I am beginning to fear that the youngest generations are going to grow up thinking that Jack Nicholson’s best work happened in the Bucket List. Oh, the horror I feel when I imagine overhearing a discussion in a bar five years from now, and several youngsters are debating the relative merits of As Good As It Gets over Anger Management. Kill me. Better yet, kill them—I have too much to live for.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed About Schmidt, and I thought Witches of Eastwick had much to offer. Yes, the cherry barfing scene and the church monologue were quite memorable. And even if younger viewers know about One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, how many know of China Town’s cool noire and it’s freaky turns into the bizarre? Or The Postman Always Rings Twice and its steamy, violent sex all over the diner kitchen table (more long, warm, loaves of bread, anyone? You still workin on that, hon?)? I mean, Jesus Christ, they just don’t make ‘em like that anymore, right? Easy Rider isn’t completely my thing, but it’s a pretty goddamned important flick, and Jack’s performance in it is way understated and completely different from his shtick turn in Batman, his big, dumpy ass dancing to Prince—like oh yeah, this guy listens to Prince (don’t get me wrong, I thought that, also, was pretty decent).

Listen to this audio clip I have included from Carnal Knowledge. You may be wondering why, in these days of visual wizardry, I am only including an audio clip, but trust me on this one—the way to experience the following bit of Jack is only through the ear. And, much like the sad demise of Pachino, you will never see (or hear) him crystallize his fury this purely ever again. It will most likely become a favorite thing of yours, too. Just remember where you heard it, you bums.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 3:27 pm and is filed under General Nonsense, Movies and Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.