Five Easy Pieces (1970) on Netflix
Bobby Dupea works an oil rig in Kern County and drifts through bars with his girlfriend, waitress Rayette DiPesto. His sister Partita urges him home to Washington, where their father is ill.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.3/1045,109 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes89%
Trailer
Plot summary
Bobby Dupea works on an oil rig in Kern County, California, and spends his free time bowling, drinking and philandering with his fellow oil worker Elton. He treats his girlfriend, the waitress Rayette DiPesto, badly and cheats on her. Bobby grew up as Robert, a classical piano prodigy in a family that destined him for musical greatness, and he left that life behind. His sister Partita, a pianist, tells him their father has had two strokes and asks him to come home to Washington and reconcile with the family. Rayette threatens to kill herself if he leaves without her, so he takes her along on the drive north. They pick up two stranded women on their way to Alaska, and Bobby drops them off once they reach Washington.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Screenwriter Carole Eastman drew the film's restaurant scene from life: she had witnessed an aggrieved Nicholson push all the plates and cups off a table at Pupi's Bakery and Sidewalk Cafe on the Sunset Strip, and Rafelson frequently asked for substitutions at restaurants.
- In 2022, Sally Struthers revealed on Gilbert Gottfried's podcast that Rafelson had coerced her into appearing nude on set against her stated wishes, and had made a false promise that she would not appear nude in the final cut.
- The film opened quietly, grossing $10,476 in its first weekend at the Coronet and $36,710 in its first week, but after ten weeks of release it reached number one at the US box office.
- Jack Nicholson learned to play for the part: to prepare for his role he undertook piano lessons from the Polish concert pianist Josef Pacholczyk.
- The film was nominated for four Academy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards, and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2000, deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
