Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 223-225: The Jack Pack

It's a rare feat for an actor to win three Oscars in his lifetime and indeed only three men have accomplished this. One of these is Jack Nicholson who has two Best Actor wins under his belt and a third for Best Supporting Actor. Nicholson's rise to prominence really started with Easy Rider, for which he was nominated for a Supporting Actor Award, while the next year he starred in Five Easy Pieces - arguably his first memorable leading role. This post will look at the three Best Picture nominees that Nicholson starred in during the 1970s and each also saw him give an Oscar-nominated performance.

We'll start with Five Easy Pieces in which Nicholson plays oil worker Bobby Dupea who spends most of his free time with ditzy waitress girlfriend Rayette or drinking with best buddy Elton. Though Bobby is initially portrayed as a slacker, we later learn that he is a talented pianist and comes from a family of eccentric musicians. After learning that his father is incredibly ill, Bobby returns home and is forced to take Rayette with him after she threatens suicide. Feeling that Rayette is too common for his family, he leaves her in a nearby motel and journey's to his childhood home. Here he meets and falls in love with his brother Carl's fiancée Catherine, a young pianist who is wowed by Bobby's playing abilities. As time goes on, we begin to realise why Bobby left home in the first place and why he's never been back. The house is full of intellectuals and people who he feels talk a lot of nonsense. Meanwhile Bobby's father is incredibly ill and he's unsure whether or not he can actually be heard when he lays a few home truths to his dear old dad. Eventually, Rayette appears at the house and her arrival isn't welcomed by Bobby who is still intent on chasing Catherine. Like all three of the films in the post, Five Easy Pieces doesn't have a particularly happy ending as we get an ambiguous conclusion for Bobby.

Five Easy Pieces is the only one of the three Nicholson films in this post that I haven't previously seen. It definitely has the feel of an early 1970s experimental piece as the first thirty minutes passes without much incident. Instead all of the first third of the film is intent on presenting Bobby as sort of a working class man who loves bowling, drinking and having sex. It's only after the revelation of his musical ability that the film opens itself a bit more as we meet the quirky members of the Dupea family. The role of Bobby is perfect for Nicholson and sort of saw his transition from supporting player to leading man. He excels playing the quiet and brooding Bobby, who every so often snaps at those around him. Ultimately he is presented as a man who is unable to feel passionate about the music he plays or the people around him. Nicholson earned his first ever Best Actor nomination for his role in the film and I feel that it's more than deserved. For her portrayal of Rayette, Karen Black also received a Supporting Actress nod and again I really enjoyed her turn here. Rayette's unrefined persona was the complete antithesis of the characters that frequented Bobby's family home and this mismatch provided some of the film's best moments. Black made Rayette a memorable character and one who was much more than just a dumb bimbo. Unfortunately, the day I watched the film was the same day that Black tragically passed away which puts a downer on my whole memory of the film. Despite only being 96 minutes long, I did find that Five Easy Pieces dragged occasionally, most notably during Bobby and Rayette's journey to his family home where they pick up a couple of hitch-hikers. Overall though this was 1970s film-making at its most raw and was an interesting exploration of Nicholson's early acting career.

Four years later, Nicholson appeared in another Oscar-nominated film which arguably saw his transition from character actor to leading man. The film was Chinatown, a film noir set in the early 1930s and very reminiscent of movies such as Scarlet Street and Double Indemnity. Here Nicholson starred as Jake Gittes, a former cop turned private detective who is initially tasked with exploring the infidelity of Hollis Mulwray, chief engineer for the LA Department of Water and Power. Little does Gittes know that the woman who has paid him to investigate the case is not Mulwray's wife and he is soon being sued by his real wife Evelyn for deformation of character. Soon Hollis turns up dead and Evelyn asks him to investigate the murder while Evelyn's father Noah Cross, who was also Mulwray's business partner, doubles Evelyn's fee to get him to find Hollis' unnamed young lover. Gittes starts to see how the story of Mulwray and Cross plays into the drought that LA is currently experiencing and he starts to play a dangerous game with some very influential people. Though Gittes does solve the murder, not everybody comes out of the case and unscathed, meaning that we don't quite get our happy ending once again.

