Jack Nicholson: Anatomy of an Actor

by Beverly Walker

Throughout his career, Jack Nicholson has portrayed unique and challenging roles in classic movies such as Easy Rider (1969), Chinatown (1974), The Shining (1980), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), Terms of Endearment (1983), The Witches of Eastwick (1987) and The Departed (2006). Nicholson's twelve Oscar nominations make him the most nominated male actor in history.

Jack Nicholson: Anatomy of an Actor is a new addition to Cahiers du cinema, a fascinating series from the world-renowned cinema magazine. The book focuses on ten key performances, exploring the unparalleled career of Jack Nicholson through narrative and analytical text accompanied by 300 images, including film stills and set photographs, as well as film sequences, script notes, and more. This thoughtful and lively examination of Nicholson's craft will appeal to film professionals and casual movie fans alike.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 6, 2014

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the incredible body of work listed in the filmography at the rear of the book, the author selects 10 films to examine in depth. Several of these were favourites of mine, so I'm sure there will some that will be your favourites, too. There are lots of photos to accompany the text, some of which are behind the scenes shots. Images of some film posters are included as well. There is a brief biography at the beginning and an extensive filmography at the end, but it only goes up to 2010 in my version of the book which appears to be from 2013. An excellent, very readable, and informative book.
The films analysed are: Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining, Batman, A Few Good Men, As Good As It Gets, About Schmidt, and Something's Gotta Give.

[Joseph J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb. The chapters are divided along the most iconic of Nicholson's characters, from Easy Rider through his hilarious turn in Something's Gotta Give. There is a brief biography, and the filmography includes Jack's turns on the Andy Griffith show (Opie finds an abandoned baby and Aunt Bea is on a jury). The color photographs accompanying the text are glorious. A beautiful book and valuable reference.

[Simon Chipps · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars
A good companion to the ten films it asseses. I did find the film choices a little odd, with nearly half of the films covered here being latter films, meaning a number of his key films were missed

[Darryl Reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Until a definitive biography of Jack Nicholson is written this beautiful survey supersedes the numerous cut and past superficial biographies and printed tribute books that have been published over the years.

Selecting 10 key films, journalist and industry publicist Beverly Walker insightfully analyzes them and eloquently gives an affectionate critical overview of this iconic actor's life and career. Despite it's relative brevity it captures the totality of his accomplishments and cultural impact.

In addition to the 10 film analysis there is a fine concise biographical introduction, a detailed chronology and a complete filmography.

Following is a representative example of Ms. Walker's simple yet commanding style:

"It's true that many of Nicholson's prior films are replete with pentimenti--traces of his performances in other movies--that's part of their pleasure. But About Schmidt stands alone. Nicholson completely dedicates himself to the character, handling every moment with utmost sincerity."

Printed on slick paper and lavishly illustrated with many color and black and white photographs for fans it should be a joy to hold, look through and read.