Jack Nicholson Movies

Jack Nicholson in 1980's The Shining
Jack Nicholson in 1980’s The Shining

Want to know the best Jack Nicholson movies?  How about the worst Jack Nicholson movies?  Curious about Jack Nicholson’s box office grosses or which Jack Nicholson movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Jack Nicholson movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences or which one got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

Jack Nicholson (1937-) is one of the most accomplished actors to ever appear in movies. He has been nominated twelve times for an Academy Award® for acting (winning three times). Nicholson has also picked up seventeen Golden Globe® nominations (winning five times). His big break was appearing in 1969’s Easy Rider. The part of George Hanson was actually written for another actor, Rip Torn, who dropped out of the film after a disagreement with director Dennis Hopper.  Nicholson took over the role, received his first Oscar® nomination and has never looked back.

Since Easy Rider, Nicholson has appeared in one classic after another. In the 1970s, he appeared in the movies Five Easy Pieces, Carnal Knowledge, Chinatown, and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. The 1980s gave us Terms of Endearment, Reds, Prizzi’s Honor, Batman and Broadcast News. The 1990s gave us A Few Good Men and As Good As It Gets. In the 2000s he has made fewer movies, but still starred in The Departed and About Schmidt. His last starring role was in 2007’s The Bucket List and his last appearance on the screen was a supporting role in 2010’s How Do You Know.  Currently he has no new projects listed on IMDb….I hope that does not mean that he has retired.

His IMDb page shows 75 acting credits from 1956-2010. This page will rank 48 Jack Nicholson movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in theaters were not included in the rankings.

Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, Jack and Cher in 1987's Witches of Eastwick
Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, Jack and Cher in 1987’s Witches of Eastwick

Jack Nicholson Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Jack Nicholson Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Jack Nicholson movies by co-stars of his movies
  • Sort Jack Nicholson movies by actual domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
  • Sort Jack Nicholson movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
  • Sort Jack Nicholson movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Jack Nicholson movie received.
  • Sort Jack Nicholson movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Jack Nicholson in 1989's Batman
Jack Nicholson in 1989’s Batman

 Jack Nicholson Has 12 Oscar® and 17 Golden Globe® Nominations

1. 1969’s Easy Rider….nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar®

2. 1970’s Five Easy Pieces….nominated for a Best Actor Oscar®

3. 1971’s Carnal Knowledge….nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe®

4. 1973’s The Last Detail….nominated for a Best Actor Oscar®

5. 1974’s Chinatown….nominated for a Best Actor Oscar®…won Golden Globe®

6. 1975’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest…..won Best Actor Oscar® and Golden Globe®

7. 1981’s Reds….nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar®

8. 1983’s Terms of Endearment….won Best Supporting Actor Oscar® and Golden Globe®

9. 1985’s Prizzi’s Honor….nominated for a Best Actor Oscar®….won Golden Globe®

10. 1987’s Ironweed….nominated for a Best Actor Oscar®

11. 1989’s Batman…..nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe®

12. 1992’s A Few Good Men….nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar®

13. 1992’s Hoffa…..nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe®

14.  1997’s As Good As It Gets….won Best Actor Oscar®

15.  2002’s About Schmidt….nominated for a Best Actor Oscar®…won Golden Globe®

16. 2003’s Somethings Gotta Give…..nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe®

17. 2006’s The Departed……nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe®

Check out Jack Nicholson‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.  Golden Globes® are the registered trademark and service mark of the Hollywood Foreign Press. 

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77 thoughts on “Jack Nicholson Movies”

  3. 1) THE SHINING

    2) ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST

    3) THE DEPARTED

    4) EASY RIDER

    5) CHINATOWN

    6) BATMAN

    7) AS GOOD AS IT GATES

    8) A FEW GOOD MEN

    9) THE LAST DETAIL

    10) FIVE EASY PIECES

    Reply

  4. Hey Flora thanks for visiting my Nicholson hub….after looking at my page….I decided to give it an update since you commented….so the Top Ten Box Office Hits table and the Top Ten Critics table finally made it to his hub…as well as all the proper trademarks….and of course a summary for the good people at hub pages….thanks for the motivation in getting this done.

    To your comments. (1) I think an Adam West cameo would be awesome…I just can not see Christopher Nolan doing that…West might have to wait until the next reboot.

    (2) Whenever you watch Easy Rider be prepared for a long grueling movie experience..Jack is easily the best part of the movie…but he only has about 25 minutes in the movie…it’s like someone on heavy drugs made the movie….oh wait….they were on heavy drugs when they made the movie. As for One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest….it is one of the best movies I have ever seen….you need to see it.

    (3) Terms of Endearment…once again Jack is the best part….just fast forward through all the drama and watch Jack at his best…..Chinatown is another classic…the great John Huston makes a great bad guy.

    (4) Five Easy Pieces is a classic…I love the ending of him on the truck playing the piano….and of course the classic chicken sandwich scene in the cafe.

    (5) I agree Mars Attacks is a waste of talent….and he is great and believable in the original Little Shop Horrors…..although I think Murray is funnier in the remake.

    (6) I have not seen On a Clear Day You Can See Forever or Ensign Pulver.

