I'll go out with you, or I'll stay in with you, or I'll do anything that you like for me to do, if you tell me that you love me.

He doesn't feel settled in the common lifestyle of a hot-tempered, Southern California blue-collar, redneck oil rigger, who drinks beer, bowls, listens to country music, and chases easy women. He might reject the cultured affluent atmosphere of his home but its mark on him is indeliable. During traffic gridlock on a California highway, when the oil-rigger leaves his vehicle, on an impulse he jumps up on a truck stalled ahead, and plays Chopin’s Fantasy in F Minor Op.49 on an upright piano found there. He shall carry home wherever he may go and it shall only make him feel alienated all the more.
Give the modern parable of Cain a period of self-imposed exile of twenty years, does he settle down as the original Cain did? While visiting his sister Partita (Lois Smith) in a Los Angeles recording studio, he learns that his father is seriously ill and dying following two strokes. He plans to return to his home in the Pacific Northwest's Puget Sound area, for a final reconciling visit before he is gone. In a memorable scene in his car, he struggles with himself about whether his girlfriend (now pregnant) should join him or not, fearing being embarrassed by her lack of class or refinement. In the end he decides to take her along. During the car trip north, he gives a lift to an aggressive, complaining lesbian couple, aggressive Palm Apodaca (Helena Kallianiotes) and passive partner Terry Grouse (Toni Basil). The countercultural pair are on their way to Alaska to escape society and because it's "cleaner."

The film is most famous for the classic scene of Nicholson's outburst while ordering a chicken salad sandwich in a diner - symbolic of the 60s generation's rebellion and alienation during the Vietnam War Era. In this scene in a roadside diner on his way home a live-by-the-rules waitress (Lorna Thayer) stubbornly refuses to serve him a plain omelette (with tomatoes instead of potatoes), a cup of coffee and a side order of wheat toast, because she dryly explains: "No substitutions":

Dupea: I'd like a plain omelette, no potatoes, tomatoes instead, a cup of coffee, and wheat toast.
Waitress: (She points to the menu) No substitutions.
Dupea: What do you mean? You don't have any tomatoes?
Waitress: Only what's on the menu. You can have a number two - a plain omelette. It comes with cottage fries and rolls.
Dupea: Yeah, I know what it comes with. But it's not what I want.
Waitress: Well, I'll come back when you make up your mind.
Dupea: Wait a minute. I have made up my mind. I'd like a plain omelette, no potatoes on the plate, a cup of coffee, and a side order of wheat toast.
Waitress: I'm sorry, we don't have any side orders of toast...an English muffin or a coffee roll.
Dupea: What do you mean you don't make side orders of toast? You make sandwiches, don't you?
Waitress: Would you like to talk to the manager?
Dupea: ...You've got bread and a toaster of some kind?
Waitress: I don't make the rules.
Dupea: OK, I'll make it as easy for you as I can. I'd like an omelette, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce. And a cup of coffee.
Waitress: A number two, chicken sal san, hold the butter, the lettuce and the mayonnaise. And a cup of coffee. Anything else?
Dupea: Yeah. Now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules.
Waitress (spitefully): You want me to hold the chicken, huh?
Dupea: I want you to hold it between your knees.
Waitress (turning and telling him to look at the sign that says, "No Substitutions") Do you see that sign, sir? Yes, you'll all have to leave. I'm not taking any more of your smartness and sarcasm.
Dupea: You see this sign? (He sweeps all the water glasses and menus off the table.)
His brief stay at home leads him to a fling with the sophisticated, musical wife of his brother (Anspach) but any love between them is impossible as she tells him, ‘You're a strange person, Robert...A person who has no love for himself, no respect for himself, no love of his friends, family, work, something - how can he ask for love in return?’
His stay in his father’s house proves a fiasco. As he returns home with Rayette, he ignores her observation:

There isn't anybody gonna look after you AND love you, as good as I do.

