Nicholson's performance in this film is probably the greatest depiction of the archetypal angry young man that I've ever seen. He's brimming with so much talent but so much frustration, a man who could probably do anything he wanted with his life but can't find anything he truly wants to do. The contrast between his rough, swaggering exterior and the beauty and gentility of his piano playing is so wonderful and striking and this scene in particular, showing all the faces of his relatives as he plays, really exemplifies the weight of the stifling familial legacy he's struggling against.
This scene encapsulates the character. He is a man of depth who absolutely cannot connect with others. He's alienated from anyone who wants closeness, exemplified by the final scene in the film. Intimacy of any kind repulses him. So, he reveals his depth and immediately negates it afterwards to avoid any real connection. Quite a script.
This film is a beautiful slice of americana, about a forgotten part of america. People whos hopes and dreams are never quite realised. A beautiful piece of work.
I love how the camera glides around the room showing the different pictures of the family members. As an aspiring filmmaker, this scene is so inspiring to me.
Yeah, its the movement! Camera goes quickly to the woman, and you think she's focal, but then it slides so easily off her --you realize she's incidental.
I came to say that the picture at 1:56 looks like Orson Welles in Chimes at Midnight and the first thing I see is your profile picture. What a coincidence.
Apparently a lot of people believe Nicholson is actually playing. No, it´s Pearl Kaufman who is credited as the pianist in this movie. But Nicholson does an excellent job mimicking, which isn´t as easy as you might think if you're not a pianist.
This is brilliantly written and filmed scene- scanning over the family pictures as Jack plays Chopin with controlled emotion produces a very powerful moment in this film. This movie remains one of my favorites
I think a musician really understands this scene the best. Only a musician would know that after youve played a piece many times the emotion, thought etc is pre programed into the playing and you are not really thinking or feeling anything. Then he laughs at the girl's gushing comments of a novice. I think Bob Rafelson was a pianist at one time. Brilliant stuff.
I think it was Vladimir Horowitz who somewhat cryptically commented that when performing, he was not so much "feeling" the emotional qualities that make music out of mere notes, but rather "remembering" them. Could wonder about this ad infinitum....
True. Bobby's not feeling anything NOW in the scene with Catherine. But he once felt that emotion: and she feels it too. He sneers at that earnest old self of his. She takes his disclaimer seriously. That goes into her decision to call a halt to their budding affair.
After stop playing the piano for almost two years this movie really made me wanna play the piano again, and that's why yesterday I spend a lotta money on taking a cab to go to somewhere 9 miles away from my college just to find a piano practicing room and play the Prélude Opus 28 p4. BTW Jack's performance is just incredible I do love it XD
That scene of Bobby D. getting out of his car during a traffic jam and climbing into the truck to play the upright piano while his pal roars with delight is one of my favorite movie scenes ever. I think of it whenever I'm stuck in traffic, and it makes my heart smile and my blood pressure drop.
This scene always rakes back through my memories; memories of my grandfather's playing. Especially Chopin and Debussy. My grandfather was always critical of a player's mindset when he or she floats through some of these very haunting pieces. "You must always be careful while playing, - careful that you do not become emotional". Was it 'emotional' ? Perhaps his thoughts were - 'too emotional', or indeed, not becoming emotional 'at all' ! This statement of his forever bothered me. Music is a language, it is indeed a communication from a player to a listener. The greatest of human creations is that of language. Russian, Arabic, Chinese, English. Hieroglyphics, Mathematics, the Sonnet. The Electrical schematic, The Computer Algorithm, Morse Code, and of course, - the Musician's Prelude - are all, every one, - a language. A communication of some meaning, from the efforts and intent of one mind to the eager impatience of another. From where within a person does it come ? To be sure, - to 'like' a piece of music is to illicit a prescribed response. Undoubtedly, there are those I'm sure, be it listening, or those of which the page of script brings about an admiration entirely couched in a piece's structure, cadence, or overall form; a marching, - or military piece of work may be an example - and these are hardly 'dry' - 'inspirational' would be the better word. But to my mind, - the profound sadness or agony of a person's heart or soul 'must' be communicated, and such an effort is indeed written. Without even seeing the sheet of music or looking at the player, - you can 'hear', - you can 'feel', the message, the delivery, - the 'meaning' of a composer's intent. I can play a bone-dry 'secular' piece of work, as if I were dictating - or programming a algorithm. But I personally cannot play some certain agonies of mind and spirit, - a destruction of soul, or the utter ruination of the heart, without that near loss of consciousness, - the tortuous murder of a heart - as if being helpless while cruel devils claw at, slowly disembowel, and utterly destroy all of what I once was. So, I guess my grand- father and I will be playing very different venues.
