JACK NICHOLSON: A Biography

by David Downing ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1984

Not really a ""biography"" at all: low-level British film writer Downing (Charles Bronson, etc.) has apparently done little research, and no interviews; he says virtually nothing about actor/director Nicholson's off-screen life. Instead, this is a subjective rundown-cum-essay on the Nicholson career--slight, glib, often pretentious. New Jersey-born and father-abandoned, Nicholson ended up with big youthful ambitions in 1950s Hollywood, working in the MGM mailroom and taking acting classes--where he met cult-filmmaker Roger Corman, pioneer in American ""neorealism."" (""As any T. S. Eliot aficionado would know, there was no mass market for reality, neo or not."") Nicholson did small and big parts in Corman quickies, also writing and directing. In the mid-1960s he made two ""existentialist"" Westems with co-filmmaker Monte Hellman. (""Time is still catching up"" with these ""uncompromising"" commercial flops.) And then, after some biker flicks, ""as memorable as takeaway hamburger,"" Nicholson became a star in Easy Rider, soon embodying the ambivalent anti-heroism of the late-'60s/early.'70s--Five Easy Pieces, the Oscar-winning Cuckoo's Nest (""no actor had ever deserved it more""), Chinatown, etc.--while taking on challenging directors and keeping his persona flexible, unstereotyped. Downing is roughly insightful about the Nicholson image; his comments on the films themselves, however, are erratic and untrustworthy, often reflecting a British/academic viewpoint. Moreover, the writing here constantly descends into juvenile sarcasm and fatuous asides. (""This is obviously not the place for an in-depth analysis of capitalism, socialism, or, for that matter, seventh-day adventism."") No personal material for the movie-fan audience, no real critical substance for more serious buffs: a marginal film book at best, with Nicholson's recent Oscar as its only selling point.

Pub Date: June 1, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stein & Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1984

Categories: NONFICTION