Taglines: He rode the fast lane on khe road to nowhere.
Five Easy Pieces movie storyline. Bobby Dupea has been drifting in his life over the last several years. He currently works on an oil rig in southern California, and partakes in stereotypical working class activities during his free time. He is a brooding, irresponsible cad. When he isn’t cheating on her, he treats his waitress girlfriend, Rayette Dipesto, poorly. Not the brightest light in the world, Rayette, who lives by the code of Tammy Wynette songs, continually complains to Bobby about his treatment of her, but still clings to him for dear life.
This life belies the fact that Bobby grew up in a privileged life as “Robert”, who, along with his two siblings, were destined for musical greatness, Robert as a classical pianist. Their parents even gave each of the three some classical musical reference as part of their given names. While his siblings followed that path, Robert rebelled against it, he who has not seen his father in three years. He hears from his classical pianist sister, Partita, that their father has suffered a couple of strokes which has rendered him semi-comatose.
As such, Bobby, with Rayette tagging along much to his chagrin, decides to return to the home he grew up in – a musical compound where his father and two siblings still live – to visit with his father. This reunion, which includes seeing his siblings’ current lives, provides the stepping stone for what Bobby decides to do in the next immediate phase of his life. This reunion, which includes his violinist brother Carl’s mentoring of young beautiful pianist named Catherine Van Oost, makes Bobby contemplate running toward instead of running away from something for the first time in a long time.
Five Easy Pieces is a 1970 American drama film written by Carole Eastman (as Adrien Joyce) and Bob Rafelson, and directed by Rafelson. The film stars Jack Nicholson, with Karen Black, Susan Anspach, Ralph Waite, and Sally Struthers in supporting roles.
The film tells the story of surly oil rig worker Bobby Dupea, whose rootless blue-collar existence belies his privileged youth as a piano prodigy. When Bobby learns that his father is dying, he goes home to see him, taking along his waitress girlfriend. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards, and, in 2000, was selected to be preserved by the Library of Congress in the National Film Registry.
About the Story
Bobby Dupea works in an oil field in Kern County, California with his friend Elton, who has a wife and a baby son. Bobby spends most of his time with his waitress girlfriend Rayette, who has dreams of singing country music; or in the company of Elton, with whom he bowls, gets drunk, and has sex with other women. Bobby has not told Elton that he is a former classical pianist who comes from an upper-class family of musicians.
Rayette gets pregnant and Elton is arrested on an old warrant for having robbed a gas station. Bobby quits his job and goes to Los Angeles where his sister Partita, also a pianist, is making a recording. Partita tells him that their father, from whom Bobby is estranged, has suffered two strokes. She urges Bobby to return to the family home in Washington state.
Rayette threatens to kill herself if Bobby leaves her, so he reluctantly asks her along. Driving north, they pick up two women headed for Alaska, one of whom is obsessed with “filth”. The four of them are thrown out of a restaurant when Bobby gets into an argument with a waitress who refuses to accommodate his meal order, which is not on the menu but is not for anything special.
Embarrassed by Rayette’s lack of polish, Bobby registers her in a motel before proceeding to the family home on an island in Puget Sound. He finds Partita giving their father a haircut, but the old man seems completely oblivious to him. At dinner Bobby meets Catherine Van Oost, a young pianist engaged to his amiable brother Carl, a violinist. Despite personality differences, Catherine and Bobby are immediately attracted to each other and they later have sex in her room.
Rayette runs out of money at the motel and comes to the Dupea estate unannounced. Her presence creates an awkward situation, but when pompous family friend Samia ridicules her, Bobby comes to her defense. Storming from the room in search of Catherine, he discovers his father’s male nurse giving Partita a massage. Now more agitated, he picks a fight with the very strong nurse, who knocks him to the floor.
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Directed by: Bob Rafelson
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Susan Anspach, Helena Kallianiotes, Lola Smith, Fannie Flagg, Sally Struthers, Marlena MacGuire, Lorna Thayer, Billy Green Bush, Ralph Waite
Screenplay by: Adrien Joyce
Cinematography by: László Kovács
Film Editing by: Christopher Holmes, Gerald Shepard
Costume Design by: Bucky Rous
Art Department: Toby Carr Rafelson, Walter Starkey
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: September 12, 1970
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