Honest, authentic, and beautifully written comment. I'll be playing at a similar venue to yours because..." where words end..music begins" . If one is unemotional while playing, you are offering nothing of yourself . What you wrote here is exceptionally wonderful to me: "To my mind, - the profound sadness or agony of a person's heart or soul 'must' be communicated, and such an effort is indeed written. Without even seeing the sheet of music or looking at the player, - you can 'hear', - you can 'feel', the message, the delivery, - the 'meaning' of a composer's intent." It is known to them only as we may have a similar experience but unless inside their head, we feel and we try and interpret to the best of what that piece means to us. We don't ever truly know their intent no matter how many analysis' we read because it comes from the composer and what they hoped to convey. There are those who plays the notes and there are those who "feel" and give of themselves. Thing is, we are the dreamers and we can't always know the composer's intent, but we have emotions, and time hopefully gives us more wisdom with which to embue our performance with more than what others may have experienced. We are lucky in this way. Most anyone can play the actual notesfor "easy pieces". It takes an entirely different person who wants to communicate something vastly different to make those notes "sing". I loved what you wrote. Your grandfather is not you and you think and feel differently. It's interesting to me that your grandfather has made you think all these years and you have found your notes, your voice, and that's as it should be. Thank you so much for this wonderful post.
2:20 Love the irony of her tone as if she a therapist addressing the patient in that drab, nearly condescending clinician manner, later becoming offended, indignant by his lack of feeling.
omg on so many levels. I don't know if Nicholson actually played the piece we hear, but there is so much said in the performance. His performance is very repressed and almost rigid. All the notes are there, it's played technically well, but it's holding back the emotion, almost afraid to dive deeper into the cathartic nature of this Chopin piece. Just like the character Bobby Dupea, this piano performance reveals almost nothing about the pianist, and yet we sense that there is a lot in there being held back. The woman, Catherine who is herself a musician, sees that repression and that's what moves her--not any outright emotional display but the fact that he's holding back is what gives her pause. She's moved because she feels sorry for him. But Bobby immediately ridicules her because he knows he's been called out and he feels vulnerable. This piece is impossible to play without revealing something of yourself, no matter how hard you hold back as Bobby tries to do. Throughout the movie he's avoiding things and running away from his past & present. But in this scene he's forced to confront everything (symbolized by the slow parade of photos on the wall). Whoever played the piano here (Nicholson?) did such a great job of expressing that repression, that avoidance of emotion while at the same time losing the battle. From a musical point of view, this scene is absolutely fantastic.
This is my favorite rendition of this piece. I know it's not how Chopin or one of the greats would have played it, but I think the way Jack's character begins rather rushed and apathetic, and then concludes with more feeling is rather telling about his development in the film. It was the first piano piece I heard that really did move me, and this rendition has forever been ingrained into my memory as the penultimate performance of it.
You'd be interested to know that the "greats" are against Chopin's romantism which point is to go deep into your own interpretation of the piece. Only one "great" can really play Chopin for me, and it's Vladimir Horowitz because he's doing everything his way, not the way written on the score.
I often play this piece to warm up and often decide to watch this clip before I move forward. One can only try on occasion to capture the emotion and mindset of the tune.
In Boston there are many music schools. They're really quite wonderful. Around Boston Symphony Hall there are FOUR of them . . . (New England Conservatory, Northeastern University, Berkley School of Music, Boston Conservatory, and of course . . . Boston Symphony Orchestra). I would attend recitals and other offerings quite often. Just loved the heck out of it. I was homeless there (even in Boston winters). One evening during a piano recital (a Korean girl it think) I stayed in the back row and looked at a newspaper while listening. I can multi-task. A female in the row in front of me acted as though I was sin because of my looking at a paper. I've seen them with score books following along with a performance . . . but a man sleeping in snow could not seek an avenue out because their perfect serenity would be disturbed. Woman, do you know your name? Do you know who provides the heat for your auditorium and the black door man telling me to "Feed your head."?
Beautiful. Haters gonna hate but to achieve a moment like this in film is extraordinary. Go learn the piano and/or filmmaking before making stupid comments about how easy the piece is to play.....Chopin is no joke! Creating a film like this around classical piano music is brilliant. One of my faves!
The guy playing it didn’t play with sensitivity. He went so far as to use portamento instead of legato in order to emphasize the detachment. He Used rubato so it wasn’t machine like, but the timing was not effective. Cool player. He knew we’d get it.
One thing i like about this scene is that this is how I imagine most Artist and musicians are. They play a song so much that they can play it like nothing. And when someone comes along and hear them play it, the listener is gushing and praising them and the musician is probably like "dude i play this all the time and it's just another song at this point"
Jack's at that place trying to vindicate a script acted out in real life first to test its metal and it's metal and much appreciated by those that can use that scene to describe their dad.
