Robert De Niro appreciation thread

Wrong.
Nicholson had successful movies throughout the 70s and 80s:
• Five Easy Pieces
• The Last Detail
• Chinatown
• One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
• The Shining
• Terms Of Endearment
• Prizzi's Honor
• The Witches Of Eastwick

All critical and comnercial sucesses.

 

Yeah, Nicholson was soooooooooo obscure in the 70s, which explains why he was first choice to play Michael Corleone.

Jack turned it down, because he felt an Italian should play the role. It then went to Pacino, who WAS obscure at that time, and made Pacino a star.

I'm positive that had Jack known how huge GF would become, he'd have taken the role, but there was no way to know.

Mafia movies weren't really a huge "thing" until GF changed everything.

 

Nicholson would've been awful for that part

 

This is the most birdbrained take imaginable

Nicholson was an A-list movie star from the time of Easy Rider, for fuck's sake ... he won Best Actor in 1975, 14 years before Batman

Clearly one of the really major movie stars of the 1970s... it's not even debatable

All this from some retard that acts like Bruce Lee was the second coming of Elvis

 

Panchy made an obvious mistake of linking 60s/70s popularity and/or greatness with multi-million dollar box-office smash success....when in fact, it was the middle of the '70s which really only marked the start of those types of movies.

By 1975, the most popular actors were Steve McQueen, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman.

There's a famous story told by Robert Evans about them being at a party in Beverley Hills at this time and the one guy who got all the attention off most women was Nicholson.

 

That was truly an idiotic statement by the kiddie fondler.

And it's actually the complete opposite of how Panchy framed it.

Batman became a huge hit because it STARRED Nicholson. It wasnt the movie that made Jack a star.

 

I didn't said he had zero box office hits in that era ( and even those that made money didn't made that much like 'The Last Detail'). What I said was that the majority of his 70s films were flops:

• Rebel Rousers (1970)
• A Safe Place (1971)
• The King of Marvin Gardens (1973)
• The Passenger (1975) this film couldn't even gross $1 million worldwide!
• The Fortune (1975)
• The Missouri Breaks (1976) co-starring Marlon Brando! A stellar cast! a big budget production! one the biggest flops of that year!
• The Last Tycoon (1976) Robert DeNiro! another all star cast! a massive flop!
• Goin' South (1978) the title is self-explanatory
• 
  
• Since Must-turd included 80's films in half of his list, can I toss some too? (by the way 'The Shinning' barely recouped its budget. In fact the studio write it off as a loss since they spend a ridiculous amount in marketing)
• The Postman Always Ring Twice (1981) while the film did well overseas, domestically was a dud
• Reds (1981) Yes, the Academy loved it and why not: it is a love letter to their beloved Communists who were losing the Cold War. Yet it didn't recouped its budget.
• The Border (1982) budget: $22 million, box office: $6.1 million
• Heartburn (1986)
• Ironweed (1987) budget: $27 million, gross: $7 million
• The Two Jakes: the sequel to Chinatown! a big flop!

 

Fair enough but you're still forgetting Nicholson was more prolífic in that decade than De Niro.
Also, this doesn't explain why you felt Batman somehow 'made' Nicholson when at the time, he was already two Oscar wins and seven Oscar nominations up: now, Batman looks an above-average movie, that Nicholson over-acts in and picked up a big cheque.

When people (who know about movies and acting) talk about his best work, Batman never gets mentioned other than by comic-book fanboys who indulge in 'Who Played The Joker Best'? arguments.

 

Nobody is questioning Nicholson's pedigree. He indeed was an A-list star, but he was a box office hit or miss way too frequently that studios hesitated to put him leading big budget productions and was not considered 'bankable'. Were are talking about 'entertaining actors' which usually goes hand-with-hand with mass appeal. and yes, Bruce Lee became more popular than Nicholson by the classic mile. Whose image sells more posters and t-shirts? Jack or Bruce?
I rest my case.

Yeah, sure, everybody ran to buy tickets because it starred Nicholson...give me a fucking break! Nicholson's presence was a bonus: the character of Batman was the main selling point. You morons confuse talent & critics darlings with popularity.

 

AGAIN: you are confusing pedigree, talent and accolades with mass appeal. Jack was already a Hollywood icon when he took the role of the Joker. I have never questioned that. BUT this was his first role which was immensely popular with audiences, people went nuts with the Joker unlike with Jack Torrance or what was the name of his character in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest?...his two prior most popular roles. In the entertainment-o-meter he hit the bell at 100% with the Joker, plus put the biggest cheque in his pocket and it even landed him the chance to direct his first film, the sequel to Chinatown "The Two Jakes" which flopped bad.

