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Five Easy Pieces
Robert Dupea spends his days doing various odd jobs, drinking and womanizing until an encounter with his sister makes him revisit his past.
1970 · Directed by Bob Rafelson · 98 min · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 19 frames
Tagline
He rode the fast lane on the road to nowhere.
Plot
Bobby Dupea works in an oil field in Kern County, California. He spends most of his time with his girlfriend Rayette DiPesto, a waitress who has dreams of singing country music, or with fellow oil worker Elton, with whom he bowls, gets drunk, and philanders.
When Bobby gets Rayette pregnant and Elton is arrested, Bobby quits his job and goes to Los Angeles, where his sister Partita is making a classical piano recording. She tells Bobby, who was once also a pianist, that their father has suffered two strokes, and urges him to reconcile with the family at their home in Washington.
Rayette threatens to kill herself if Bobby leaves her, so he reluctantly asks her along. Driving north, they pick up Terry and Palm, two stranded women headed for Alaska. The latter launches into a monologue about the evils of consumerism. The four are thrown out of a diner after Bobby argues with an obstinate waitress over his order. Bobby drops off Terry and Palm when they get to Washington.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Carole Eastman
- Cinematography: László Kovács
- Edited by: Christopher Holmes, Gerald Shepard
- Production design: Toby Carr Rafelson
- Produced by: Richard Wechsler, Bob Rafelson
Cast
- Jack Nicholson as Robert Eroica Dupea
- Karen Black as Rayette Dipesto
- Susan Anspach as Catherine Van Oost
- Lois Smith as Partita Dupea
- Ralph Waite as Carl Fidelio Dupea
- Billy Green Bush as Elton
- Irene Dailey as Samia Glavia
- Toni Basil as Terry Grouse
- Lorna Thayer as Waitress
- Richard Stahl as Recording Engineer
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: BBS Productions, Columbia Pictures
- Budget: $1,600,000
- Box office: $18,099,091
- Themes: musician, diner, road trip, hitchhiker, drifter, class differences, washington state, oil field, rebelliousness
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