In the bleak final sequence, he abandons her in a Gulf gas station without explanation, leaving her with his wallet and car, while he catches a lift from a northbound lumber truck toward Canada and freedom. The driver promises they will travel to an even colder climate and he could borrow a jacket: "Where we're goin', it's gonna get colder than hell." He responds: "Nah, it's okay. I'm fine. Fine. I'm fine."
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Jack Nicholson), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Karen Black), Best Picture and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced.

In 2000, Five Easy Pieces was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Also the notable filmmakers Lars Von Trier, Joel and Ethan Coen, Ingmar Bergman, and the award-winning novelists Cormac McCarthy and William Gaddis have expressed deep admiration for the movie.
The movie's most famous scene takes place as mentioned earlier in a roadside restaurant where despite appeals to logic and common sense, the waitress adamantly sticks to the rules of the restaurant, so Bobby comes up with a plan of his own as Rayette and their two hitchhikers (played by Toni Basil and Helena Kallianiotes) look on:
Back in the car:

Palm Apodaca: Fantastic that you could figure that all out and lie that down on her so you could come up with a way to get your toast. Fantastic.

Bobby: Yea, well I didn't get it, did I?

Palm Apodaca: No, but it was very clever. I would've just punched her out.

Trivia

The roadside diner scene is iconic as a metaphor for the rebellious, free spirit of the youth of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Thirty years later Nicholson would perform a scene in the movie About Schmidt which directly drew from this scene.