Too bad he didn't play "Kick Me In My Love Pump With Steel-Toed Boots (And Watch Me Drool In Pain All Over The Floor Because I'm That Much Of A Tacky Pig)." Now THAT would've been entertaining.
Is that Jack really playing the piece? If so, quite impressive. For a beginning, or average pianist, it's not an easy piece to play well. From the perspective of professional pianists among it, does Jack play it well?
Oh, this pains me to tears. life of a vagrant is lifeless. And yet it's liberating. But Jack character seems so hurtful to me. He cannot stick with things for long time. What is he afraid of? Himself??. I feel I am so close to him. I know him well. That's me. It's me. O jack why don't you stick.
Not so ol' compared to when this movie came out in 1970. Rafaelson would've watched only Ivan's Childhood and Andrei Rublev and imo the definitive Tarkovsky object scan appears in Stalker which came out 6 years later
I tought about the scene as a whole. I ment the montage and the drama, the acting. Even Robert (J. Nicolson) said it basicly was trivial thing to play:) Musical brilliantness that came out from the Chopin's hand - /watch?v=OWLQGv6TdmY Cheers!
Is this a special tuning of the piano or some strange audio effect? Sounds like an old vinyl or something, I love it. Very popular in Hip Hop at the moment as well. Someone has an idea how to make my piano sound like that? ;)
I think it's partially the piano itself being out of tune but most of it I feel is from the audio reel, as it's from 1970 it can't have aged very well and will have read with some imperfections by the time the film came to be restored for higher quality. If you want to recreate this I suggest using a slight vibrato effect, slightly degrading the quality and adding a vinyl scratch sound quietly in the background
Recording technology just wasn't as good back then....Pianos notoriously show recording weaknesses...I you want that effect, try a slight bit of digital delay.
What was the girl mad about? That he didn't have any feeling? Why would that make you just storm off teary eyed? He was just being honest. He even said he'd be interested and she slams the door on him. WTF?
I know this is 5 months late, but from a writer’s perspective, it’s about talking about something, in this case a relationship, without talking about it. Bobby has been hitting on Catherine since he got to the house, and she sees it as a more romanticized idea of wanting a real relationship, while he sees it at this point as more casual. When talking about inner feeling, they might literally be talking about the piano, but dig deeper and she takes it as “Bobby has no inner feeling for me” and storms off. Bobby, on the other hand, was being honest for once in his life, but it backfires on him. That’s just my take, I find the script brilliant.
It actually is. The left page is the last page of Prelude No. 3 in G Major, the page on the right, albeit quite hard to read from the camera angle, is actually the piece being played (Prelude no. 4 in E minor).
Watch the bowling scene. Jacks levis have water on the seat of his pants, next frame they don't.Discerning viewers take the magic out of great films. Don't we?
+Phoenix Zappa It's definitely a piano that didn't get properly tuned for a while, or at least inconsistently, like once every 2 years instead of twice a year. This is definitely not just a side effect of drive speed of an analog tape. And yes, I am a classically trained pianist, but besides I also have a recording studio, which has an old tape recorder amongst many other things.
Helena081107 Thanks Helena. Can I ask, do you make any money from your recording studio? I would like to find some way that I can pursue music without being in poverty
+Phoenix Zappa pfff, what exactly is it you want to do ? there are so many genres, so many instruments, so many different places to perform... But people don't wanna pay a lot for music nowadays, I can assure you that. In my case, I started out with the classical training, and switched to electronical music 20 years ago (but never stopped playing piano), I slowly built my studio, but it has and always will be aimed for me to make my own music in, it's a "home-studio", but one with a pricetag that could have gotten me 3 cars (if of course you don't buy expensive cars), especially if you count in my piano (which is on a different floor). I recently went to Trésor, where a friend and occasional producer-partner was top of the bill that night. We're talking one of the most famous techno clubs ever, and they didn't even get enough money to pay for all the artists. So yeah, that gives an idea... 20 years ago, almost no one was doing this, and gear costed tons and couldn't do 20% of what it can do today. Nowadays everyone is doing it, and gear is very cheap and can do TONS of things. Problem is a LOT of people nowadays think there is big money to be made in music, while it's exactly the opposite. I personally don't care that much, I have always been all about music. My mother claims I started playing piano when I was 4. Obviously I don't remember that, but yeah, I do remember spending 80% of my disposable income on music, and it's been like that all my life. Back in the days where no one was a DJ, I became a DJ for a decade or so, just because I had the biggest music collection. I started making music because I got frustrated with just playing sheetmusic as a classic pianist. It all evolved naturally for me. BUT : I know for a fact that IF I would like to make music my job, I would have to give up all my freedom, and start giving into commercial demand instead of just do what I like doing, and I don't feel like doing that. My advice : make music your hobby (or better : passion) or at the most a part-time job, otherwise you're gonna be majorly disappointed and even more poor :)
Director: “can somebody get some random sheet music for this scene? Preferably something full of arpeggios so it’s completely different to the music? Thanks” Did they not have the budget to buy a one page manuscript?
