Today is legend Jack Nicholson’s birthday so let’s celebrate with an all Jack edition of Listomania here at Film Babble Blog.
Nicholson’s latest film SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE just dropped on DVD, but I bet you’d like to know what I rank as his Top 10 movies. We’ll lemme tell you:
TOP 10 GREAT JACK NICHOLSON MOVIES:
1. CHINATOWN (Dir. Roman Polanski, 1974)
2. ABOUT SCHMIDT (Dir. Alexander Payner, 2002)
3. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST (Dir. Milos Forman, 1975)
4. FIVE EASY PIECES (Dir. Bob Rafelson, 1970)
5. CARNAL KNOWLEDGE (Dir. Mike Nichols, 1971)
6. EASY RIDER (Dir. Dennis Hopper, 1969)
7. THE SHINING (Dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
8. A FEW GOOD MEN (Dir. Rob Reiner, 1992)
9. THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (Dir. George Miller, 1987)
10. THE LAST DETAIL (Dir. Hal Ashby, 1973)
FIVE GREAT JACK LINES:
1. “You can’t handle the truth!”: A FEW GOOD MEN
2. “Here’s Johnny!”: THE SHINING
3. “I am the motherfuckin’ shore patrol!”: THE LAST DETAIL
4. “When GOD makes mistakes, they call it... nature. So whaddya think? Women... a mistake... or DID HE DO IT TO US ON PURPOSE?”: THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK
5. TIE: “You ever dance with the devil by the pale moonlight?”/ “Where does he get those wonderful toys?”: BATMAN
5 FAIR JACK MOVIES:
1. AS GOOD AS IT GETS (Dir. James L. Brooks, 1997)
2. WOLF (Dir. Mike Nichols, 1994)
3. THE TWO JAKES (Dir. Jack Nicholson, 1990) The Nicholson-directed follow-up to his #1 movie only fair? It happened.
4. MISSOURI BREAKS (Dir. Arthur Penn, 1978)
5. HEARTBURN (Dir. Mike Nichols, 1986)
5 JACK FLOPS:
1. ANGER MANAGEMENT (Dir. Peter Segal, 2003)
2. BLOOD AND WINE (Dir. Bob Rafelson, 1996)
3. GOIN’ SOUTH (Dir. Jack Nicholson, 1978)
4. MAN TROUBLE (Dir. Bob Rafelson, 1992)
5. HOFFA (Dir. Danny Devito, 1992)
WEIRDEST JACK ROLE: TOMMY (Dir. Ken Russell, 1975)
MOST INSPIRED JACK CASTING: BATMAN (Dir. Tim Burton, 1989): The Joker? I mean, come on!
More later...