Directed by     Bob Rafelson
Produced by     Robert Daley
Written by     Carole Eastman
Bob Rafelson
Starring     Jack Nicholson
Karen Black
Cinematography     László Kovács
Distributed by     Columbia Pictures
Running time     96 min.
Language     English
Memorable Quotes:
Palm Apodaca: Hey, follow that truck. They know the best places to stop.
Rayette: That's an old maid's tale.
Palm Apodaca: Bullshit! Truck drivers are the only ones that know the best places to stop on the road.
Rayette: Salesmen and cops are the ones. If you'd ever waitressed, honey, you'd know that.
Palm Apodaca: Don't call me honey, mac.
Rayette: Don't call me mac, honey.
----
Palm Apodaca: You know, I read where they, uh, invented this car that runs on, ummm... that runs on, ummm... when you boil water?
Terry: Steam.
Palm Apodaca: Right, steam. A car that you could ride around in and not cause a stink. But do you know they will not even let us have it? Can you believe it? Why? Man! He likes to create a stink! I mean, I've seen filth that you wouldn't believe. Ugh! What a stink! I don't even want to talk about it.
----
Palm Apodaca: People. Animals are not like that. They're always cleaning themselves. Did you ever see, umm... pigeons? Well, he's always picking on himself and his friends. They're always picking bugs out of their hair all the time. Monkeys too. Except they do something out in the open that I don't go for.
----
Rayette: I'm not.
Bobby: You're just gonna sit here?
Rayette: Yes.
Bobby: Okay. I hope no one hits on you.
Rayette: I hope they do.
----
Bobby: I move around a lot, not because I'm looking for anything really, but 'cause I'm getting away from things that get bad if I stay.
----
Bobby: [finally talking with his paralyzed father] I don't know if you'd be particularly interested in hearing anything about me. My life, I mean... Most of it doesn't add up to much that I could relate as a way of life that you'd approve of... I'd like to be able to tell you why, but I don't really... I mean, I move around a lot because things tend to get bad when I stay. And I'm looking... for auspicious beginnings, I guess... I'm trying to, you know, imagine your half of this conversation... My feeling is, that if you could talk, we probably wouldn't be talking. That's pretty much how it got to be before... I left... Are you all right? I don't know what to say... Tita suggested that we try to... I don't know. I think that she... seems to feel we've got... some understanding to reach... She totally denies the fact that we were never that comfortable with each other to begin with... The best that I can do, is apologize. We both know that I was never really that good at it, anyway...
[sobbing]
Bobby: I'm sorry it didn't work out.
----
Bobby: That's dangerous, you know.
Catherine: Riding?
Bobby: Mm-hmm. You play the piano all day and then jump on a horse, you could get cramps.
----
Bobby: What are you doing screwing around with all this crap?
Catherine: I do not find your language very charming.
Bobby: It isn't. It's direct.
Catherine: I'd like you to leave so that I can take a bath. Is that direct?
----
Bobby: What else do you do?
Catherine: Well, there's fishing, boating, and concerts on the mainland.
[Laughs]
Catherine: I feel funny telling you this. This is really your home. You probably know better than I what there is to do.
Bobby: Nothing.
Catherine: Nothing?
Bobby: Nothing.
Catherine: Well, it must be very boring for you here.
Bobby: That's right.
Catherine: I find that very hard to comprehend. I don't think I've ever been bored. Excuse me.
----
Catherine: You're a strange person, Robert. I mean, what will you come to? If a person has no love for himself, no respect for himself, no love of his friends, family, work, something - how can he ask for love in return? I mean, why should he ask for it?
Betty: That's a wig you wear, isn't it?
Bobby: Me?
Betty: Yeah, I told her it was you but that you were wearin' a wig because on the TV you're mostly all, uh -
[pats him on the head]
Betty: bald up there!
[laughs]
Bobby: [laughs] Your, your little friend's real, real sharp. Uh, I don't, uh, I don't wear the wig on TV because if you're gonna be out there in front of two and a half million people, you've got to be sincere. I mean, I like to wear it when I'm in bowling alleys and slipping around, stuff like that. I think it gives me a little class. What do you think?
----
Betty: When I was four, just four years old, I went to my mother and I said, "What's this hole in my chin?" - I saw this dimple in my chin in the mirror, and didn't know what it was. And my mother said - get what my mother says - she says, "When you're born, you go on a assembly line past God, and if He likes you, He says,
[grabs her cheeks with both her hands]
Betty: "You cute little thing!" and you get dimples there. And if He doesn't like you, He goes,
[presses one finger on her chin]
Betty: "Go away." So about six months later, my mother found me saying my prayers, and I was going,
[holds one hand over her chin]
Betty: "Now I lay me down to sleep...” My mother says, "What are you covering up your chin for?" And I said, "Because if I cover up the hole, maybe He'll listen to me."
----
Rayette: That was real good, wasn't it? I finally did it!
Bobby: Great. You throw the big Z's for 19 frames, and then you throw a strike on the last ball of a losing game. Wonderful. Just wonderful.
[Turns around to bowlers at next lane]
Bobby: Isn't that wonderful, ladies?
Twinky: Are you talking to us?
Bobby: Wonderful.
----
Rayette: You love me, Bobby?
Bobby: What do you think?
[they kiss]
----
Bobby: [out of his car during a traffic jam, yelling at other motorists] Ants! Why don't we all line up like a goddamned bunch of ants! Its the most beautiful part of the day!
----
Bobby: You keep on talking about the good life, Elton, 'cause it makes me puke.
----
Rayette: I'm gonna play it again.
Bobby: You play that thing one more time, I'm gonna melt it down into hairspray.
Rayette: Let me play the other side then.
Bobby: No, Rayette, it's not a question of sides. It's a question of musical integrity.
----
Samia Glavia: ...It was just what I was trying to point out...
Bobby: [interrupting] Don't sit there pointing at her.
Samia Glavia: I beg your pardon.
Bobby: I said don't point at her, you creep.
Samia Glavia: But I was just telling about...
Bobby: Where do you get the ass to tell anybody anything about class, or who the hell's got it, or what she typifies? You shouldn't even be in the same room with her, you pompous celibate... You're totally full of shit! You're all full of shit.
----
Catherine: It's useless.
Bobby: Look, give me a chance.
Catherine: I'm trying to be delicate with you, but you just won't understand. I couldn't go with you. Not just because of Carl and my music, but because of you.
Catherine: You're a strange person, Robert. I mean, what would it come to? If a person has no love for himself, no respect for himself, no love of his friends, family, work, something... How can he ask for love in return? I mean, why should he ask for it?
Bobby: Living here in this rest home/asylum - that's what you want?
Catherine: Yes.
Bobby: That will make you happy?
Catherine: I hope it will. Yes.
Catherine: I'm sorry.

