 for critic and audience. From what I have said previously you will understand that on this occasion I support the Great One though he still gives Easy Rider a high 80% marking.. The video is one of your very best and indeed I would have to write a lot longer about it to do it full justice but a rating of 97.5% nevertheless says it all about my opinion of it. Excellent viewing value!

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   1. Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating, comment, info, trivia, observation, comparison, appraisal and evaluation, much appreciated.

      Glad the visual presentation met with your approval.

      It’s been years since I last saw The Missouri Breaks, it’s not a favorite of mine but it might be worth another look, it did get a reasonably good score. I want to give Brando’s One Eyed Jacks another spin too.

      Nicholson is one of my favorite ‘modern’ actors, even if he has been at it since the early 1960s. Even when he plays evil, as in The Shining and Batman, he’s still oddly sympathetic. Unlike say Robert De Niro who can come across as cold and distant even when playing a good guy.

      Looking at my video chart – 35 Nicholson films scoring from 6.2 to 9.3 is quite impressive. I wonder how some of the upcoming movie greats in this latest wave of videos compare to Joker Jack, score-wise. Bruce has 37 of his films scoring 6 and over on his critics chart. We have the same top two.

      Carnal Knowledge is no.1 on Ann-Margrets chart and drops to 13th on Nicholsons.

      Jack has had award nominations on 16 of the 35 films listed.

      Seven films scored 10 out of 10 from my sources – Reds, Terms of Endearment, Five Easy Pieces, The Shining, Easy Rider, Chinatown and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. And another seven topped out at 9 including As Good as it Gets and The Departed.

      Another trio of modern greats next week. All born in the 1930s. All Oscar winners.

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      1. 1 HI AGAIN STEVE I think the Work Horse has recently seen a new print of One Eyed Jacks that Martin Scorsese and Steve Spielberg spent a year restoring so if you can get your hands on that one it would certainly be worth looking at. Knowing you as I do though you may already have a copy of the restoration!!!

         2 My brother in law has absolutely no interest in movies or their content but camerawork, editing printing etc fascinate him the way I think they do John and my in-law would get all excited about a restoration of any old classic and yet be completely uninterested in the movie itself.

         3 According to a Malden biographer Paramount wanted Tracy for the part of the villainous Dad Longworth but Brando insisted upon his friend Karl and Brando had plenty of clout when One Eyed Jacks was being planned. I wonder though if a pairing of Old Cantankerous and Mr M was really on because Tracy openly detested ole Mumbles and I would guess the feeling was mutual and anyway it’s hard to see a planned Mumbles/Cantankerous teaming
         getting past billing negotiations. Sourpuss Tracy wouldn’t take 2nd billing to his pal Bogie so its difficult to see Spence giving way to someone he utterly hated for some strange reason and it had been 10 years since Brando had accepted less that top billing. NB It has been claimed that Tracy like W C Fields was so cynical and contrary that he hated many people who had done him no harm.

         4. Tracy and Brando’s petty egos and personal prejudices are in my opinion horse-laugh stuff but a serious and sad piece of trivia associated with One Eyed Jacks is that newcomer leading lady Pina Pellicer who had that Audrey Heburn/Leslie Caron gamine look committed suicide 3 years after the 1961 Jacks at the age of just 30. She apparently suffered from depression.

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4. 1 As Steve Lensman has pointed out many actors of the modern cinema revere Marlon Brando and none more so than Jack Nicholson who for years has sung Brando’s praises at every opportunity with accolades like “He gave us our freedom.” They were actually neighbours in Mulholland Drive for a while and Marlon’s home was high above Jack’s and at that time Marlon had ballooned to around 20 stone so Jack used to playfully refer to him as “The big guy on the hill!”

   2 They got on very well together but apparently Brando didn’t always look after himself as much as Jack thought he should have and Jack would go into Brando’s home and play nursemaid. So Nicholson wasn’t just a loyal fan but also a good neighbour and I think that spirit of humanity often shows through in Jack’s acting and in what’s often regarded as a cynical and selfish profession it is nice to see someone like Nicholson who has exceptional artistic talent and is apparently possessed of kindness as well.

   NB: I liked the miniature stills on this page.

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   1. Hey Bob good information on Brando and Nicholson. That sounds like a fun neighborhood. I know for awhile Steve McQueen and James Garner were neighbors and they used to play pranks on each other.

      In many ways it is hard to believe Jack is 80. Luckily he is making another movie. Maybe he will be like Sir Mike and work for as long as possible. Thanks for checking out our page on the birthday boy.

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5. Jack Nicholson has appeared in pictures with 42 other Oscar winners as far as I know.

   A Few Good Men (1992) – Cuba Gooding Jr.
   About Schmidt (2002) – Kathy Bates
   Anger Management (2003) – Marisa Tomei
   As Good as it Gets (1997) – Cuba Gooding Jr. (#2), Helen Hunt
   Batman (1989) – Kim Basinger, Jack Palance
   Blood and Wine (1996) – Michael Caine
   Broadcast News (1987) – William Hurt
   Carnal Knowledge (1971) – Rita Moreno (appearing at nearby Queensborough Community College in Queens in a few weeks). Did you know when Maximillian Schell died a few years ago all 4 Oscar winners for acting for 1961 were still alive (Rita won in 61), then he passed.
   Chinatown (1974) – Faye Dunaway
   Ensign Pulver (1964) – Walter Matthau, Burl Ives
   Goin’ South (1978) – Mary Steenburgen
   Heartburn (1986) – Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey, Maureen Stapleton
   How Do You Know (2010) – Reese Witherspoon
   I’m Still Here (2010) – Sean Penn, Jamie Foxx
   Ironweed (1987) – Meryl Streep (#2)
   Mars Attacks! (1996) – Natalie Portman
   On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970) – Barbra Streisand
   One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) – Anjelica Huston, Louise Fletcher
   Prizzi’s Honor (1985) – Anjelica Huston (#2)
   Ragtime (1981) – Mary Steenburgen (#2), James Cagney
   Reds (1981) – Gene Hackman, Diane Keaton, Maureen Stapleton (#2)
   Something’s Gotta Give (2003) – Frances McDormand, Diane Keaton (#2)
   Terms of Endearment (1983) – Shirley Maclaine
   The Bucket List (2007) – Morgan Freeman
   The Crossing Guard (1995) – Anjelica Huston (#3)
   The Departed (2006) – Leonardo Dicaprio
   The Evening Star (1996) – Shirley Maclaine (#2), Ben Johnson
   The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) – Ellen Burstyn
   The Last Tycoon (1976) – Robert De Niro, Ray Milland
   The Missouri Breaks (1976) – Marlon Brando
   The Pledge (2001) – Vanessa Redgrave, Helen Mirren
   The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) – Anjelica Huston (#4), Jessica Lange
   The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967) – Jason Robards
   The Two Jakes (1990) – Faye Dunaway (#2)
   The Witches of Eastwick (1987) – Susan Sarandon, Cher
   Wolf (1994) – Christopher Plummer

   42!!

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   1. Hey Dan…..so Lee and Jack are tied with 42…..you have me really interesting in getting Sir Michael’s total….well be working on that soon. Thanks for sharing Jack’s Oscar partners. 🙂

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