Best Oscar-Nominated Jack Nicholson Performance

departed was robbed

liked cuckoo's nest ahead of easy rider

AGAIG def the worst.

In order:

Chinatown
The Last Detail
Cuckoo's Nest
Prizzi's Honor
Five Easy Pieces

its chinatown

, jack

; forget it

The Departed and The Shining both leagues better than the one that won him his third.

Actually, it seems nominations have been pretty few and far between for awhile now. He's not in a Streep renaissance.

He works far less though. If you discount that last James L. Brooks excrescence, his last five movies have been carefully chosen box office fare and art house projects – and all hits.

There have definitely been Oscar whiffs in there too, tho: The Crossing Guard, The Pledge, The Fuck-It List...

...Mars Attacks!

mars attacks is hilar

Like all of these performances except A Few Good Men and About Schmidt (and to a degree, Cuckoo's Nest -- creation of the unfortunate "Jack" brand).

First four + Prizzi's Honor are stone great, voted Chinatown.

About Schmidt made me notice Alexander Payne's sinister qualities.

Chinatown. Probably the most subtle of the lead noms.

The only good thing about About Schmidt was that Nicholson's intonation of "Dear Ndugu" was, for a short while, fun to mimic.

You mean his faults as opposed to his themes, oui? xxp

might just be that if Chinatown is an option in a poll, I will always vote Chinatown

For anyone who's seen the soggy, sodden Reds, Nicholson isn't bad at all.

Gonna be uncool and vote About Schmidt. Lets me off the hook of trying to choose between his 70s performances.

Also, just realized I haven't seen any of the films he was nom'd for in the 80s.

Five Easy Pieces is such a tricky character to pull off, and he does it so, so well.

luv 5 easy pieces

voting Last Detail just to vary it up a lil

could have gone for prizzi too

For what its worth, Prizzi is the only one I feel really bad for not having seen.

I've met as many people who are like wtf is up with Prizzi's Honor. If you don't understand the tone, you'll never get it, you know?

Chinatown but the majority of these are really good. Hated About Schmidt, never seen As Good As it Gets and don't plan to

AGAIG is a deeply strange movie.

For anyone who's seen the soggy, sodden Reds, Nicholson isn't bad at all.

True. There was good movie in that which got smothered in bs.

It's hard for me to vote against Chinatown in any poll, but Five Easy Pieces. There are quiet moments in that--thinking especially of the scene where Nicholson tries to explain his life to his mute father--that I don't think he ever equalled again.

I don't remember a lot about About Schimdt. I need to see it again. My friend at the time said it was the best film he'd seen about perpetual disappointment in a long time.

REDS IS A PRETTY GOOD FILM, U GUYS

I keep thinking of the goddamn puppy scratching at Keaton and Beatty's door, and Beatty's acting for most of the picture was at that level.

I have no problem with The Thin Man meets Dr Zhivago, w/ Henry Miller and George Jessel thrown in.

boring vote for cuckoo's nest

there are a lot of these i haven't seen, and i think i was way too young to watch five easy pieces when i watched five easy pieces

departed was robbed

lolwut.

voted chinatown btw

As did I, fwiw

5EP

Five Eye Plind

AGAIG is a deeply strange movie.

Yeah, I watched some of it recently and it was even more off than I remembered. Seemed nostalgic for a "style" that had not yet, at the time, fully passed.

There are some stellar ones here but I love Five Easy Pieces and he's amazing in it.

I just saw "Easy Rider" for the first time (on a plane) and Jack kind of runs away with the film, so I'm tempted to vote that.

i appreciate his schmidt perf because it was the first time he really interfaced with his oldness in a role - it felt overdue

there are a lot of these i haven't seen, and i think i was way too young to watch five easy pieces when i watched five easy pieces

― congratulations (n/a), Friday, October 28, 2011 1:16 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

hah, totes know what u mean m8. prob voting for it though

i was impressed by him in AGAIG when at one point he used his eyebrows as an appendage to move his shades from on top of his head back to his eyes.

I've been thinking of Cuckoo's Nest while struggling to find a way to watch the World Series. Base-ball.

lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkLSbDudrjU

5 easy pieces had some pretty horrible stuff in it, like the political women he picked up and got eggs w/ or whatever, it felt like a weak 2 lane blacktop to me, there were great scenes and all, but I don't know it felt like a shell of a move for some reason

but yeah chinatown

yer mad!

Pretty depressing downward slide there (tho I did quite like Schmidt a lot.)

Voting Five Easy Pieces.

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Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Nice mix.

a few good men 0
about schmidt 3

another few years of this and i'll be morbsing up polls myself tbh

he could've done A Few Good Hens in his sleep.

the important thing is that it didn't send everyone else to sleep, unlike the motorhome advert

Proportionally, you couldn't get better results. (Should mention that I've never seen Ironweed.)

As Good As It Gets is one of the most ridiculous films ever made. The story's implausibility is an insult to viewers.
Having said that, I've watched it several times because, well, Jack. I always sit up when he's on screen.