A CASE OF THE MONDAYS

This May, the Drexel presents “Jack’s Back: 4 Starring Nicholson,” a program dedicated to one of America’s most beloved actors — Jack Nicholson.

We start on May 5 with Stanley Kubrick’s immortal classic, The Shining. Nicholson’s turn as Jack Torrance, a man who goes mad during a months-long stay at the haunted Overlook Hotel, continues to unsettle viewers forty-five years after the film’s release. Shelley Duvall co-stars as Jack’s long-suffering wife who summons the determination necessary to escape her husband’s downward spiral into oblivion. Scatman Cruthers, Danny Lloyd, Joe Turkel, Philip Stone, and Barry Nelson round out the cast.

On May 12, we screen Bob Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces, one of the most acclaimed American films of 1970. Featuring what is perhaps Nicholson’s best performance ever, Five Easy Pieces is an unflinching look at the self-destructive nature that lies inside so many men. Nicholson is Bobby Dupea, a trained pianist from a wealthy family who has spent the last seven years running away from his dysfunctional home and his own privilege. Living as one of the “common people,” Bobby works on the California oilfields and lives with his sweet and naïve waitress girlfriend Rayette (Karen Black). When his father’s health takes a turn for the worse, Bobby returns home, discovering that he is an outcast of his own making, and that love might be something he’s incapable of feeling or sharing. Co-starring with Nicholson are Susan Anspach, Billy “Green” Bush, Lois Smith, Ralph Waite, Helena Kallianiotes, and Toni Basil.

The Last Detail, directed by the great Hal Ashby, screens May 19. Nicholson and Otis Young star as U.S. Navy petty officers who are assigned to transport a young kleptomaniac (Oscar-nominee Randy Quaid) to a naval prison in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The two older sailors, outraged at the severity of the prison sentence, decide to treat the kid to a few days of fun and freedom before arriving in Portsmouth. What could have been sentimental pablum in the hands of a lesser director is instead turned into a quiet, humanist drama that shows the struggles of regular people who know they can’t fight the “System.” Mixing pathos with dark, scatological humor and an exhausted cynicism, The Last Detail is a masterpiece that salutes society’s losers and cheers on the small victories they claim in an unforgiving world.

Closing out the program on May 26 is the classic ’70s neo-noir, Chinatown. Written by Robert Towne and directed by Roman Polanski, Nicholson stars as Jake Gittes, a private eye hired by a woman claiming to be Evelyn Mulwray to investigate her husband, who works for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. What starts as a simple infidelity case spirals into a web of deceit involving water rights, political corruption, murder, incest, and the brutal exploitation that built Los Angeles. Considered by many to be one of the greatest screenplays ever written and featuring Nicholson giving a brilliantly beaten-down, heartbroken performance, Chinatown earned its designation as a top-tier noir and one of the best films of the 20th century. Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Burt Young, Diane Ladd, Bruce Glover, and John Hillerman co-star.

Drexel Members get free admission to The Shining.