List of Five Easy Pieces:

* Chopin - Fantasy in F Minor Op.49, played by Dupea on the back of a moving truck.
* Bach - Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, played by Dupea's sister, Partita, in a recording studio.
* Mozart - E-flat Maj. Concerto K.271, played by Dupea's brother, Carl, and Catherine upon Bobby's arrival to the island.
* Chopin - Prelude Opus 28 in E Minor no. 4, played by Dupea for Catherine.
* Mozart - Fantasy in D Minor K.397
This was director Bob Rafelson's second film (and his best work) after he had directed the television pop band the Monkees in the mind-blowing Head (1968), a surrealistic and psychedelic film that was co-written with unemployed actor Jack Nicholson, the major star in this film, and emulated the European New Wave pictures of the era.

This was Jack Nicholson's first major acting role. His particular delivery of lines is evident here. His acting reminds one of Brando in his younger days. For example his monologue to his dying, paralyzed father in a wheelchair in the cold outdoors, in the film's most powerful scene. He apologizes for his abandonment of his family and talent, for giving up on his responsibilities, and for not living up to his father's high ideals, breaking down in tears mid-speech:

I don't know if you'd be particularly interested in hearing anything about me. My life, I mean... Most of it doesn't add up to much... that I could relate as a way of life that you'd approve of...I'd like to be able to tell you why, but I don't really...I mean, I move around a lot because things tend to get bad when I stay. And I'm looking...for auspicious beginnings, I guess...I'm trying to, you know, imagine your half of this conversation...My feeling is, that if you could talk, we probably wouldn't be talking. That's pretty much how it got to be before... I left...Are you all right? I don't know what to say...Tita suggested that we try to...I don't know. I think that she...seems to feel we've got...some understanding to reach...She totally denies the fact that we were never that comfortable with each other to begin with...The best that I can do, is apologize. We both know that I was never really that good at it, anyway...

He finally bows his head, sighs, and admits with sorrow, "I'm sorry it didn't work out."

The soundtrack employed five songs by Tammy Wynette, including "Stand By Your Man."

Similar Movies
Alice's Restaurant  (1969, Arthur Penn)
Fingers  (1978, James Toback)
Kings of the Road  (1975, Wim Wenders)
You Can Count On Me  (2000, Kenneth Lonergan)
The Last Detail  (1973, Hal Ashby)
Stay Hungry  (1976, Bob Rafelson)
The Drifter  (1966, Alex Matter)
World Traveler  (2001, Bart Freundlich)
The Brown Bunny  (2003, Vincent Gallo)
Adam at 6 a.m.  (1970, Robert Scheerer)
Movies with the Same Personnel
Easy Rider  (1969, Dennis Hopper)
Stay Hungry  (1976, Bob Rafelson)
The King of Marvin Gardens  (1972, Bob Rafelson)
The Postman Always Rings Twice  (1981, Bob Rafelson)
Head  (1968, Bob Rafelson)
On the Nickel  (1980, Ralph Waite, Robert Waite)
The Secret Life of John Chapman  (1976, David Lowell Rich)
Drive, He Said  (1971, Jack Nicholson)
Other Related Movies
is related to:      The King of Marvin Gardens  (1972, Bob Rafelson)
Man Trouble  (1992, Bob Rafelson)

(ack:wikipedia,allmovie, Filmsite.tim dirks)

compiler:benny

Pocas veces puede señalarse la importancia para la Historia del cine de un guionista con apenas una docena de películas escritas. Pero este precisamente es el caso de Ernest Lehman, seis veces nominado al Oscar y recompensado con un galardón honorífico en 2001, cinco años antes de su muerte. Nacido en el seno de una familia acomodada del Este venida a menos como consecuencia de la Gran Depresión de 1929, Lehman, instalado en Nueva York, se dedicó a escribir novelas y pequeñas historias para diversas publicaciones periódicas de la época, llegando a despertar el interés de la Paramount, que le ofreció un primer contrato como guionista gracias al cual vio la luz, entre otras, la comedia romántica Sabrina (1954), de Billy Wilder.

