“The Shining” (1980)
Arguably one of Jack Nicholson’s most controversial performances, as it didn’t meet the satisfaction (to say the least) of its outspoken original creator, source material author Stephen King, Nicholson’s bravado performance as the growingly unhinged Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s terrifying, fascinating, brilliantly maddening and deeply, richly, enduringly unsettling “The Shining” is also quite possibly the lead actor’s most daring and defining character work. A truly ingenious, wonderfully unsettlingly horror classic about a struggling author and alcoholic who is literally driven to madness while living with his family in the Colorado Rockies in the secluded and iconic Overbrook Hotel, it’s a brave, unparalleled tour de force from the incomparable Nicholson, one that boldly challenges King’s original interpretation of the story by asking what brings man’s inherent madness to the forefront? Is it truly one environment and one’s given surroundings, or is it simply a matter of time and circumstance? Nicholson’s relentless, wondrously unhinged performance never shies from its convictions, and it continues to provoke and challenge us in the decades that follow its contentious release. It is a fierce, unflinching performance that evolves with shocking passion and brash impulse, notably towards its killer ending — an unwavering work of sheer fortitude and uncompromising resilience. Like Nicholson’s best work, however, it is a mesmerizing role that you can’t look away from. It spellbinds you as much as it disturbs you, quite entirely. It sums up the stunning, compelling, enthralling and entirely captivating insanity that is Kubrick’s adapted masterpiece. – WA
“Carnal Knowledge” (1971)
“It’s not as easy getting laid as it used to be,” Jack Nicholson hisses wryly in Mike Nichols’ ruthless, dark drama about sex, relationships and how people, when they grow, can change for the worst. It’s also known as an caustic comedy and there’s tons of dry, mordant cracks—“wow, I almost came that time” a character says after a particularly energetic f*ck— but while funny at times, it’s also corrosive and a sad look at the loss of innocence and the infancy of men. Featuring Jack Nicholson in his prime, the vignette-like ‘Knowledge’ is told in three parts centering on two men, the self-centered Johnathan (Nicholson, playing a sexually aggressive cocksman trying to score at all times) and more sensitive Sandy (Art Garfunkle) over the years of college, post-college and middle age (Ann-Margret, and Candice Bergen co-star) and the actor convinces in each part, while slowly growing more angry, bitter and abusive. While the cast is solid all around, these are all heavyweights, while Margaret puts in her best performance, Nicholson sears as Johnathan with his sardonic wit, pungent mien (essentially a kind of sexual predator) and the emasculating impotence that eventually consumes his sour life. Banned in certain theaters at the time for its frank depiction of sex, Nichols, at the height of his powers, pushed the boundaries of racy dialogue and risqué for-the-time sex scenes and he could not have found a more willing partner to dance that dangerous edge, than Nicholson. – Rodrigo Perez
“Ironweed” (1987)
Set during the Great Depression, Héctor Babenco’s “Ironweed,” starring Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Caroll Baker and Tom Waits, to name a few, features its two leads as pair of indigent, homeless drunks and lovers (Nicholson and Streep), bums as they are so consistently described as, trying to survive and endure their great personal tragedies. Among the walking dead, perhaps biding their time with booze, they go from flophouse to soup kitchen, to shelter scrounging for meager work to fuel their existence of smokes, alcohol and sometimes a little food and sleep. Having endured the death of a baby which leads him to abandon his family in shame, Nicholson stars as the shabby Francis Phelan, a washed-baseball player, wracked with the guilt of a child and the people he’s killed in order to survive life on the streets, but also possessing a poetic DGAF wisdom and tragic self-awareness. Nicholson goes big a lot of the time, but “Ironweed” is one of those performances where he confidently wades into the character’s underlying sadness and unique kind of miserablist joi de vivre—resigned to the fact that the best days of life are long over, but enjoying what he can. A kind of wise fool, Nicholson’s performance is extremely honest, never asking for anything of the audience, and staying true the character of a broken soul who’s taken his lumps, but makes no excuses for slowly circling the drain. – RP
“The Last Detail” (1973)
The pain and longing behind the bravado is one of Nicholson’s strongest tools as an actor, and as Billy “Badass” Buddasky in the great Hal Ashby/Robert Towne adaptation of Darryl Ponicsan’s novel, he greatly channels that debaucherous camouflage. While a coming-of-age story for Meadows (Randy Quaid), it’s also a staying-of-age-and-never-changing story for Buddasky and Mulhall (Otis Young), and one of existential guilt. Buddasky and Mulhall recreate their stag days by giving Meadows a proper sendoff before he spends eight years in prison, but they also feel like they got away with something, given that Meadows will lose those days before he even gets them. All three of the leads feed into how great they are in it, but Nicholson’s Cheshire Cat grin and vulgar poetry stands out, as it usually tends to. – Ryan Oliver
“Batman” (1989)
The very first time an actor portraying the Joker outshined his Batman counterpart, Nicholson’s rendition of the Clown Prince of Chaos introduced to fans the antagonist’s towering persona of malignant madness. Having edged out Robin Williams for the role, Nicholson’s eccentric personality was almost too fitting for the homicidal maniac. While not his best performance as an actor, Nicholson’s tone-setting antics in Tim Burton’s 1989 “Batman” laid the groundwork for darker renderings of comic book villains to come, most notably Heath Ledger’s unforgettable performance two decades later. With that being said, Nicholson’s Joker is often forgotten considering Ledger’s far more complex and philosophical dictation. Nevertheless, Nicholson’s trailblazing portrayal proved to be momentous considering the nature of villains up to this point and the mediocre script he had to work with. As Nicholson rendered the cackling villain both as a murderous clown and as a human with a name (Jack Napier), the intricately twisted archetype of Batman’s nemesis was born. – Kyle Kohner
“One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975)
Aside from maybe “The Shining’s” Jack Torrance, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’s” Randall McMurphy is a character Nicholson was born to play. A role that earned him the 1976 Oscar for Best Actor (the first of three Oscars), Nicholson as the impetuous and runaway antihero still prevails as one of the most profound acting performances ever. Equally charming and borderline insane, Nicholson delivers one of his finest performances here. While this may be easily applied to a good chunk of Nicholson’s performances, his actions throughout “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest,” transpire like a deranged dog perpetually short leashed to a pole, and when it’s feeding time, the same dog frenzies with unbalance behavior, both in unhinged hunger and explosive excitement. With this comparison in mind, McMurphy is a free-spirited character who struggles to conform to the rigid rules of the mental institute and its revoltingly stern Nurse Ratched. With Ratched thwarting McMurphy’s every attempt at loosening the chain that tethers him to actual insanity, several layers of a much more complex and spirited character are revealed, thus evolving McMurphy from a complete narcissist into a smoldering ball of lunacy with a generous side to boot. – KK
That about covers it. Think we’re missing something? Fine, sound off in the comments section, but this is a pretty robust list if we say so ourselves.