Bob Rafelson

Oscar veterans Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange star in this 1981 adaptation of James M Cain's novel, the story of a sensuous wife of a lunch wagon proprietor and a rootless drifter who begin a sordidly steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.

A drop-out (Jack Nicholson) from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest. Five Easy Pieces is a key work in the American New Wave with its haunting portrait of alienation and one of Nicholson's greatest performances.