Anybody who has seen the movie would understand that he explicitly says that he’s playing the piece from memory, and that the sheet music was already on the piano. Feel free to hate needlessly, though.
Nicholson's performance in this film is probably the greatest depiction of the archetypal angry young man that I've ever seen. He's brimming with so much talent but so much frustration, a man who could probably do anything he wanted with his life but can't find anything he truly wants to do. The contrast between his rough, swaggering exterior and the beauty and gentility of his piano playing is so wonderful and striking and this scene in particular, showing all the faces of his relatives as he plays, really exemplifies the weight of the stifling familial legacy he's struggling against.
Well said with a keen insight... My epitaph.
that's jack nickolson; can do anything he wants...
@@markclement3959Nicholson
Sheesh bro well said, I need to widen my vocabulary 😂
Kind of insane it's his first lead role
This scene encapsulates the character. He is a man of depth who absolutely cannot connect with others. He's alienated from anyone who wants closeness, exemplified by the final scene in the film. Intimacy of any kind repulses him. So, he reveals his depth and immediately negates it afterwards to avoid any real connection. Quite a script.
Bobby D. is one of the most complicated characters in film history since Hamlet.
To prepare for his role, Jack Nicholson undertook piano lessons from Polish concert pianist Josef Pacholczyk
This film is a beautiful slice of americana, about a forgotten part of america. People whos hopes and dreams are never quite realised. A beautiful piece of work.
I love how the camera glides around the room showing the different pictures of the family members. As an aspiring filmmaker, this scene is so inspiring to me.
Yeah, its the movement! Camera goes quickly to the woman, and you think she's focal, but then it slides so easily off her --you realize she's incidental.
The scene is amazing indeed... how to sum up what the character of Nicholson left behind him in 2 minutes...
@eugene that's a great way to put it!
Indeed, Mr. Lime.
I came to say that the picture at 1:56 looks like Orson Welles in Chimes at Midnight and the first thing I see is your profile picture. What a coincidence.
Apparently a lot of people believe Nicholson is actually playing. No, it´s Pearl Kaufman who is credited as the pianist in this movie. But Nicholson does an excellent job mimicking, which isn´t as easy as you might think if you're not a pianist.
This movie catapulted him into stardom, even more than Esy Rider. Brilliant.
this movie is one the most powerful movie ever made, its really deep and meaningful. just no word to describe, art in its finest
it reminds me of Bergman's "Wild Strawberry"
"Five Easy Pieces" (1970).
Yep, it's a great one.
you know any movies as good?
Yes indeed rio evi!
This is brilliantly written and filmed scene- scanning over the family pictures as Jack plays Chopin with controlled emotion produces a very powerful moment in this film. This movie remains one of my favorites
I think a musician really understands this scene the best. Only a musician would know that after youve played a piece many times the emotion, thought etc is pre programed into the playing and you are not really thinking or feeling anything. Then he laughs at the girl's gushing comments of a novice. I think Bob Rafelson was a pianist at one time. Brilliant stuff.
I think it was Vladimir Horowitz who somewhat cryptically commented that when performing, he was not so much "feeling" the emotional qualities that make music out of mere notes, but rather "remembering" them. Could wonder about this ad infinitum....
True. Bobby's not feeling anything NOW in the scene with Catherine. But he once felt that emotion: and she feels it too. He sneers at that earnest old self of his. She takes his disclaimer seriously. That goes into her decision to call a halt to their budding affair.
jack nicholson has the best smile ever! 😍😍😍😍😍
u know it
After stop playing the piano for almost two years this movie really made me wanna play the piano again, and that's why yesterday I spend a lotta money on taking a cab to go to somewhere 9 miles away from my college just to find a piano practicing room and play the Prélude Opus 28 p4. BTW Jack's performance is just incredible I do love it XD
...so good !❤️💐🕊️
That scene of Bobby D. getting out of his car during a traffic jam and climbing into the truck to play the upright piano while his pal roars with delight is one of my favorite movie scenes ever. I think of it whenever I'm stuck in traffic, and it makes my heart smile and my blood pressure drop.
This scene always rakes back through my memories; memories of my grandfather's playing.
Especially Chopin and Debussy.