 

1 - No, Im not.
I know this already.
You've tried to do a sneaky u-turn here.

2 - Stop playing dumb. You know who the character was in 'One Flew Over...'
People didn't 'go nuts' for his Joker - they knew already Nicholson could play that crazy role because mainly of "Herrrre's Johnnyyyyy!"

 

1. No, you didn't. You and the others kept shoving the 'A-lister', 'Oscar winner' bla bla bla when the topic at hand wasn't TALENT nor how much kudos had in his resume. No u-turn on my part: from the start of the thread I brought the example of Marlon Brando, probably the GOAT actor of his time and yet he wasn't as entertaining as John Wayne.
2. No, no playing dumb. Not even you know the name of Jack's character in OFOTCN. Yes, people did went nuts over his Joker. Besides the film's bat logo the next most sought after image was the Joker: lots of school notebooks, t-shirts, posters etc sold like hot cakes and 'where does he get those wonderful toys' became the quote of season.



'Heeeere's Johnny!" was well known by those that watched The Shining and critics. Keep in mind that film was a moderate hit and in some places played to nearly empty theaters (my personal experience which I posted in The Shining thread). So many people knew who Jack Nicholson was, not many had seen that movie at that time.

 

ool No-one knows or ever heard of Randall P. McMurphy (because hey! his name is mentioned throughout the entire movie by Nurse Ratched)


...but they always remember Jack Torrance?!
Get fucked.
I could tell you every fuckin character in that movie.

You're a total hypocrite, panchy.

 

Jack Torrance to this day remains Jack's most famous role. Not the Joker.

Torrance certainly isnt his BEST role, but it's his most famous.

If you ask 100 people what's the first movie that pops into their head when they think of Jack Nicholson, like 80-90% are gonna say The Shining.

 

This cunt always makes some stupid, strident remark

Gets fucking annihilated

Then attempts to completely change the argument

Needs to die

 

Don't question his movie authority, McDogg!

Jack was a C-Class actor in the 70s. Like Dean Cain.

Only hardcore movie buffs knew he existed until Batman made him famous...

 

Sat on the edge of the bed and did it.

ANSWER HIM!

 

Google search is wonderful, isn't it?

 

And you know why? by virtue of (in order) Betamax, vhs, tv repeated broadcast, laserdiscs, DVD & blu-rays since the beginning of home video. But back in 1989 most people HAVE NOT SEEN THE SHINING! Many discovered that film thanks to BATMAN's The Joker!

Class dismissed.

 

Not at all
I first watched it in 1979 and remembered everything about it (and didn't need to go to the theater 20x, either).

Some of us (like me) have got it, some of us (like you), havent.


As you were.

 

1 - Exactly proving Xplosive's point

2 - Incorrect. Factually incorrect, as well, which is even worse.

 

GTFOHHHHHHHH!!!! What kinda angel dust are you on Panchy?

I can hear Kubrick laughing in his grave from here at the notion that he has that fuckin hack Tim Burton to thank for the popularity of one his most famous films.

 

Tim Burton probably watched One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and The Shining on Warner Home Video, Betamax or VHS, like millions of others in the late 70s/early 80s onwards...

 

So what have we learned in the last few days?

1. Nicholson wasn't a famous actor until Batman.

2. The Shining is only a famous movie because of Batman.

And we're taking this all seriously from a man who actually believes that MCU movies are high quality...

 

One of the main reasons I know so much about One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is a) it's a great adult movie b) great screenplay c) it's Nicholson playing 'crazy' for the first time.

In contrast, I couldnt tell you much about Batman other than a) it starred Micheal Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger and b) Prince soundtrack.
Other than that, I dont recall any famous quotes or great Hollywood scenes.


This is the cover pulled off panchyprssss: he can tell you all about box-office numbers but doesn't really see what makes a great movie with memorable acting or set-pieces.
(Remember, this is a guy who went to see a shitty martial-arts movie once every two months or so for three years solid in the mid-70s....at fuckin theaters.)

Basically, Batman is his niche: a blockbuster comic-book movie and these resonate with him because....well, we all know why...

 

Trying to explain things to you guys is like trying to explain the Second Law of Thermodynamics to a Special Needs kid. I have repeated ad nauseum that Nicholson, DeNiro, Brando are great iconic actors with lots of talent, Oscars, and yes famous, but as entertainers (the thread's claim by Gatti) they were not the greatest at, sans a role here and there. Nicholson's Jack Torrance became bigger with audiences AFTER the Joker, not the other way.

 

Good post, panch