No. 16 - Five Easy Pieces

Jack Nicholson gives his best performance in this Bob Rafelson road picture/character study. Nicholson plays Bobby, a talented classical pianist who rebels against his culture vulture family by working on an oil rig and living in a trailer with a waitress (Karen Black). This is an incisive portrait of a difficult and demanding personality, and Nicholson superbly captures Bobby's mercurial mood changes. One of the best films ever made about a tormented, self-destructive artist.