Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Five Easy Pieces (1970) is a family drama and road film, two genres 70s cinema did best. It follows Jack Nicholson's Robert Dupea, a well-to-do pianist who rejects his upper-class upbringing for a job on a California oil field, where he savors his blue collar lifestyle with his waitress girlfriend Rayette (Karen Black). But upon hearing his father is terminally ill, he and Rayette leave sunny California for rainy Washington, enjoying the pitstops and somewhat dreading the uncomfortable reunion to come. Along the way, they exchange a lot of laughs and drinks, and in one scene, strip to their underwear and sing with a room full of half-naked friends. Jack is in great form as he sings and swigs in his polkadot boxers. We cut to Karen Black recounting a funny and rather touching tale from childhood, to which anyone with a butt-chin will relate. Then we return to a medium shot of Nicholson waist-up, looking fit and just a little furry, and rocking some super 70s sideburns.