I was inspired to feature Jack Nicholson in this series after I took part in Gill’s blogathon to celebrate his 80th birthday . And I think the guy is an acting great with many wonderful performances under his belt. You can’t really go wrong with Nicholson, his energy and presence are greatly seen in almost everything he does. He is most electric when playing unbalanced and rebellious characters, though he’s done a lot of work that subtly tones down this trait to good effect. Entertaining is the perfect word to describe Jack Nicholson on the screen. So which of Nicholson’s performances really stands out for you? For me, it’s difficult to choose just one.
What Is Your Favourite Jack Nicholson Performance?
03 Wednesday May 2017
Posted in Blogging Questions, Movie opinions and thoughts
vinnieh 
Omg is this a tough one! I love him in any/everything! One Few over the cuckoos nest made me a fan so hard to not say that one but wow I could say ALL! The Shinning though still scares me!!
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It’s a tough question as he’s great in nearly everything. Man he really frightens in The Shining.
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The Shining
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It’s one of my top picks too. Those manic eyes of his are really chilling.
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I wonder how much was acting.
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He does seem like a wild guy in general.
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I like him in ‘As Good As It Gets’, but for atmosphere, I would go with ‘The Passenger’.
Cheers, Pete.
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The Passenger has me intrigued. Looking through his filmography is staggering, he’s been in so much!
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He has been in some excellent films, but I believe he has a tendency to over-acting that stops me considering him to be one of the ‘greats’.
Best wishes, Pete.
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He can go manic in things, but I think it suits the material. Yet his quieter performances also impress me and show his range.
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And he was good in ‘Chinatown’. Almost the perfect part for his style.
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I remember him being very well suited to that role.
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For humor I would say it is between the Withces of Eastwick and Steal Magnolias. He is good however in any role he performed and performs in.
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He is a whole lot of entertainment, it must be said.
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Yes and he can be versatile in his roles that are handed to him
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He’s a legend in my eyes.
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For me it’s Batman(89) The Witches of Eastwick, The Shining, As Good as it Gets, and The Departed as my favorites
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I thought he was the perfect casting choice for The Devil in Witches. What a great career he’s had.
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First saw the Nicholson in Easy Rider and have since then been impressed with most of his movies but to pick one out, not easy but I am going to go with Five Easy Pieces
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I must check out Five Easy Pieces, as it’s been recommended by a few people now. He’s a real legend.
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Chinatown, The Witches of Eastwick, A Few Good Men, The Shining. Could go on and on. I just love him, his snarkiness, facial expressions, dry wit. He’s awesome and has been for a loonnngggg time. No way I could pick just one.
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He’s the king of snarky and sardonic. And he’s doesn’t mind playing a lecherous kind of guy. Plus that shark smile is hilarious.
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I think he’d be fantastic to hang out with. 😃
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Damn right, can imagine him to be quite the party animal.
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No doubt! If I were single, I’d volunteer to be his wingman in a nanosecond! 😃😃
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I’d take that job permanently.
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Ha! No doubt! You’d be busy. 😃😃
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Of that I’m certain.
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One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
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Definitely a fine example of his talents.
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That. And The Shining.
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The Shining is one of his defining roles.
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‘The Shining’ is superb too, and ‘Few Good Men’, AND ‘As Good as it gets’; I can go on!!! But my absolute favourite happens to be ‘One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’. It is among my 70’s TOP 10!! 🙂
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He’s a true legend. I would struggle to pick one favourite.
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Five Easy Pieces
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I really must see that movie.
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It’s fantastic. Subtle brilliance. Misunderstood genius. My favorite Jack Nicholson movie… hands down.
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Ooh, I’m thoroughly interested now.
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The Shining! Definitely The Shining!
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I knew it would get a lot of love. It presents Nicholson’s excellence at being unrestrained and imposing.
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Absolutely!