My grandfather was always critical of a player's mindset when he or she floats through some of these very haunting pieces.
"You must always be careful while playing, -
careful that you do not become emotional". Was it 'emotional' ? Perhaps his thoughts were - 'too emotional', or indeed, not becoming emotional 'at all' !
This statement of his forever bothered me.
Music is a language, it is indeed a communication
from a player to a listener.
The greatest of human creations is that of language.
Russian, Arabic, Chinese, English.
Hieroglyphics, Mathematics, the Sonnet.
The Electrical schematic,
The Computer Algorithm,
Morse Code, and of course, - the Musician's
Prelude - are all, every one, - a language. A communication of some meaning,
from the efforts and intent of one mind to the eager impatience of another.
From where within a person does it come ?
To be sure, - to 'like' a piece of music is to illicit
a prescribed response.
Undoubtedly, there are those I'm sure, be it listening, or those of which the page of script
brings about an admiration entirely couched in a piece's structure, cadence, or overall form; a marching, - or military
piece of work may be an example - and these are hardly 'dry' - 'inspirational' would be the better word.
But to my mind, - the profound sadness or agony of a person's heart or soul 'must' be communicated, and such an effort is indeed written.
Without even seeing the sheet of music or looking at the player, - you can 'hear', - you can 'feel', the message, the delivery, -
the 'meaning' of a composer's intent.
I can play a bone-dry 'secular' piece of work, as if I were dictating - or programming a algorithm.
But I personally cannot play some certain agonies of mind and spirit, - a destruction of
soul, or the utter ruination of the heart, without that near loss of consciousness, - the tortuous murder of a heart - as if being helpless while cruel devils claw at, slowly disembowel, and utterly destroy all of what I once was.
So, I guess my grand-
father and I will be playing very different venues.
Honest, authentic, and beautifully written comment. I'll be playing at a similar venue to yours because..." where words end..music begins" . If one is unemotional while playing, you are offering nothing of yourself . What you wrote here is exceptionally wonderful to me: "To my mind, - the profound sadness or agony of a person's heart or soul 'must' be communicated, and such an effort is indeed written.
Without even seeing the sheet of music or looking at the player, - you can 'hear', - you can 'feel', the message, the delivery, -
the 'meaning' of a composer's intent." It is known to them only as we may have a similar experience but unless inside their head, we feel and we try and interpret to the best of what that piece means to us. We don't ever truly know their intent no matter how many analysis' we read because it comes from the composer and what they hoped to convey. There are those who plays the notes and there are those who "feel" and give of themselves. Thing is, we are the dreamers and we can't always know the composer's intent, but we have emotions, and time hopefully gives us more wisdom with which to embue our performance with more than what others may have experienced. We are lucky in this way. Most anyone can play the actual notesfor "easy pieces". It takes an entirely different person who wants to communicate something vastly different to make those notes "sing". I loved what you wrote. Your grandfather is not you and you think and feel differently. It's interesting to me that your grandfather has made you think all these years and you have found your notes, your voice, and that's as it should be.
Thank you so much for this wonderful post.
The complexity of the two characters expressed in a simple scene. Beautiful and magnificent. You feel for both of them. Who is able to do this today?
This film is one of the greatest masterpieces ever put to cinema!
Still one of the best films ever. The human condition is on display and totally accurate.
2:20 Love the irony of her tone as if she a therapist addressing the patient in that drab, nearly condescending clinician manner, later becoming offended, indignant by his lack of feeling.
This piece doesn't have many notes... but it's truly brilliant
It is indeed a relatively easy piece technically. Good for developing the interpretive skills that make instruments disappear, leaving only the music.
@@stephenblair8938 playing it with ur heart and with emotion is the hardest part.
Woodrow Woodbridge the e minor prelude is hard to play well...he did not play it well
@@ShaulLeket-MorI wasn't commenting on the playing... But could you recommend what you consider a well played version on youtube? I'd appreciate it.
@@2WUDI Ivo Pogorelich and Martha Argerich are my favorites. I don't think Nicholson played this badly tho. I mean, he's not a pianist
One of my favourite scenes from any film. Sad. Moving. Jack at his very best.
This has to be one of the most moving scenes in movies ever of the combination of image and music. This & the montages in RAGING BULL.
omg on so many levels. I don't know if Nicholson actually played the piece we hear, but there is so much said in the performance. His performance is very repressed and almost rigid. All the notes are there, it's played technically well, but it's holding back the emotion, almost afraid to dive deeper into the cathartic nature of this Chopin piece. Just like the character Bobby Dupea, this piano performance reveals almost nothing about the pianist, and yet we sense that there is a lot in there being held back.