Similarly to Rebecca, I found the title of Chinatown fairly misleading as only really the final scenes of the movie take place in the district. What Chinatown did have was one of the best screenplays of all time, written by Robert Towne. Towne was originally asked to adapt The Great Gatsby, but declined the offer instead creating this original piece of great storytelling. Towne plays the audience perfectly as the pieces begin to fit together gradually building to that famous final scene in Chinatown. Oddly, it was director Roman Polanski who decided on the melancholy final scene with Towne wanting something a little bit more upbeat. Towne was rewarded for his work with a Best Screenplay Oscar, which was the only Oscar the film won. Nicholson's performance here was a lot more captivating as he played the smart, everyman who wanted to make it clear that he was just trying to earn an honest living. Nicholson initially plays Gittes as someone who doesn't let their emotions get in the way of the job, however gradually his feelings for Evelyn cloud his judgement. Faye Dunaway is perfectly cast as the classic noir heroine - a mixture of femme fatale and damsel in distress, who goes from being a fairly emotionless character to someone who acts in the heat of the moment in order to keep a loved one safe. John Huston adds fantastic support as the seedy Noah Cross while Jerry Goldsmith's score enhances the period vibe of the whole piece. I find it's a shame that Chinatown was nominated in such a strong year, as it does feel like a film that in any other year would be a Best Picture winner. Despite this the film has lived on due to the outstanding script and infamous scenes which mean that, unlike Gittes, we will never forget Chinatown.

Thankfully, Nicholson didn't have to wait long to win his first Best Actor Oscar, as the next year he starred in a film which became one of only three films to win the 'Big Five' Oscars. That film was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest which went onto win Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Here, Nicholson stars as Randle McMurphy, a low-rent convict who has been serving time on a prison farm for statuary rape. McMurphy has been admitted to a mental asylum for evaluation, while he hopes that his time there will be an easy ride where he will avoid going back to prison. However, McMurphy didn't factor in the cold and calm Nurse Ratched, who runs the ward and who manages her patients through a strict diet of medication and humiliation. It's clear that Ratched doesn't like the affect that McMurphy has on the patients as he tries to lift their spirits by taking them on fishing trips and organising card games between them. After learning that he could be staying at the asylum longer than he first thought, McMurphy decides to escape however his attachment to one of his fellow patients means that he ends up making the ultimate sacrifice. This is the third film in a row not to have a happy ending for Nicholson's character, but at least the conclusion does provide a moment of hope for one of the asylum's long-term residents.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a film that has stayed with me for a long time and is one that I have written essays about in the past. I personally feel that this film is a masterpiece and perfectly combines well-rounded characters, a confined setting and a brilliant set of performances. Milos Forman's direction gives you a sense of place almost instantly as the white walls of the asylum gives you a real claustrophobic feel for this particular institution. The creepy music that plays during medication time and the awkward group sessions also stick in the mind and add to the feeling that this is a place of routine. Of the three films, Nicholson gives his biggest performance here as the slightly unhinged and worldly-wise McMurphy. Nicholson plays Randle as somebody whose personality is infectious and he's easily implanted as the leader of the group. Nicholson's Oscar was well-deserved especially in the latter scenes in which McMurphy chooses to stick up for young, nervous Billy rather than escaping from the asylum. Nurse Ratched, who I believe to be one of cinema's greatest villains, is beautifully written and expertly played by Louise Fletcher. What makes Ratched so chilling is that she never raises her voice and we know nothing of her apart from her job in the asylum. The film is fleshed out by a whole group of memorable supporting characters as all of the patients on the ward are given very different identities. Among the most famous are William Redfield's cultured Harding, Christopher Lloyd's deranged Taber and Danny DeVito's delusional Martini. Best of all is Brad Dourif as the tragic Billy, who was nominated but never won the Best Supporting Actor Award. If you've never seen One Flew, I can't recommend it enough and it really is film-making at its very best.

That isn't the end for Nicholson who'll pop up throughout the remaining decades, winning two more Oscars along the way. But next up is a focus on an actress who herself one two Oscars, both of them in the 1970s.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 144-145: A Song and a Dance in France

Some of you may've noticed that to get through as many of these films as possible I am trying to group them into different categories and I noticed that two of the winning films from the 1950s were both set in France, featured song and dance and both starred Leslie Caron. However there was also a third nominee set in France which featured a small amount of merriment so that got included as well so lets kick off with the winner from the 1952 ceremony.

