Five Easy Pieces (Criterion Collection) (DVD)

Following Jack Nicholson's breakout supporting turn in Easy Rider, director Bob Rafelson (The King of Marvin Gardens) devised a powerful leading role for the new star in the searing character study Five Easy Pieces. Nicholson plays the now iconic cad Bobby Dupea, a shiftless thirty something oil rigger and former piano prodigy immune to any sense of responsibility, who returns to his upper-middle-class childhood home, blue-collar girlfriend (Nashville's Karen Black, in an Oscar-nominated role) in tow, to see his estranged ailing father. Moving in it's simplicity and gritty in it's textures, Five Easy Pieces is a lasting example of early 1970s American alienation. DVD SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES: - Restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography - Audio commentary featuring director Bob Rafelson and interior designer Toby Rafelson - Soul Searching in "Five Easy Pieces," a 2009 video piece with Rafelson - BBStory, a 2009 documentary about the legendary film company BBS Productions, with Rafelson; actors Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, and Ellen Burstyn; directors Peter Bogdanovich and Henry Jaglom; and others - Documentary from 2009 about BBS featuring critic David Thomson and historian Douglas Brinkley - Audio excerpts from a 1976 AFI interview with Rafelson - Theatrical trailer and teasers - PLUS: An essay by critic Kent Jones.

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Lois Smith, Susan Anspach, Billy Greenbush, Fannie Flagg, Ralph Waite, Helena Kallianiotes, Toni Basil, Sally Ann Struthers, Marlena MacGuire, John Ryan, Irene Dailey, Lorna Thayer, Richard Stahl, William Challee