The woman, Catherine who is herself a musician, sees that repression and that's what moves her--not any outright emotional display but the fact that he's holding back is what gives her pause. She's moved because she feels sorry for him. But Bobby immediately ridicules her because he knows he's been called out and he feels vulnerable. This piece is impossible to play without revealing something of yourself, no matter how hard you hold back as Bobby tries to do. Throughout the movie he's avoiding things and running away from his past & present. But in this scene he's forced to confront everything (symbolized by the slow parade of photos on the wall). Whoever played the piano here (Nicholson?) did such a great job of expressing that repression, that avoidance of emotion while at the same time losing the battle.
From a musical point of view, this scene is absolutely fantastic.
Susan Anspach is SO gorgeous in this movie. :51 RIP beautiful
This is my favorite rendition of this piece. I know it's not how Chopin or one of the greats would have played it, but I think the way Jack's character begins rather rushed and apathetic, and then concludes with more feeling is rather telling about his development in the film. It was the first piano piece I heard that really did move me, and this rendition has forever been ingrained into my memory as the penultimate performance of it.
Cherry Voodoo i agree, you fuck.
You'd be interested to know that the "greats" are against Chopin's romantism which point is to go deep into your own interpretation of the piece. Only one "great" can really play Chopin for me, and it's Vladimir Horowitz because he's doing everything his way, not the way written on the score.
Cherry Voodoo
on the movie he is "playing it"
but, probably they used a record and Jack just made "playback"
or does Jack N plays the piano??
exactly the same thoughts. Every other rendition feels too fast to me now
I don't think Jack is actually playing the whole recording. It sounds too well done to be from a beginner.
I often play this piece to warm up and often decide to watch this clip before I move forward. One can only try on occasion to capture the emotion and mindset of the tune.
One of the most moving films I've seen. And I've seen 4700.
Winduct Probably my favorite film of all time.
This a lot
@@opticalmixing23 6150 now.
What is your top 5?
@@gemmaportillo7047 Top 5 most moving films? Or favourite?
Just tell her, " You can't handle the truth". !
Best moment of the movie. Love the camera panning device to cover for Jack's playing double (as I assume he had).
I think the moving scene in which Bobby tries to communicate with his mute, stroke stricken father shares the top spot with this clip.
@@patrickdowling529with the phony crying? I don’t buy that one bit man
In Boston there are many music schools. They're really quite wonderful. Around Boston Symphony Hall there are FOUR of them . . . (New England Conservatory, Northeastern University, Berkley School of Music, Boston Conservatory, and of course . . . Boston Symphony Orchestra). I would attend recitals and other offerings quite often. Just loved the heck out of it. I was homeless there (even in Boston winters). One evening during a piano recital (a Korean girl it think) I stayed in the back row and looked at a newspaper while listening. I can multi-task. A female in the row in front of me acted as though I was sin because of my looking at a paper. I've seen them with score books following along with a performance . . . but a man sleeping in snow could not seek an avenue out because their perfect serenity would be disturbed. Woman, do you know your name? Do you know who provides the heat for your auditorium and the black door man telling me to "Feed your head."?
That was in 1984. I'm still outside because I have yet to satisfy YOUR balance.
*PPL DONT HAVE TA BE RICH TA HELP THE HOMELESS, I LIKE UR COMMENTS, THOUGH🤬👄🎸*
It fits the film so well with the emotions and what was happening in Jack's life.....
Brilliant piece of Cinema.
Beautiful. Haters gonna hate but to achieve a moment like this in film is extraordinary. Go learn the piano and/or filmmaking before making stupid comments about how easy the piece is to play.....Chopin is no joke! Creating a film like this around classical piano music is brilliant. One of my faves!
Couldn't agree more. One of the finest scenes from one of the finest stretches in movie-making.
"I have no inner feeling"
Well at least the guy's honest! As a female I really appreciate that😄
Tears to the eyes man. Every time...
he is a legend. Living legend!
This interpretation of the piece is close to perfect.
This Chopin piano scene was Nicholson at his best
This scene is my life.
favourite scene in one of my favourite films
I will, ,saw it at 14 yrs. old, had a major impact...
The guy playing it didn’t play with sensitivity. He went so far as to use portamento instead of legato in order to emphasize the detachment. He Used rubato so it wasn’t machine like, but the timing was not effective. Cool player. He knew we’d get it.
This must be one of the Five Easy Pieces. Good YT video and a good movie.
One thing i like about this scene is that this is how I imagine most Artist and musicians are. They play a song so much that they can play it like nothing. And when someone comes along and hear them play it, the listener is gushing and praising them and the musician is probably like "dude i play this all the time and it's just another song at this point"
Exactly 😂
Those who do would tours...50 performances in 3 months...they get really sick of the songs
One of the best scenes in the movie.