Sin embargo, su fama mundial y su gran reconocimiento como guionista le llega, como a otros muchos, de la mano de Alfred Hitchcock y del guión de Con la muerte en los talones (North by northwest, 1959), en la que la ingeniosa trama y su importancia a la hora de crear modelos de los que el cine ha bebido constantemente durante décadas le colocan entre los guionistas más importantes e influyentes de Hollywood. Hitchcock, cosa rara en él, quedaría muy satisfecho del trabajo de Lehman, y, tras recurrir a él puntualmente en diversas situaciones, finalmente contaría de nuevo con un guión suyo para el rodaje de la que sería su última película, La trama (Family plot, 1976).

Pero en el breve pero intenso currículum de Lehman hay otras perlas a rescatar. Además de El rey y yo (1956) son obra suya los guiones de películas tan recordadas como West Side Story (1961), El premio (1963), historia dirigida por Mark Robson al más puro estilo hitchcockiano, The sound of music (1965), de Robert Wise, musical para el lucimiento de Julie Andrews, y sobre todo ¿Quién teme a Virginia Woolf? (1967), de Mike Nichols, obra maestra indiscutible del guión por la que Lehman se consagró definitivamente.

Tras el guión de Hello, Dolly (Gene Kelly, 1969), protagonizada por Barbra Streisand, dio el salto (primero y único) a la dirección con Portnoy's complaint (1972), adaptada a partir de una novela de Philip Roth, con Richard Benjamin y Karen Black. En 1979 se retiró del cine y tras algunos trabajos para televisión, disfrutó de una plácida jubilación interrumpida para acudir a la ceremonia de los Oscar de 2001, donde fue agasajado con un premio honorífico y la ovación cerrada de un estamento cinematográfico que es consciente de la notoria influencia de una gran autor con apenas una docena, pero eso sí, imprescindible, de guiones.

We started watching '70s horror BURNT OFFERINGS, and within twenty minutes Fiona was telling me it wasn't even worth blogging about. A few possible angles did present themselves -- the father/mother/son triad arriving by car seemed like a very close match to THE SHINING, and the concept of a building with an inner life of its own seemed relevant to Kubrick's MUCH BETTER FILM.

Karen Black and Ollie Reed and Better Davis are of course hugely watchable, but Burgess Mereditch takes the acting honours for a dementedly camp turn as a chair-bound nutter.

For a while I thought I might write about the sheer dullness of it all (half an hour in and literally NOTHING has happened) but that might get dull, and as we resorted to the fast-forward button in order to get to the (impressively apocalyptic) ending, it became unfair to really comment on the film at all. So forget that I said it was dull, OK? I'm not qualified to pass judgement because I didn't watch it.

But I thought I could mention the fashionable '70s fog filter, which diffuses the whole film with a hazy smear. Then Ollie Reed has a nightmare and things get MAJORLY DIFFUSE:

The haziness is actually fine here -- pretty pictures! -- but damaging elsewhere because in the story the house is supposed to heal itself, and the filtration kind of blurs the textures so you can't tell. When Karen Black stares in alarm, the filmmakers have to dub a line over the back of her head, where she expresses her surprise that the house has, in fact, seemingly improved its appearance in an unexpected way. Gosh!

Nestor Almendros used to walk out of films as soon as he saw diffusion being used, which does strike me as a bit hard-line. But in setting rules for himself, Almendros was really shifting himself out of the craftsman-for-hire category and repositioning the cinematographer as an artist in collaboration with the director. If you want extreme artificial lighting effects and filters and so on, get a cinematographer who doesn't mind working that way -- get Mario Bava! Almendros had one particular approach, and if you hired him you knew sort of what you were going to get.

Looking at BURNT OFFERINGS, I'm glad diffusion went out of style. But I wonder if it could be used in an interesting way now. No technique is actually bad in and of itself, I feel. What's bad is default filmmaking that picks the fashionable approach without regard to the effect desired.

Director Dan Curtis tracks into close-up. Fiona says: "Karen Black's face is unhappy."

