Just Jack
Wednesday, September 4, 2013 at 1:01PM 
JA from MNPP here with some sad news - it's being reported that Jack Nicholson has officially, if quietly, retired from acting. Given that's it's been two years since the 76 year-old made a movie it's not the most surprising news in the world, but he's taken that long between roles before and I kept hoping he'd come back with one killer role and not go out on a sour note like How Do You Know (a title whose lack of punctuation still grates two years later). Radar is quoting ye old anonymous "Hollywood insider" as saying that it's due to memory loss - that he just can't remember his lines anymore, and that's why he passed on reuniting with his About Schmidt director Alexander Payne on the upcoming Nebraska, a role that eventually went to Bruce Dern. So... there's Johnny. What's your favorite Nicholson?
Jack Nicholson
Reader Comments (21)
For a minute there, I thought I was going to read that he'd passed away (Phew!). Still, his quitting is ALMOST like he died. Loved him in "Chinatown," "Five Easy Pieces," "About Schmidt," and "Reds" the most. RIP Jack's Career :(
I kept trying to word it to make it as clear as quickly as possible that he didn't die, because it kept coming off that way to me too! So sorry to everyone whose heart jumps at first!
Chinatown is my favorite of his, by the way. Just perfect. The Passenger's amazing too. And The Shining is iconic stuff.
I have never seen Five Easy Pieces! Must rectify, in his honor, immediately.
I got scared too, that he, well, I won't even mention it. I liked him the most in "Chinatown", "Reds", "As good as it gets" (unlike many, I think this is his most deserved Oscar), "About Schmidt" (I was rooting for him to win that year, even though I'm not much attached to Nicholson and Daniel Day-Lewis is really up there to me) and in "The departed", but my favorite performance is his Jack from "The shinning".
This bums me out.
I love him in Cuckoo, I love him in Batman, I love him in The Shining, I love him in As Good As It Gets, I love him in About Schmidt. I just love him in general.
<3
What horrible news. It's so hard to choose a favorite, he's just that good. He should have won for About Schmidt. Gut-wrenching work. His performance in Cuckoo's Nest is the stuff of legend. Of the lesser-discussed films, I love him in Rafelson's The King of Marvin Gardens, Richardson's The Border, and Huston's Prizzi's Honor, and I know I"m missing more than a few. Jack, here's to you, sir.
Oh man, you scared me too! I'm terrible picking favorite performances, but I recently saw The Last detail and thought he was excellent.
So much retirement news on the blog today *sniffle* . I will not take the hint. I will keep on blogging
Chinatown, Batman, and The Shining!
Good for him .. he has given the world much pleasure with his movies... he knows when to retire so he doesn't lose his stature.
I can think of a few "more mature" greats who should probably retire , also..
Ah well. It happens even to the best of 'em. But that's the great thing about films: Through the ones he made, he'll live forever.
I still think I'm the only person on earth who thought he was tons of fun in The Departed (I was shocked he didn't get a nom for it).
denny, I'm totally with you about his terrific work in The Departed. He was snubbed.
true he perked it up!!!
Top 10 Performances:
1. The Passenger (More subtle than what we typically expect from Jack, but without diving into the "average schlub" of Schmidt.)
2. Chinatown (Nowhere even close to Al "Michael Corleone" Pacino or Gene "Harry Caul" Hackman, but easily at the top edge of this career.)
3. The Shining (1980 is a weaker year, such that I view it as the actual best performance of the year.)
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. (Love the perf, but don't nominate it due to following Oscar's rule of "One Per Category.")
5. Easy Rider (Put him on Hollywood's map for a reason.)
6. Batman. (He's having pure fun with the role. Shame about this movie's completely woeful taste in dialogue.)
7. As Good as It Gets. (No, Helen Hunt should NOT have won. Her character is the dramedic middle woman between a harshly sarcastic comic figure and an oddly tragic pure dramatic one and this was only Hunt's second or third major film. But Nicholson was good at least.)
8. The Departed.
9. The Last Detail.
10. Terms of Endearment
The Last Detail, The Shining, Chinatown -- they're all wonderful performances. But my particular favorite is in Terms of Endearment.
My favorites are Chinatown, Reds, The Passenger, Prizzi's Honor, and Something's Gotta Give. But there's still lots I haven't seen! So there are still movies with him that will be new to me.
I love him SO MUCH in Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown and Batman. He's been such a fun movie star for as long as I've loved movies.
I wonder what kind of project it's going to take to get him back into movies. No one retires forever, right?
Better he retires than do crap with Reese Witherspoon. Chinatown, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining.
Jack Nicholson is my all time favorite Actor.
'Wolf'!
If he has retired, then hopefully that means he can be lured out of retirement and make a brilliant comeback! But if not, then I wish him a pleasant retirement. Great actor, great star, and great fun. Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Passenger, Terms of Endearment - four of his best. And I think he's underrated in The Departed. Sure, he's over the top in it - but so decadent, and so scary, that it works for the character and the film.
I don't believe it, any of it, he is my favorite actor. My memory isn't what it used to be either, but everyone I say that too just want to call "the home ....." and rent me a room. I am slower and not as cute, but I am wiser and a hell of lot nicer than I used to be. I am no longer obsessed with WINNING or LEADING and I am no where near 76 years of age.
Favorite Films 1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 2. The Pledge 3. The Departed
4. Chinatown 5. The Passenger and not a popular choice but I love
The Two Jakes
There is a new book out in October, could be that they are just kicking up Advertising !!