Jack Nicholson: One of the greatest

Jack Nicholson, at right, with Shirley MacLaine in the 1983 movie "Terms of Endearment".

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2023/11/14/terms-of-endearment-jack-nicholson-classic-role/71526632007/

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It was a terrifying sight. He had this maniacal look in his eye and he was wielding an axe.

Then I saw him following Shirley MacLaine and muttering “I’d rather stick needles in my eyes.”

Those are my earliest memories of Jack Nicholson when I was growing up in the 1980s.

It was his birthday yesterday, and it gave me pause to reflect on “The Shining”, “Terms of Endearment” and so much more.

The early days
Jack Nicholson got his start in 1958 in “The Cry Baby Killer”. He would do some TV but continue on acting in movies for seven decades.

His first notable movie was “Easy Rider” in 1969 where he and Peter Fonda travelled America on motor bikes carrying the profits from a cocaine deal. For his efforts, Nicholson was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.

He would follow that with “On a Clear Day you Can See Forever” and “The Rebel Rousers”.

Then, in 1970, “Five Easy Pieces” came out where Nicholson played a son who goes home to see his dying father. The role garnered him his second Oscar nomination, this one for Best Actor, and a second Golden Globe nomination, this one for Best Actor in a Motion Picture.

“Carnal Knowledge” followed, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, then “A Safe Place”; “Drive, He Said”; “The King of Marvin Gardens”; and “The Last Detail”, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor and a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture.

In 1974, Nicholson appeared as private detective Jake Gittes in “Chinatown”, which became an instant classic. He again was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor and won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture.




The next year he appeared in “The Passenger” and “The Fortune”, as well as “Tommy”, a rock opera by the band The Who.

He was also in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1975, a movie set in a mental institution as they were called at the time. What I remember about this movie is my parents and brother going to see it in the theatre on Saturday night while I stayed home with my sister, because I was way too young for that movie. Nicholson won his first Oscar, for Best Actor, as well as the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture.

In 1976, he appeared in the western “The Missouri Breaks”, then “The Last Tycoon”. Nicolson closed out the decade by appearing in “Goin’ South” in 1978.

The next decade would bring Jack Nicholson critical acclaim and success in a string of successful movies.

Dawn of the decade
Jack Nicholson got rolling right in 1980, playing the possessed Jack Torrance in “The Shining”, yielding a memorable performance. When he wasn’t wielding an ax he was voicing such memorable lines as “Here’s Johnny!” and “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” That ax-wielding scene appeared prominently in advertising and, although I didn’t see the movie back then, it remains clear in my memory.

He then appeared in “The Postman Always Rings Twice” in 1981. He played a drifter beginning an affair with the wife of a diner owner, who then plot to murder her husband.

Later that same year, Nicholson played playwright Eugene O’Neill in “Reds”. It’s the story of John Reed, played by Warren Beatty, who was a journalist and writer who detailed the October Revolution in Russia. Nicholson was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, as well as a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.

He followed that up with “Terms of Endearment” in 1983. Nicholson played retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove, opposite Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger. He won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the role and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.

At this point in time, I had not seen a single Jack Nicholson movie, but that soon changed.

The summer of ‘86
In the summer of 1986, I was taking a two-week driver’s ed course in Lethbridge and staying with my sister. We rented a movie every couple nights from a 7-11 a few blocks up 13th Street on Third Avenue. We started with “A Soldier’s Story” and “The Jagged Edge”.

Then we watched “Prizzi’s Honor”, which had come out in 1985. It was awesome. Nicholson played a dimwitted but loyal hit man to the Prizzi crime family. He falls in love with fellow assassin Kathleen Turner, only to discover they have been hired to kill each other. Again Nicholson was nominated for an Oscar for Best Oscar and won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

In July of 1986, Nicholson appeared opposite Meryl Streep in “Heartburn”. It's the semi-autobiographical story of the marriage of writer Nora Ephron to journalist Carl Bernstein, who was one of the reporters who broke the Watergate story.

Busy year
In 1987, Nicolson appeared in three movies.

In “The Witches of Eastwick”, three divorcees played by Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer, unintentionally form a witches’ coven in the small New England town of Eastwick. They get involved with a mysterious man, played by Nicholson, who may be the devil.

He was then in “Broadcast News”, a movie starring Holly Hunter as a TV news producer who gets involved in a love triangle with journalists Albert Brooks and William Hurt. This was one of the first movies I saw in Edmonton when I started at the University of Alberta in September of 1987. I knew it would be good, and it was.

Finally, Nicholson was in “Ironweed", opposite Meryl Streep. They play a homeless couple in the years following the Great Depression. He is an alcoholic while she is terminally ill. The role earned Nicolson another Oscar nomination for Best Actor, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama.

Never rub another man’s rhubarb
Jack Nicholson closed out the ‘80s with an iconic turn as The Joker in “Batman” in 1989. He was absolutely incredible as the psychotic criminal mastermind. His performance was chilling, satirical, and he just had the best lines:

“Never rub another man’s rhubarb.”

“You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?”

“This town needs an enema.”

I saw that movie in the summer of 1989 with my friends Bruce Freadrich and Larry Irla. We quoted a different line from that movie a week at a time all summer. I went home to the farm at the end of that summer for a week. There, I went to see “Batman” in Lethbridge with my high-school friend Shawn Kingston, and found myself mouthing those lines as we watched the movie.

For his efforts, Nicholson was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

The years after
Jack Nicolson continued on acting for another three decades, making his last film to date in 2010 in “How do you Know.”

It was in this period, I saw a lot of his movies and truly became a fan.

After the “Two Jakes”, a sequel to “Chinatown”, and “Man Trouble”, a romantic comedy opposite Ellen Barkin, Nicholson hit it big again.

In 1992, he played strict, seemingly by-the-book military man Colonel Nathan R. Jessup in “A Few Good Men”. That is where he utters another famous line. In court, Jessup is being cross-examined by Daniel Kaffee, played by Tom Cruise, who demands the truth.

“You can’t handle the truth,” Jessup screams.

The other moment that sticks is during another exchange when Jessup calls Kaffee a “Snotty little bastard.” I always joked that a lot of people would have liked to say that to Cruise in real life.

Nicholson received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Jessup, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.

Nicholson then appeared in “Hoffa”, where he was nomimnated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama; “Wolf”; “The Crossing Guard”; “Blood and Wine”; “Mars Attacks!”; and “The Evening Star”, reprising his role as Garrett Breedlove in this sequel to “Terms of Endearment ”.

Then, in 1997, he had another memorable role in “As Good As it Gets”, starring opposite Helen Hunt. Nicholson plays an osessive-compulsive writer who falls for a single mother with a sick son. The line I will always remember is Nicholson telling Hunt, “You make me want to be a better man.” For his efforts, he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor.

His next movies were “The Pledge”; “About Schmidt”, where he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor; “Anger Management”; “Something’s Gotta Give”, where he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy; and “The Departed”, where he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture..

Nicholson appeared in “The Bucket List” in 2007, a movie I went to see on my birthday. It was excellent. He starred with Morgan Freeman as two men who are terminally ill, but band together to accomplish things they have always wanted to do before they die. That, in fact, is where I first heard the term “bucket list”.

Parting thoughts
Sometimes brilliance comes in simplicity.

Wikipedia describes Jack Nicholson as one of the greatest actors of the 20th Century.

With three Oscars and 12 nominations, and six Golden Globes and 17 nominations, need I say more.