Earl Macklin (Robert Duvall) is barely out of prison when his girl, Bett (Karen Black), tells him his brother's been killed. Worse, she's partially responsible. Worse yet, he's next. When his would-be killer comes through the door, Macklin jumps him, ties him up and puts the proverbial screws to him. Turns out he and his brother robbed the wrong bank, and the organization whose money went missing wants payback. So begins Earl's epic excursion against the Outfit, a crime syndicate that controls half of the country. 

Before the real dirty work begins, Earl hooks up with his old partner-in-crime, Cody (Joe Don Baker); then, with Bett along for the ride (he's forgiven her), they start to rob the Outfit one money-laundering operation at a time, sending word that, come a $250,000 payoff, they'll stop. At first, they're a minor annoyance, something for the hired guns to handle; but when they get within spitting distance of the boss, Mailer (Robert Ryan), it's war. After agreeing to the payoff, Mailer double-crosses Earl and Cody, setting up an ambush at what was supposed to be the drop point. Big mistake: the payoff would have gotten Mailer off cheap; instead, Earl and Cody escape and redouble their efforts, risking everything in their attempt to tumble the Outfit.

This is a really good gangster movie, with a wonderful only-in-the-Seventies cast. In addition to the stars, it's got some great character actors, including Elisha Cook and Marie Windsor (both from Kubrick's The Killing). It's taken from a novel by Donald Westlake (aka Richard Stark), who also provided source material for Point Blank, The Grifters and The Stepfather (as well as Godard's Made In U.S.A., which I haven't seen). Its aesthetic minimalism (due to funding issues, apparently) only adds to the feeling of authenticity - ratty motel rooms, dive bars, chop shops... you can almost smell the cigarettes and cheap cologne. The underdog, guerilla quality of Earl and Cody, two relatively small-time hoods engaged in a battle of principle against an extremely well-funded, well-armed organization, makes them immensely appealing, and gives The Outfit a buddy film aspect you might not expect. Unfortunately, The Outfit is only available on VHS, an issue that MGM should really rectify in the near future.

It was sad to me to hear that this maternity home closed because I had some good memories there. Here's one of the press releases I had sent out on behalf of one of their fund-raisers back in the good ole days...

CONTACT: Jane Bright, Executive Director

ROSE VISTA MATERNITY HOME

310 915-1179

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ROSE VISTA, ONLY LOS ANGELES MATERNITY HOME FOR WOMEN CONSIDERING ADOPTION, ANNOUNCES AUTUMN FUND RAISER

ACTRESS KAREN BLACK SCHEDULED TO SPEAK

LOS ANGELES, CA, October 18, 2001 – Rose Vista Maternity Home to host Autumn Fund-raiser on Friday, October 26, 2001 from 6:00pm to 11:00pm at the Embassy Suites Hotel in El Segundo, CA. Actress Karen Black among those scheduled to speak. Evening includes reception, silent & live auction, dinner and entertainment. Auction items include Shaquille O’Neal’s autographed jersey, Harley Davidson jacket and other items, a year’s membership to Westchester YMCA, Pioneer DVD player, hotel and restaurant gift certificates, and many more gift ideas.

Invited guests include Senator Debra Bowen, Congresswoman Jane Harmon, and Councilwoman Ruth Galanter. All hospital prenatal and maternity staff, health clinic staff, adoption agency staff, adoption attorneys, psychotherapists, and those interested in the services of Rose Vista and adoption are invited.

Rose Vista provides emergency housing for women in crisis pregnancies, (18 years of age and older unless emancipated), who are considering adoption. Women who have children (up to six years of age) are also welcome. Rose Vista’s caring staff are Bi-lingual and free individual counseling is available. Rent is on a sliding scale and residents have their own private room or suite with a sink, closet and furniture with shared bathrooms.

Rose Vista is a non-profit organization solely supported by private donations and serves women in crisis pregnancies regardless of race, religion, and financial or marital status. For more information, visit www.rosevista.org , info@rosevista.org or call (310) 915-1179.

END