He begrudgingly brings Rayette, though he ultimately falls for his brother’s fiancée (Susan Anspach), rather than reconnecting with his estranged father. Upon discovering Rayette is pregnant, Bobby makes off to Los Angeles, where his sister informs him of their father’s two severe strokes and urges him to visit their family home in Washington state.
Perennially on the run from himself and so visibly fatigued by his attempts at a blue-collar life, Bobby’s cushy upbringing becomes increasingly apparent: the Dupeas are a wealthy family of classical musicians, and Bobby himself is a former piano prodigy. He regularly cheats on his girlfriend Rayette (Karen Black), a coltish waitress with country-star ambitions and a fondness for Tammy Wynette records (which Bobby threatens to “melt down into hairspray” in the name of musical integrity). Five Easy Pieces also marked the beginning of Rafelson’s collaboration with Nicholson, which would include The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), and Blood and Wine (1996).īobby roams around Kern County pestling a self-inflicted wound in bowling alleys and motel rooms with his friend Elton (Billy Green Bush).
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This was Rafelson’s sophomore feature after co-creating The Monkees and directing Head (1968), a continuation of his musical bent. The musical pentad of the late Bob Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces (1970) is less an accompaniment than an emotional beacon, a throughline for Californian oil rigger Bobby Dupea (Jack Nicholson) to run toward or away from at will.
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