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As you know I’m a 100% Nicholson fan and personally think both his Oscar Winning Actor roles totally deserved- Nicholson has his charisma and presence in everything he does x The man is a legend x
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Charisma is king with Nicholson. Thank you for inspiring this post.
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No problem but you can blame the man himself for turning 80, being one of my fave actors and doing lots of blxxdy brilliant films x
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Haha, he’s a real legend.
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BTW Did you know Sean Munger doing a Christopher Plummer blogathon.. The Lake House springs to mind x (not for me though!)
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Thanks for the heads up, but I’m a tad busy at the minute. Will definitely be more involved in blogathons in the future though.
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Good to hear x
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Definitely The Shining. Batman is a close second though.
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Both fine roles for a fine actor. Can never get tired of watching him.
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I’ll go with The Pledge. Such an underseen movie
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I can’t say I’ve seen it, but appreciate the recommendation Sati.
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The Shining is my favorite. It’s hard to choose though, he is a legend.
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He’s a frightening thing in The Shining. Unhinged at its finest.
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Yes indeed!
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He is so good at playing frightening and unpredictable.
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Yes and crazy obviously!
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It’s between Jack Torrance and The Joker for me. But I absolutely love his performance in About Schmidt as well! 🙂
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I couldn’t possibly choose just one role, there are too many. Will be adding About Schmidt to my movies to watch.
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Top 3 for me: One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shining, and The Departed.
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You have good taste. I would rank those high too.
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It was a tough choice! He’s a good actor.
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It’s impossible to think of just one performance.
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About Schmidt is another favorite of mine.
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It’s been mentioned a lot.
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I’m so bad st remembering the names if movies anyway.. even if I could .. I can’t. He’s awesome in everything 😉
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Your last sentence perfectly says it all.
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It’s so hard to pick just one, but I have to go with The Shining. Watching him go from loving husband and father battling alcoholism to raving, murderous maniac, scared the pants off of me!
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He’s ferocious in that. There is something already strange about the character even in the beginning, but watching it manifest into mania is frightening.
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You sure do know how to pose a difficult question lol😂 Wow…I had to think about this one for a bit, but I can’t make up my mind so I am just going to pick two performances. First off his role in the Shining. That role is classic in every way, and just simply an amazing performance. The second role for me was in A few good men. That scene with Tom Cruise in the court room is simply goosebump inducing every time that I have seen it. So that’s my two choices. Sorry, like I said could simply not choose between them 😊
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That’s the fun of it, there’s so many to mention! Damn he owned that scene in a Few Good Men.
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I can’t pick just one. Here’s five all time favourites. The Crossing Guard, The Shining, As Good As It Gets, Wolf, Chinatown. Incredible actor.
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He’s really incredible. The Crossing Guard is new to me.
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Hope you get to see it sometime. Jack stars with his real life ex, Anjelica Huston. It’s a very moving film about a couple dealing with the death of their daughter. Strong performances all round.
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I’m planning to seek it out very soon.
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I’ve of a mind to make a moogie!
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Very wise choice.
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1. The Shining
2. Chinatown
3. Batman
4. About Schmidt
5. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
6. The Pledge
7. The Passenger
8. The King of Marvin Gardens
9. The Last Detail
10. Red
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I’ve seen most of those, but will note down King of Madison Gardens and The Pledge.
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Sup dude, how you been? This is tough because I haven’t seen too many Jack Nicholson films, I’ve only seen a handful of his notable performances but I’ve missed a good chunk still. Anyway, the first film I saw him in was probably Anger Management and he was so fun in that role, had great chemistry with Adam Sandler and that’s where I learnt of Nicholson’s personality and style of humour. Guess I’d have to go with One Flew Over as that was a film I saw in college that grabbed me from my first watch and had a wonderful balance of humour and drama from him.
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How you doing my friend? Hope you’re OK. He’s been in too many films to count, but never lets me down.
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Witches of Eastwick!!
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He was made to play the part of the devil.