This is the beautifulest scene I ever seen
Beautiful quote in the last Palme d'Or, Anatomie d'une chute
Jack's at that place trying to vindicate a script acted out in real life first to test its metal and it's metal and much appreciated by those that can use that scene to describe their dad.
God, this scene is brutal
this one's called lick my love pump
Dario Wirtha Mach.
Dario Wirtha Lol :-)
Its in dubly
Too bad he didn't play "Kick Me In My Love Pump With Steel-Toed Boots (And Watch Me Drool In Pain All Over The Floor Because I'm That Much Of A Tacky Pig)." Now THAT would've been entertaining.
Nearly choked on someone else’s vomit after reading your comment....
I had no idea Nicholson played! Amazing!
The first few notes😂
'whats wrong? Nothing..it's just that I picked the easiest piece I could find!'
C L A S S I C !
He actually learned this song though! That's impressive.
Loneliest protagonist ever portrayed.
Prelude Op 28 Nr 4
thank you
Now listen to Martha Argerich the Legendary 1965 recording.
Is that Jack really playing the piece? If so, quite impressive. For a beginning, or average pianist, it's not an easy piece to play well. From the perspective of professional pianists among it, does Jack play it well?
He plays the right notes when we see the keys (b-c-b-b-flat). At this point it is a matter of indifference; it looks real enough.
No
Probably the second half is played by someone else.
When the camera pans down to the piano, he is definitely playing accurately in both hands.
Oh, this pains me to tears. life of a vagrant is lifeless. And yet it's liberating. But Jack character seems so hurtful to me. He cannot stick with things for long time. What is he afraid of? Himself??.
I feel I am so close to him. I know him well. That's me. It's me. O jack why don't you stick.
Me too buddy, me too...
That's how men learn not to talk straight to women - the hard way :~) But the scene is pure poetry, nevertheless.
Best line from the TV show Mad Men. Draper says "What do women want?" Sterling replies"Who cares??!!" And takes a sip of Scotch.
I love this!
Wonder if he actually played the piano in 'As Good as it Gets' too, but I don't think so.
the ol tarkovsky object scan, but props for its realness concerning class dynamics and ugly male selfishness
Not so ol' compared to when this movie came out in 1970. Rafaelson would've watched only Ivan's Childhood and Andrei Rublev and imo the definitive Tarkovsky object scan appears in Stalker which came out 6 years later
Che Grande film
beautiful scene....what bothers me is when they pan towards the music rack, what's shown is NOTHING like what he is playing.
I played this at Madonna House after a priest begged me to and it affected him as he really loved this piece. i didn't make any mistakes.
Nearly mastered it 😂
Bravo.
I tought about the scene as a whole. I ment the montage and the drama, the acting. Even Robert (J. Nicolson) said it basicly was trivial thing to play:)
Musical brilliantness that came out from the Chopin's hand - /watch?v=OWLQGv6TdmY
Cheers!
Nice playing, and it got spatchy in the sack. Great job jack
3:12
Jack!
Just wondering why he keeps looking at the music sheets on the piano. 🤔🤔
It's a completely different piece...
😆😆
can he actually play the piano?
No he can not.
Yes, he learned it with some lessons to do this movie
She was conning him . . . so he hit the road.
Wonder where the gardener is? I just can't seem to reach it.
Was Jack the one actually playing though ? Even if he wasn't is still great to watch time and time again
No. The way it's being played is by a pro for sure.
thank you
looking for the scene when his sister is playing piano for the radio station, can anyone give a dude a link
ua-cam.com/video/hIGJgoLQCpE/v-deo.html
thanks bro
He shouldn't have pooh-poohed her compliment
Is this a special tuning of the piano or some strange audio effect? Sounds like an old vinyl or something, I love it. Very popular in Hip Hop at the moment as well. Someone has an idea how to make my piano sound like that? ;)
Johannes it's just out of tune.
I would say its just the sound of the piano, some piano's have a lovely deep resonating sound
I think it's partially the piano itself being out of tune but most of it I feel is from the audio reel, as it's from 1970 it can't have aged very well and will have read with some imperfections by the time the film came to be restored for higher quality. If you want to recreate this I suggest using a slight vibrato effect, slightly degrading the quality and adding a vinyl scratch sound quietly in the background
Recording technology just wasn't as good back then....Pianos notoriously show recording weaknesses...I you want that effect, try a slight bit of digital delay.
This is....
wats the name of the piece?
Chopin Prelude op.28 № 4
This film affected me deeply...Jack Nicholson did such an amazing job in this...his character is complex and unlikable
Excuse me, I want to learn this piece but I forgot the name of it. Could you please help me?