That being Vincent Minnelli's An American in Paris an all singing/all dancing spectacular featuring Gene Kelly and the aforementioned Ms. Caron. The film features on two down-and-out Americans living and trying to survive in Paris, Kelly's painter Jerry Mulligan and Oscar Levant's pianist Adam Cook. Mulligan's artwork gets noticed by a wealthy American woman named Milo who agrees to sponsor Jerry and also falls in love with him while Mulligan meets Caron's enchanting Lisa and falls for her unaware that she is already seeing singer Henri Baurel an acquaintance of Jerry's through Adam. As time goes on Lisa and Jerry become more and more attached then Henri is offered a job in America and he and Lisa plan to marry but at the last moment Henri realises that Jerry and Lisa are in love and lets them be together. An American in Paris is a great old school musical but whether it deserved to win Best Picture is another debate altogether however it deserve to win Oscars for its cinematography, score, costumes and set (not sure about the screenplay award though). I enjoyed the interplay between Caron and Kelly but for me the best performances came from Nina Foch as Milo and Levant whose scene where he imagines he is conducting and playing in a concert hall was one of my favourite scenes alongside the last fifteen minutes of the film in which Jerry imagines his life alongside Lisa before she returns to him. A bright, colourful extravaganza An American in Paris has memorable songs like I've Got Rhythm and S'Wonderful and is an enjoyable ride however I don't think it is truly a classic film.

A nominee from the 1953 ceremony is Moulin Rouge, a film title most of us attribute to a 2001 film which was also nominated for Best Picture. The 1953 film does have some singing and dancing but most of it features the story of Tolouse LaTrec potrayed in the modern film by John Leguizamo and here by Jose Ferrer. The first 20 minutes or so are probably the most entertaining and vibrant showing life in the Moulin Rouge full of drinking, can-can girls and Zsa Zsa Gabor's lead singer. However LaTrec's story is one of heartbreak in flashback we learn that he left his family home to pursue a career as a painter after he found out no girl would love him because he's a cripple. In the modern day his life doesn't go much better he enters into a relationship with a prostitute which ends when he becomes suspicious of her and she keeps taking money from him. He finds solace in his offbeat paintings off the Moulin Rouge and other famous Parisian landmarks and gains a reputation for his work. He also starts a new relationship with Myriamme a lovely girl who loves him but once again he feels that she just keeps him around for amusement and leaves it too late to save her from marrying someone else. The film ends with the announcement that he will be the first living artist to have painting displayed in The Louvre and then we see him visited by images of his paintings before popping his clogs. Moulin Rouge is thematically quite a bleak film with Jose Ferrer's Tolouse being a very dour personality and one who at times I found fairly alienating. The best thing about the film is its colour cinematography, which bizarrely didn't even get an Oscar nomination, which brings the Moulin Rouge to life and the best performances in my opinion come from those who work there. The way Tolouse's pictures are transposed into the film and how they meet him as he dies are also quite splendidly done. Overall a good biopic which is often bleak and saved by the colour and opulence of its titular establishment.

Finally we have Leslie Caron on winning form yet again here as the eponymous heroine in Gigi, the winner of the final Oscar ceremony in the 1950s. The film is light and full of humourous performances which is odd giving the dark subject matter of young girls being groomed to be courtesans for wealthy Parisian men. However Gigi's training isn't going at all well as she doesn't really want to be in her lessons and instead likes spending time with Gaston who visits her and her grandmother. Throughout the film Gaston realises that Gigi is no longer a child and falls in love with her. Her great aunt then trains her up to be Gaston's cortesan but she realises she doesn't want this sort of life for herself and through a sequence of events it suddenly dawns of both of them that they want to be together and at the end of the film are happily man and wife. Narrating events for part of the film is Maurice Chevalier's Honore Lachaille after watching several of his 1930s films for this project its odd now to see him playing the supporting role of the experienced older man but in 1958 he had aged somewhat he still gets to sing the most memorable song 'Thank Heaven for Little Girls' though and did receive the Lifetime Achievement award the night Gigi swept the board. And it did indeed breaking the record for Oscar wins but only holding that record for one year before Ben-Hur came along. The film itself is OK again its fairly entertaining and Caron has improved as an actress from her time on An American in Paris here being possibly the most likeable character of the bunch. The song and dance sequences are a joy but at times I felt the pace lagged a bit especially when Caron and her female relatives were off-screen and instead we had to deal with Gaston's woes which I didn't really care about. Overall an entertaining piece of musical cinema which had some lovely costumes but wasn't a spectacular picture and again didn't feel to me like a Best Picture Winner.

