Five Easy Pieces Five Easy Pieces Five Easy Pieces is a 1970 American drama film written by Carole Eastman (as Adrien Joyce) and Bob Rafelson, and directed by Rafelson. The film stars Jack Nicholson, with Karen Black, Susan Anspach, Ralph Waite, and Sally Struthers in supporting roles. The film tells the story of surly oil rig worker Bobby Dupea, whose rootless blue-collar existence belies his privileged youth as a piano prodigy. When Bobby learns that his father is dying, he goes home to see him, taking along his waitress girlfriend. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards,
Lois Smith making a film until "The Way We Live Now" in 1970. She then earned critical acclaim for her role as Partita Dupea, the sister of Jack Nicholson's character in "Five Easy Pieces" (1970), and Smith won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress. Supporting roles in films in the 1970s and 1980s included "Up the Sandbox", "Next Stop, Greenwich Village", "Resurrection", "Foxes", "Four Friends," "Reuben, Reuben", "Reckless", "Black Widow", "Fatal Attraction", and "Midnight Run". Supporting roles in the 1990s and 2000s included "Green Card", "Fried Green Tomatoes," "How to Make an American Quilt", "Falling Down", "Holy