It's Prelude e-minor (op. 28 no. 4). By Chopin of course :)
Marek Kamadulski Thank you.
Emptiness without God
Movie nameeeee
It's Five Easy Pieces
They couldn't get the right score?
الاعظم
What was the girl mad about? That he didn't have any feeling? Why would that make you just storm off teary eyed? He was just being honest. He even said he'd be interested and she slams the door on him. WTF?
I know this is 5 months late, but from a writer’s perspective, it’s about talking about something, in this case a relationship, without talking about it. Bobby has been hitting on Catherine since he got to the house, and she sees it as a more romanticized idea of wanting a real relationship, while he sees it at this point as more casual. When talking about inner feeling, they might literally be talking about the piano, but dig deeper and she takes it as “Bobby has no inner feeling for me” and storms off. Bobby, on the other hand, was being honest for once in his life, but it backfires on him. That’s just my take, I find the script brilliant.
@@johnsmithy9850 I haven't seen the film. Only the diner scene.
aren't you forgetting ABOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY?
That awkward moment when you notice the sheet music isn't the piece being played
It actually is. The left page is the last page of Prelude No. 3 in G Major, the page on the right, albeit quite hard to read from the camera angle, is actually the piece being played (Prelude no. 4 in E minor).
Dane Maric
Dane Maricic
he suppose to play it from memory... he used to play it since he was 8 y/o
no need for sheet music
Watch the bowling scene. Jacks levis have water on the seat of his pants, next frame they don't.Discerning viewers take the magic out of great films. Don't we?
.
Isn't this the film with the famous custard pie fight? I think so. I'd love to see that uploaded (or the car chase).
Sometimes it's just good policy to keep your mouth shut and not make a complete ass of yourself.
Can any pianists tell me if the piano is out of tune or if there is a post-production effect applied. It sounds kind of warbley
+Phoenix Zappa It's an analog sound tape artifact caused by inconstant drive speed.
Thanks. I wonder why they put that in the film
+Phoenix Zappa It's definitely a piano that didn't get properly tuned for a while, or at least inconsistently, like once every 2 years instead of twice a year. This is definitely not just a side effect of drive speed of an analog tape. And yes, I am a classically trained pianist, but besides I also have a recording studio, which has an old tape recorder amongst many other things.
Helena081107 Thanks Helena. Can I ask, do you make any money from your recording studio? I would like to find some way that I can pursue music without being in poverty
+Phoenix Zappa pfff, what exactly is it you want to do ? there are so many genres, so many instruments, so many different places to perform... But people don't wanna pay a lot for music nowadays, I can assure you that.
In my case, I started out with the classical training, and switched to electronical music 20 years ago (but never stopped playing piano), I slowly built my studio, but it has and always will be aimed for me to make my own music in, it's a "home-studio", but one with a pricetag that could have gotten me 3 cars (if of course you don't buy expensive cars), especially if you count in my piano (which is on a different floor).
I recently went to Trésor, where a friend and occasional producer-partner was top of the bill that night. We're talking one of the most famous techno clubs ever, and they didn't even get enough money to pay for all the artists. So yeah, that gives an idea...
20 years ago, almost no one was doing this, and gear costed tons and couldn't do 20% of what it can do today. Nowadays everyone is doing it, and gear is very cheap and can do TONS of things. Problem is a LOT of people nowadays think there is big money to be made in music, while it's exactly the opposite. I personally don't care that much, I have always been all about music. My mother claims I started playing piano when I was 4. Obviously I don't remember that, but yeah, I do remember spending 80% of my disposable income on music, and it's been like that all my life. Back in the days where no one was a DJ, I became a DJ for a decade or so, just because I had the biggest music collection. I started making music because I got frustrated with just playing sheetmusic as a classic pianist. It all evolved naturally for me. BUT : I know for a fact that IF I would like to make music my job, I would have to give up all my freedom, and start giving into commercial demand instead of just do what I like doing, and I don't feel like doing that.
My advice : make music your hobby (or better : passion) or at the most a part-time job, otherwise you're gonna be majorly disappointed and even more poor :)
Chopin chose this for his own funeral piece ... I think ?
You're right, also Mozart's Requiem and Chopin's Sonata in B-flat with a famous Marche funèbre.
holy shit that was so....?I do real?
Director: “can somebody get some random sheet music for this scene? Preferably something full of arpeggios so it’s completely different to the music? Thanks”
Did they not have the budget to buy a one page manuscript?
Anybody who has seen the movie would understand that he explicitly says that he’s playing the piece from memory, and that the sheet music was already on the piano. Feel free to hate needlessly, though.
Can he really play the piano?
Doesn't he end up going to Alaska? Jesse Pinkman did that.