That's your lot from France and as your captain I hope you enjoyed your journey.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 67: A Couple More Bogeys

Okay so I know I've been chastising everyone for not watching some of the classics over the last few days but I'm no saint myself when it comes to missing out on the oldies. In fact I've seen less the ten film from this decade's list including the next two films. Also in the last post we looked at Casablanca, but leading man Humphrey Bogart was a busy boy in the 1940s. After a lot of supporting roles in the 1930s he finally became a big star and was probably the top leading man in that decade. Although he didn't win his Best Actor Oscar, for The African Queen, until the 1950s the 1940s were definitely Bogey's best decade. And recently I watched two of his films from the decade one pre and one post Casablanca and both directed by John Huston.

First up we have The Maltese Falcon, Huston's first film as a director, and a nominee at the 1942 ceremony. In it Bogart plays private detective Sam Spade whose detective partner is shot while on a job tracking a man for a girl whose sister has supposedly run off with him. The man also dies that night and Spade is fingered for both murders and has to find out who killed who. Spade then gets charged with the task of finding a black figure of a bird which turns out to be the titular Maltese Falcon, a jewel encrusted figure which was a gift to King Charles V of Spain from the Knights of Malta. During his investigation Bogart meets the diminutive and excitable Joel Cairo and the large and domineering Kasper Gutman sometimes referred to as the fat man. Cairo is the man who first asks Spade to look for the bird and Gutman is able to explain its significance. Meanwhile Spade finds out that the girl Brigid was also after the bird with the man who was killed. The film then builds to a climax as we try to discover who shot who and who is scamming who and what will Spade do? Bogart's Spade isn't a million miles away from Casablanca's Rick, both characters don't really have an emotional attachment to the item on offer and both would rather no attract trouble. Unlike Rick, Spade is basically after money, although there is a brief spark between him and Brigid its nothing like the Rick and Ilsa romance in Casablanca. The similarities to Casablanca don't end there though as Bogart's co-stars are Peter Lorre (as Cairo) and Sydney Greenstreet (as Gutman), the former played the petit criminal in Casablanca while the latter played the rival bar owner. Greenstreet in fact was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and rightly so as, apart from Bogart, his performance is the film's best, the excellent adapted screenplay was also nominated. What I will say is that this is the first proper mystery film that I've watched since I've been doing this quest. While The Thin Man did have a kind of murder mystery structure, The Maltese Falcon was incredibly involving and very well plotted, I believe that Bogart's performance here at least deserved an Oscar nom but this was the year that How Green Was My Valley walked off with most of the awards and there was hardly anything left for even Citizen Kane.

Bogart returned to Oscar-nominated films at the last ceremony of the decade with The Treasure of The Sierra Madre which did however win Best Director and Adapted Screenplay for John Huston and Best Supporting Actor for his father Walter. The film sees Bogart's Dobbs teaming up with Huston's Howard and Tim Holt's Curtin to find gold in the Sierra Madre mountains in Mexico. Dobbs and Curtin meet as two Americans down on their luck in Mexico and soon decide to seek Gold with the help of old-timer Howard. They soon strike it lucky but there are complications which include the arrival of bandits, a fourth American discovering them and Dobbs' own paranoia and greed. It is the final one of those three that the film ultimately plays on as Dobbs believes that Howard is out to get him and that Curtin plans to short change him later on. In terms of plot that's about it and that's the beauty of the film as it is a study of the human psyche and how much trust we can give our fellow man. This theme is played upon nicely both by the haunting score and by the brilliantly shot close-ups of all three men. The central three performances are all excellent, Bogart really did deserve a Best Actor nomination here as his portrayal of the greedy Gringo Dobbs is an intense and sometimes unlikeable one. Dobbs is definitely different from Bogart's other two roles in this decade and that's even better as we don't really expect a man who's played so many heroes to here play a morally ambiguous character. Walter Huston also does well as the old-timer who's obviously seen men affected by gold in a similar way before, Huston impressed me with his work in Dodsworth so it's nice to see him winning an award while Tim Holt also does well as the upstanding Curtin. The film isn't perfect, it takes a little too long to get started and some of Howard's scenes in the Mexican village should've been quicker but overall this is a masterpiece that shows you don't need a huge story to keep audiences entranced for two hours.

There will be a little bit more bogey before the decade is out but these are definitely two of his defining films and I'm glad that I got to watch both of them for the first time.