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Oh man, I can’t even. There are too many.
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I know, it’s an agonising decision to make. I could never do a top 10.
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Really tough call on this one. I think I’ll go with The Shining. Today. Tomorrow, it might be One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Chinatown, the day after that. You get the picture.
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You could have a favourite for every day. He’s that prolific.
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Jack is very special, I want to see Five Easy Pieces because I suspect I will love him in that. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is kind of the Jack Nicholson performance but I always think of that pudgy middle aged man completely owning his sexuality in The Witches of Eastwick. That’s Jack to me through and through but that leaves Chinatown, A Few Good Men…..the list goes on.
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Haha, there is a lot of choice when Nicholson is involved. Loved what you said about him in Witches of Eastwick.
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This is by far the hardest choice on a post to decide on. Like many have already stated, he is magnificent in everything he plays as, I love the charm he brings to rom com movies but then I also love his devilish and errie side that brings out the best villain in him. Notably The Witches of East wick and The Shining.
” with my sunglasses on, I’m Jack Nicholson. Without them, I’m fat and 60″. Heh oh Jack.
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If there was ever an actor who embodied the word devilish, it’s Jack Nicholson! That rakish smile and charm say it all.
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I very much agree. I love how he is still as inspiring as the man he was in his youth. He embodies the energy within his soul rather than seeing what’s on the outside and I admire that.
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Yeah, he is a young soul in an experienced body. Still has that mischievous side too.
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This is difficult. Jack is such a master of that deranged, but I am sane look, I think I have loved him in everything.
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It’s difficult to fault him, he’s that impressive.
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I can’t think of anything I have seen him in that he turned in a lousy performance.
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I agree, he’s one of the best.
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There’s scenes that just stick in your mind. That bit in the Shining where he axes the door in. Anger Management where he does the ‘ Shut your pie hole,’ bit, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest was amazing. Then he can turn in something like the Pledge. AS for that bit where he puts the dog down the rubbish chute. he’s one of the greats.
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I can’t fault the man and his abilities. And thank you for following my other blog.
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My pleasure. I look forward to reading it too x
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LAST DETAIL or FIVE EASY PIECES probably, though I haven’t seen either of them in such a long time … KING OF MARVIN GARDEN is amazingly subdued. Deep down, I wish he had never made THE SHINING because it really seemed to make nearly everything else after that seem incredibly mannered. His two films with Sean Penn are pretty impressive though, especially THE CROSSING GUARD, though too few people have seen it.
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Man, there is so much of his stuff I need to watch. Talk about a prolific guy.
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Great post 🙂 Their are a lot of great Jack NIcholson performances in my opinion. Speaking of him, did you ever see Five Easy Pieces? That is the one that is famous for that diner scene. It is also one of his many great performances. Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂
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I haven’t seen Five Easy Pieces yet, though it keeps getting recommended to me.
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He’s a master! He was outstanding in the Shining, About Schmidt, Chinatown and Pledge(a very very underrated film).
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The Pledge is getting a lot of love, must watch it soon.
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Hello there mate. Are you in facebook? There are some pretty interesting film groups with varied discussions and commentary everyday.
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No I’m not on Facebook, but thank you for asking.
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“one flew..”, I guess 🙂
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I can’t argue there, he knocks it out of the park in that one.
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I haven’t seen a lot of his movies (I really need to) but I can say that A Few Good Men is a really iconic performance!!
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Oh that’s one fine performance, especially in that courtroom confrontation!
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Yes it really was!!
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Talk about an iconic exchange.
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Yes!! So true!!
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Thanks for mentioning me. Will be over to your blog to read your post as soon as I get chance.
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The shining and anger management
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Nice choices, my friend.
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I thought so too lol with a Nicolson smile 😁
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Gotta love the Nicholson grin.
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#Facts
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About Schmidt, Batman, As good as it gets, A few good men( he was a standout in the film)
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He stole the show in A Few Good Men.
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