Seeti Maar
Jack Nicholson- Part Two- 80′s
By Ratnakar Sadasyula
One of Jack Nicholson’s most chilling performance was in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining . He is Jack Torrance , an alcoholic former
teacher, who takes up a job at Overland Hotel , inspite of warnings about it’s pretty unsavory past. Strange events in the hotel, make him lose sanity, and turn on his own family members. Jack’s portrayal of the half crazed psycho, does make your hairs stand on an end. He is homicidal, insane and crazy. You certainly would not want to be stuck up in a remote hotel with him. One of the most scary villains, on par with Anthony Hopkin’s Hannibal Lecter .
1983 saw Nicholson breaking from his psychic, dark image in Terms of Endearment opposite Shirley Maclaine . As an ex astronaut, who befriends single mom Maclaine and has an affair with her, Nicholson , puts in another excellent performance for which he was given the Best Supporting Actor.
Most of the 80’s saw Nicholson coming up with a host of strong, solid performances. The Postman Always Rings Twice, itself a remake of a 1946 movie. Jack plays a drifter Frank Chambers who has an adulterous affair with a married woman Cora( Jessica Lange). Both of them plan to murder her husband. This movie was also famous for the steamy scenes between Jack and Jessica Lange.
He played the role of American writer Eugene O Neill in the 1981 movie Reds , about American communist leader John Reed( Warren Beatty). He also did a comic turn in the 1987 movie Witches of Eastwick , as a devil incarnate Darrly Van Honne , who seduces the witches who created him. The same year he appeared opposite Meryl Streep in the Depression era drama, Ironweed , as Francis Phelan , an alcoholic ex baseball player who roams around with another drifter Helen played by Streep.
The next couple of years saw Jack move into strong character roles, and end up more often than not stealing the scenes. Batman in 1989 , saw him as The Joker, and that remained one of the greatest performances as a villain. Jack Torrance and now Joker, this guy sure can make evil look attractive. But again Jack Torrance was real and more scary, on the other hand the Joker was more of a comic character. His was the over the top villainy, which more often than not made you chuckle, and Jack was the life of Batman , so much, that people saw the movie more for him, than the super hero.
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Ratnakar Sadasyula is full time techie, part time writer. Presently based at Hyderabad, Ratnakar writes on films, cricket and politics. Bihar days is Proud to have him in our team of regular contributors.
Here is the link to his blog
Seeti Maar- Diary of a Movie Lover
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