The Best Jack Nicholson Movies of All Time
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- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsJack NicholsonFaye DunawayJohn HustonA private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.Jack is one of the greatest movie actors because he play a down to earth normal character that is subtle and he can go over the top with the menacing voice, eyebrows, and "Jack" performances. In Chinatown, he gives both. This is one of the great film noir classics with Jack's best performance. Faye Dunaway and John Huston are also superb.
- DirectorBob RafelsonStarsJack NicholsonKaren BlackBilly Green BushA dropout from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.Jack tells you how to make a chicken sandwich in this great character study of young rebel. His performance is both subtle and believable. One of my favorites.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJack NicholsonShelley DuvallDanny LloydA family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.Jack and Stanley Kubrick created a horror masterpiece. One of the scariest movies ever and a great over the top Jack performance.
- DirectorJames L. BrooksStarsJack NicholsonHelen HuntGreg KinnearA single mother and waitress, a misanthropic author, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship after the artist is assaulted in a robbery.One of the great romantic comedies of 1990s. Jack won another oscar and is superb as the hypochondriac self-loaver. Greg Kinnear is also wonderful and Helen Hunt won an oscar for her warm believable performance as the waitress who wins Jack's heart. The film is hilarious, filled with classic quotes, and so well written.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJack NicholsonLouise FletcherMichael BerrymanIn the Fall of 1963, a Korean War veteran and criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies up the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse.Jack gave one of his best performances and one an oscar for the rebellious mental patient. The movie features fantastic performances by the supporting cast and is considered one of the great films of 1970s.
- DirectorAlexander PayneStarsJack NicholsonHope DavisDermot MulroneyA recently retired man embarks on a journey to his estranged daughter's wedding, only to discover more about himself and life than he ever expected.To me, this is Jack at his most subdued and believable performance. The movie is well written and a funny and powerful representation of retirement and old age.
- DirectorHal AshbyStarsJack NicholsonRandy QuaidOtis YoungTwo Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.A great Jack performance and a great Randy Quaid performance in which Jack shows Randy a great time before sending him to prison.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsMichael KeatonJack NicholsonKim BasingerThe Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being Jack Napier, a criminal who becomes the clownishly homicidal Joker."Way til they get a load of me." - Blasphemy on IMDB but Jack will forever be the greatest Joker on screen, way better than Heath Ledger. He dominates the movie and is memorizing, scary, insane, and funny as the iconic villain.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsJack NicholsonCherSusan SarandonThree single women in a picturesque village have their wishes granted, at a cost, when a mysterious and flamboyant man arrives in their lives.Jack is a hoot as the devil visiting a small town and spitting out cherries. All the women are superb. John Williams score is terrific and the movie is very good.
- DirectorSean PennStarsJack NicholsonBenicio Del ToroPatricia ClarksonA retiring police detective pledges to catch the killer of a young child.Sean Penn directed Jack in a subdued and tragic performance. A great underrated movie.
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsJack NicholsonCandice BergenArt GarfunkelChronicling the lifelong sexual development of two men who meet and become friends in college.Jack is terrific in a film about the sexual practices of 1970s. Watch also for Ann Margaret in one sexy and tragic character.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsLeonardo DiCaprioMatt DamonJack NicholsonAn undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston.I was sure that Jack would get an academy nomination in this entertaining and violent Scorsese oscar winning movie.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsTom CruiseJack NicholsonDemi MooreMilitary lawyer Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee defends Marines accused of murder. They contend they were acting under orders."You can't handle the truth!" - Seriously Jack is incredible in this great supporting character. The whole cast is excellent.
- DirectorJames L. BrooksStarsShirley MacLaineDebra WingerJack NicholsonFollows hard-to-please Aurora looking for love and her daughter's family problems.Jack won a supporting actor oscar as a horny retired astronaut. It's a great performance.
- DirectorDennis HopperStarsPeter FondaDennis HopperJack NicholsonTwo bikers head from L.A. to New Orleans through the open country and desert lands, and along the way they meet a man who bridges a counter-culture gap of which they had been unaware.Jack stole the movie from everyone as a rebellious lawyer with a football helmet.
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsJack NicholsonMichelle PfeifferJames SpaderPublisher Will Randall becomes a demon wolf and has to fight to keep his job.A very underrated movie with Jack becoming a werewolf and Michelle Pfieffer as the love interest.
- DirectorNancy MeyersStarsJack NicholsonDiane KeatonKeanu ReevesA swinger on the cusp of being a senior citizen with a taste for young women falls in love with an accomplished woman closer to his age.Both Jack and Diane Keaton are superb in this good romantic comedy.
- DirectorBob RafelsonStarsJack NicholsonMichael CaineStephen DorffA man who has failed as a father and husband commits a heist to make money for his fledging business, but things become complicated when his wife interferes.A good film noir with Jack and Michael Caine both good.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsJonathan HazeJackie JosephMel WellesA clumsy young man working at an impoverished flower shop discovers that the strange plant he has been nurturing has an insatiable appetite for blood, forcing him to kill to feed it.Jack forever became nuts in the non-musical version of Roger Corman's classic. He plays the Bill Murray role, hilarious scene.
- DirectorJames L. BrooksStarsWilliam HurtAlbert BrooksHolly HunterTake two rival television reporters: one handsome, one talented, both male. Add one producer, female. Mix well, and watch the sparks fly.Jack steals the movie as the anchorman.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsJack NicholsonPierce BrosnanSarah Jessica ParkerEarth is invaded by Martians with unbeatable weapons and a cruel sense of humor.Jack plays multiple roles in one Tim Burton's weakest movies.
- DirectorHector BabencoStarsJack NicholsonMeryl StreepCarroll BakerAn alcoholic drifter spends Halloween in his hometown of Albany, New York after returning there for the first time in decades.Jack and Meryl as drunks during the depression. A fun afternoon at the movies?
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsMeryl StreepJack NicholsonJeff DanielsShe's a magazine writer who gives up her career for love and family. He's a playboy newspaper columnist who can't quite give up his old tricks. And if that combination doesn't give a relationship Heartburn, nothing will.Jack and Meryl in a movie that should be better than it is. Look for Kevin Spacey also.
- DirectorPeter SegalStarsJack NicholsonAdam SandlerMarisa TomeiDave Buznik is a businessman who is wrongly sentenced to an anger management program, where he meets an aggressive instructor.Jack is great and Adam is quite funny. The movie is average.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsRoger DaltreyAnn-MargretOliver ReedA psychosomatically blind, deaf, and mute boy becomes a master pinball player and, subsequently, the figurehead of a cult.Jack sings as the doctor. Weird memorable musical.