Jack Nicholson's Best Movie Roles

Though he had a recurring role on the early medical TV drama "Dr. Kildare" and a memorable part in Roger Corman's "Little Shop of Horrors," Jack Nicholson didn't become a star until he was in his 30s, when he appeared in the seminal "Easy Rider." The 1969 film opened eyes to his acting genius, and Nicholson has since become one of the biggest and brightest stars in Hollywood. The superstar actor has had iconic roles across all genres. Tearjerkers, romances, crime dramas, thrillers, action flicks, comic book movies, comedies: He's done it all.

He excels at playing the tough, sinister, sometimes shadowy type, but as hard as some may have tried, he's never been able to be pigeon-holed. He has been everything from a wealthy, classically trained pianist to an aging drunk. He's been a crime fighter and a supervillain, a military soldier and a raving psychopath. With a career that has spanned more than 60 years, Jack Nicholson can proudly look back and say there isn't much he hasn't done. But if you're not familiar with his large body of work, where does one begin? Well, you're in luck, because we're here to run you through the list of his greatest roles.

In "The Passenger," Nicholson inhabits the role of David Locke, a beleaguered journalist on assignment in the North African jungle looking for an interview with the rebel militants who operate there. Frustrated by the locals' unwillingness to help him, Locke is tired and dispirited, ready to call it quits. Looking for a new direction, he impulsively steals the identity of a dead man in his hotel and reports himself as the deceased ... only to later find that his new identity carries with it more problems than it solves.

Thanks to a contractual dispute, Nicholson was able to hold the rights to the movie himself, and he kept it out of circulation until 2005 when Sony Pictures acquired the rights from him and re-released it to theaters, prior to its first-ever DVD release. For this reason, South Florida Sun-Sentinel called the film "an enigmatic masterwork of modern cinema." Thanks in no small part to its long-delayed home release garnering extra attention, critics such as Roger Ebert have looked back on it with much more appreciation and enthusiasm than they had upon its debut in 1975, where it received a fairly mixed response. But in hindsight, with the few decades of perspective, it's been hailed as one of Nicholson's more impressive, haunting performances.

One of Jack Nicholson's most critically acclaimed films, "Five Easy Pieces" puts Nicholson in the role of Bobby Dupea, a grousing blue-collar laborer. The demoralized oil rig worker lives a dreary existence with a girlfriend he wishes to leave, often showing her coldness and taking out his bitterness on her in an attempt to drive her away. 

But beneath the gruff exterior, we discover that Bobby grew up in a privileged home, from a family of wealth and means. Like "About Schmidt," Nicholson plays a man in the throes of disillusionment, but Bobby is not the world-weary Warren: He's a passionate, aggrieved man frustrated with his life, his relationship, and his friends, looking for new meaning. It's a portrait of a man without a soul, not because he lost it, but because he hasn't found it yet. "Five Easy Pieces" is a moving film about confronting one's past and oneself, and the choices we make in accepting the fortunes we are given. It was a timely picture in 1970, at a time of great upheaval, and right on the cusp of Nicholson's stardom.

By the mid-1980s, Jack Nicholson's career had reached a turning point: The actor was ready to embrace comedies and wackier characters like "The Witches of Eastwick" villain Daryl Van Horne. Directed by George Miller, the 1987 film is a dark comedy with a cast of star actresses including Cher, Michelle Pfeifer, and Susan Sarandon, with a score by Hollywood legend John Williams. Centered on three women who've lost their husbands and feel the depths of loneliness, the film soon reveals that the trio are actually witches in a powerful coven. When Nicholson's character arrives, he unexpectedly triggers the witches' latent supernatural powers — and insatiable sexual appetites — unleashing their sordid witchcraft on an unsuspecting little town.

"The Witches of Eastwick" was George Miller's first comedy, and it was certainly a successful debut in the genre for him after three three "Mad Max" movies with Mel Gibson. But it wouldn't have been possible without the wickedly incisive performance of Nicholson, who plays the devilish, aggressively sexual male figure in the overtly feminist-leaning tale. It's a movie with a heavy-handed message, one delivered with such gusto that it allows Nicholson to give one of the more ridiculous performances of his career.

