Five Easy Pieces Blu-ray

Following Jack Nicholson’s breakout supporting turn in Easy Rider, director Bob Rafelson devised a powerful leading role for the new star in the searing character study Five Easy Pieces.

Nicholson plays the now iconic cad Bobby Dupea, a shiftless thirtysomething oil rigger and former piano prodigy immune to any sense of responsibility, who returns to his upper-middle-class childhood home, blue-collar girlfriend (Karen Black, in an Oscar-nominated role) in tow, to see his estranged, ailing father.

Moving in its simplicity and gritty in its textures, Five Easy Pieces is a lasting example of early-1970s American alienation, with a memorable soundtrack ranging from country singer Tammy Wynette, to classical piano pieces by Chopin, Bach and Mozart.

Special features include:

• Audio commentary by director Bob Rafelson and interior designer Toby Rafelson
• Soul Searching in "Five Easy Pieces," a 2009 program featuring Rafelson
• BBStory, a 2009 documentary about the legendary film company BBS Productions, with Rafelson; actors Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, and Ellen Burstyn; filmmakers Peter Bogdanovich and Henry Jaglom; and others
• Documentary featuring critic David Thomson and historian Douglas Brinkley
• Audio excerpts from a 1976 AFI interview with Rafelson
• Essay by critic Kent Jones