    (7) Other than Cuckoo’s Nest….I would recommend The Bucket List(he makes a great team with Freeman) and Goin’ South….yes it is a western….but it has some funny moments….and a great supporting cast….John Belusi, Christopher Lloyd, Danny Devito and Mary Steenburgen in her first role…plus Jack directed….

    As always I have greatly enjoyed your comments and thoughts.

    Reply

    1. Hey Flora thanks for visiting my Nicholson hub….after looking at my page….I decided to give it an update since you commented….so the Top Ten Box Office Hits table and the Top Ten Critics table finally made it to his hub…as well as all the proper trademarks….and of course a summary for the good people at hub pages….thanks for the motivation in getting this done.

      To your comments. (1) I think an Adam West cameo would be awesome…I just can not see Christopher Nolan doing that…West might have to wait until the next reboot.

      (2) Whenever you watch Easy Rider be prepared for a long grueling movie experience..Jack is easily the best part of the movie…but he only has about 25 minutes in the movie…it’s like someone on heavy drugs made the movie….oh wait….they were on heavy drugs when they made the movie. As for One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest….it is one of the best movies I have ever seen….you need to see it.

      (3) Terms of Endearment…once again Jack is the best part….just fast forward through all the drama and watch Jack at his best…..Chinatown is another classic…the great John Huston makes a great bad guy.

      (4) Five Easy Pieces is a classic…I love the ending of him on the truck playing the piano….and of course the classic chicken sandwich scene in the cafe.

      (5) I agree Mars Attacks is a waste of talent….and he is great and believable in the original Little Shop Horrors…..although I think Murray is funnier in the remake.

      (6) I have not seen On a Clear Day You Can See Forever or Ensign Pulver.

      (7) Other than Cuckoo’s Nest….I would recommend The Bucket List(he makes a great team with Freeman) and Goin’ South….yes it is a western….but it has some funny moments….and a great supporting cast….John Belusi, Christopher Lloyd, Danny Devito and Mary Steenburgen in her first role…plus Jack directed….

      As always I have greatly enjoyed your comments and thoughts.

      Reply

      1. Okay, then I will check out The Bucket list and Goin’ South next. I do enjoy courtroom dramas, so I will probably check out A few Good Men as well. I will get to Cookoo’s Nest. I will. Just maybe not in the next 12 months. It’s the electroshock therapy scenes I don’t want to see.

        Reply

        1. A Few Good Men is another quality movie. The shock treatment is not a huge part of Cuckoo’s Nest…but it is in the movie…..Kirk Douglas said his greatest regret in his career was not playing Nicholson’s part in the movie….at least it got his son Michael an Oscar.

          Reply

  5. As promised in my response to your comment on my Sayers hub, I am visiting your Nicholson page.

    First of all, of his nominated films -regardless of Oscar vs. Golden Globe- I have seen 5 of them: Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, Terms of Endearment, Batman and About Schmidt.

    Why Batman, you may ask? I had hoped that they would have Adam West appear in a cameo. Wrong! I haven’t bothered with any of the other batman films.

    Why not Easy Rider? Just haven’t seen it yet, but I do plan to see it. Why not One Flew Over the Cookoo’s Nest Too disturbing. I may see it eventually, but I’m not ready for it yet.

    Okay, to return to Movie Scores: I have seen 4 of his top ten movies. I’ve mentioned them already.

    I have seen 8 of his top 25, and 11 in total. That is 32% of his best films only. Overall, that is only 23% of his films. The lowest on the movie score list is Ensign Pulver at 39.

    However, considering my view of films made before I was born, I must look at the years they were made.

    Before I was born in 1976: Of the 11 films I’ve seen 5 of them were made before I was born, for 45% of the films I’ve seen.

    So, what are the eleven films I’ve seen?

    Terms of Endearment-saw this at a friend’s house. Well made, but a bit too emotional for me to see a second time.

    Chinatown-my favourite of Jack’s films. Not a big surprise there. A color film noir, it is one of the few Polanski films I’m willing to watch. I can’t resist a film noir. I can’t really find a fault with it except I wish someone other than Polanski had played the character that cuts Jack’s nose.

    Batman-already discussed

    Five Easy Pieces-my number two pick. I love the music in the film and the importance of music in this film. Contrast the music scenes with everything else for a powerful juxtaposition.

    The Shining-the only King film I’ve deliberately watched (I saw another at a party). Because he is a writer it intrigued me even though I am not a fan of horror films made after the studio system ended in general. (I haven’t seen Misery, by the way, in reference to writers and King, not Jack.)

    The Witches of Eastwick-bizarre

    On A clear Day You Can see Forever-oh, look a musical I’ve seen what a surprise

    Mars Attacks-what I see because I’m with others and end up outnumbered. yuck.

    little Shop of Horrors-he was a bit too convincing as a man who goes to the dentist because he loves pain. Oh, look, another musical! That makes, what, 3 films with music as a main or secondary theme? I’ve seen this on stage, too.

    Ensign Pulver-it’s funny, but because of the name I thought that this was going to star Jack lemmon. Noooooo. No relation between the two Ens. Pulvers either. oh, well.

    oh, and note to Epi: I didn’t see it because it was rated badly, but The Pledge was partially filmed here in Chilliwack.

    Reply

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