Jack Nicholson's part in the independent classic "Easy Rider" may not be his biggest role, but it might be one of his most notable, as the film and performance catapulted the actor to fame while at the same time marking a cultural shift in Hollywood. For his role as George Hanson in "Easy Rider," Nicholson would receive an Academy Award nomination, for best supporting actor, the first of many nominations that would ultimately see him take home three trophies.

Often considered one of the most influential movies of the '60s, "Easy Rider" is a low-budget road movie about a pair of so-called counter-culture "radicals" who travel the country by motorcycle. Nicholson's pivotal role as an uptight lawyer whom the radicals introduce to marijuana and alcohol serves as a crucial part of a film about youthful attitudes of the time, distrust of the establishment, and the burgeoning hippie culture. 

The film owes a lot to Nicholson's award-winning role, and its success set in motion a new cinematic trend that became known as "New Hollywood": a flood of young filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, and many more. These new, young filmmakers would create films marked by rebellious themes, fresh and exciting filming techniques, and stories that expressed their struggle in the new American experience.

1992 was a banner year for Jack Nicholson, who would have three movies released, including "Hoffa," "Man Trouble," and the Aaron Sorkin-scripted film "A Few Good Men." The military courtroom drama directed by Rob Reiner was the best of the bunch, featuring a cast jam-packed with superstars. Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Kiefer Sutherland, and Kevin Bacon were all at the height of their fame, and already onboard when producers were looking for another star to play the unscrupulous military base commander Colonel Jessup. The film certainly didn't need any more star power, but the producers got it when they cast Jack Nicholson, then a Hollywood legend, beating out James Woods for the part.

"A Few Good Men" sees Tom Cruise as a young naval lawyer defending a pair of U.S. Marines accused of the murder of a fellow officer. The two young soldiers claim they were acting under orders, and that the victim's death was accidental. It's a gripping courtroom drama, and Nicholson received rave reviews from critics and audiences alike, even getting an Academy Award nomination for his efforts. In their review of the film, The Hartford Courant said that Nicholson "seizes the drama between his sneering, snarling teeth." The review lauded the character of Jessup, who "played by Nicholson with rabid, macho pride, believes that his devotion to protecting the world puts him above the law."

A motion picture based on the classic comic book superhero, "Batman" had been in the works throughout the 1980s after the success of Richard Donner's "Superman" in 1978, and the Joker was always destined to be the villain who would square off against the caped crusader. And while the casting of Michael Keaton caused considerable controversy when he was announced to play the title role, there was no such apprehension from fans when Nicholson took the role of the Clown Prince of Crime. Nicholson had been producer Michael Uslan's first choice since the early '80s before director Tim Burton was even involved, and his jaw-dropping performance as the infamous supervillain set a new standard for comic book baddies on screen, hailed to this day as one of the best performances in a comic book movie. 

In Tim Burton's "Batman," Nicholson's raw talent is on full display: appropriately over the top, viciously uncompromising, his madness as the Joker completely uncontainable — and infectious too, figuratively and literally. It's hard to overstate just how important the film and Nicholson's part in it are to the genre of comic book films. For his role in the film, Nicholson asked for a portion of the film's earnings in lieu of a bigger up-front payday, something that paid massive dividends when the film set the record for biggest opening weekend at the box office. This practice has become an industry standard for Hollywood superstars.

Nicholson's best role? It's Chinatown. Nicholson is Jake "J.J." Gittes, a successful private investigator who mostly snoops on cheating spouses and is hired by a woman to investigate the extramarital activities of her husband. As the investigation unfolds, Jake stumbles upon a broader conspiracy of corruption and betrayal that threatens to turn his life upside down.

"Chinatown" retained the look and feel of a 1940s detective movie, with critic Roger Ebert saying upon the film's release, "It accepts its conventions and categories at face value and doesn't make them the object of satire or filter them through a modern sensibility ... Here's a private-eye movie in which all the traditions, romantic as they may seem, are left intact." But Ebert didn't just celebrate the old-fashioned genre style: He heaped praise on the leading man, saying "it's also a triumph of acting, particularly by Jack Nicholson, who is one of the most interesting actors now working and who contributes one of his best performances." Like "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest," the neo-noir mystery is hailed as among the greatest films in motion picture history. 

One of just two roles that he would return to, Nicholson would play Gittes again more than 15 years after "Chinatown" in "The Two Jakes," a 1990 crime drama that was well-received, but couldn't compare to its iconic predecessor.