Happy 88th Birthday Jack Nicholson!

On April 22nd, Jack Nicholson celebrates his 88th birthday, so we thought we’d offer a selection of films from his fascinating career to celebrate. While he has been unofficially retired for the past 15 years, he still leaves over five decades of unique movies to enjoy from more genres than you might expect!

Easy Rider (1969)

April 22 at 10:40pm ET on HS70
Available on demand in April

Dennis Hopper has made it no secret that he fought hard against casting Jack Nicholson as the alcoholic lawyer in his counterculture fable, preferring a real drunk former football player he knew. While Hopper had previously starred in the Nicholson-written The Trip (1967), he hadn’t yet seen the range of Jack’s talents and admitted that his charisma and contrast to his late 60s renegades helped cement the picture as a classic. The role landed Jack his first Oscar nomination and raised him from a regular in Roger Corman’s drive-in cult movies to the Hollywood A-list overnight.

Five Easy Pieces (1970)

April 22 at 9pm ET on HS70
Available on demand in April

Director Bob Rafelson got his start creating The Monkees and met Jack Nicholson first as a writer on their feature film Head, but he went on to repay Jack for that work by providing him with this great showcase for his talents. Nicholson plays a former piano prodigy who violently casts off upper-class life for something more ‘authentic.’ Jack’s saucy charm and violent sexual charisma that would become his signature, exploded in this role and continued his Academy Award streak, one that would make him the most nominated male performer in history.

The Border (1982)

April 22 at 11:10pm ET on HS80

Nicholson was part of a brand new cohort of iconic 70s actors, but perhaps his outsized star presence is why he rarely shared the screen with these other names, except on a few obscure occasions. In this mostly forgotten neo-noir, he played against Harvey Keitel (one of only two times they appeared on film together) as duelling border agents with a simmering tension about how far they’re willing to go beyond the law. Not surprisingly, these heavyweights make a meal out of the slow-burning feud, and when it explodes, it makes for a climax you won’t soon forget.

Heartburn (1986)

April 23 at 1am ET on HS80
Available on demand in April

Nicholson’s softer side was sometimes an underappreciated tool in his bag of tricks, but director Mike Nichols and writer Norah Ephron mix it well with his wilder side in this semi-autobiographical movie about divorce. Nicholson’s heightened take on Ephron’s real ex, Carl Bernstein, wouldn’t have worked if it were all bitterness, but Jack manages to make you believe Meryl Streep’s magazine writer Rachel really might have bet it all on a known cad.

Batman (1989)

April 22 at 9pm ET on HS80

Headlines couldn’t help but focus on the fact that at $60 million, Jack Nicholson was the highest paid actor EVER when he was cast as The Joker, but I think it’s undeniable that the film got its money’s worth. Tim Burton had originally envisioned a more classical villainous actor like John Lithgow in the role, but it probably required Jack’s tongue-in-cheek approach to play off Michael Keaton’s stoic hero and thread the ridiculous needle of being a Prince-loving clown gangster while still maintaining a sense of terror when he’s on screen.

As Good As It Gets (1997)

April 22 at 9pm ET on HS90
Available on demand in April

Aside from Bob Rafelson, Jack Nicholson’s other big collaborator throughout his career was James L. Brooks, who’d not only take him to two Oscar wins but also find a way to transition Jack into a comfortable career as an older actor. This film, which casts Nicholson as a misanthropic writer with OCD, can sometimes feel dated by today’s standards, but it was fascinating in the 90s to see Nicholson slip into a role which allowed him to admit he may not be the cutting edge of culture anymore. In typical Nicholson fashion though, the subplot where he befriends a local waitress who tolerates his abuse was switched last minute into a romance when everyone on set couldn’t deny the chemistry he and Helen Hunt exuded in their scenes.

The Pledge (2001)

April 22 at 11:35pm ET on HS00

Part of why Nicholson’s career endured through changing movie styles is that he was always up for experimenting and working in smaller movies like this thriller, his second collaboration with Sean Penn behind the camera. This film comes from a Swiss novel from the 1950s, but perfectly suits 2000s Jack, who plays a retired detective doggedly driven to solve a case by a promise he made to a mother years before.

Something’s Gotta Give (2003)

April 23 at 1:40am ET on HS00
Available on demand in April

While this romcom may seem lightweight, it did prove that old dogs can learn new tricks, as it was Jack Nicholson’s first major film with a woman writer/director in Nancy Meyers. There’s a subtle difference in the way a woman director uses Jack’s rakish charm – with and against him – in the story of two older singles who find their attractions shifting in each other’s orbit. Nicholson’s chemistry with Diane Keaton, whom he worked with over 20 years earlier in 1981’s Reds, sizzles on screen and made this film one of Nancy Meyers’ biggest hits at the box office.

The Departed (2006)

April 22 at 9pm ET on HS00

Martin Scorsese cut his teeth in the same hardscrabble Roger Corman-produced B-movies as Jack Nicholson, so it’s a bit surprising it took almost 40 years for their first collaboration, but it was worth the wait. Nicholson’s charismatic mob leader helps make the film more than a remake of Hong Kong’s Infernal Affairs, and despite the all-star cast, Nicholson still stands out, flexing the best of his comedic skills and ability to intimidate even the steeliest actors he goes up against.