For every star making performance like The Shining or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Hollywood legend Jack Nicholson also had several lesser known outings. With a career as prolific and varied as Nicholson's, it was only natural that several acting gems would slip through the cracks of time.
From his demonic turn in The Witches of Eastwick to his multi-character performance in Mars Attacks!, Nicholson showed that even his lesser-known works are memorable in their own way. No matter the quality of the film he was in, viewers could always count on a great outing from Jack.
The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960)
Early in his young career, Nicholson made a name for himself in bit parts, and The Little Shop of Horrors gave him a chance to show off his unique talents. The film follows a downtrodden flower shop employee who discovers a mysterious plant that brings a lot of new business to his store. Unfortunately for him, the plant also has a taste for human flesh.
Nicholson appears as a masochistic patient at the dentist office who, much to the chagrin of the dentist, actually enjoys the torture of dental procedures. He's only in the movie for a few minutes but he quickly steals the show with his quirky delivery. Unlike many of his over-the-top parts, Nicholson's turn in Little Shop is subtle and downright hilarious.
Goin' South (1978)
Nicholson's career has taken him through nearly every genre of film, and Goin' South saw him in yet another Western. The film follows a bachelorette in a 19th century Texas town who saves a notorious criminal from the gallows in order to marry him.
Also featuring John Belushi in one of his best movies, Nicholson is in peak form as the outlaw Henry Lloyd Moon. Imbuing the character with his textbook sinister grin, Nicholson keeps the audience guessing as to his true motives. While the film isn't the best remembered of his career, a lot could be chalked up to Western film fatigue that audiences experienced in the 1970s.
Wolf (1994)
By the 1990s, Nicholson had already climbed the mountain of stardom and was beginning to settle into some of the strangest roles of his sainted career. Wolf casts Jack as a book publisher who is bitten by a werewolf. This onset of lycanthropy makes him a better businessman, but it also runs him afoul of one of his contemporaries.
Though Wolf had audiences split in terms of its quality as a film, there is no denying that Nicholson nailed his performance. Excelling at authoritative roles in his middle age, Nicholson is believable as both a high-powered executive, and a man infected with werewolf powers. The film might be light on scares, but Nicholson legitimizes what was a silly premise to begin with.
The Crossing Guard (1995)
Nicholson's bread and butter is as unhinged characters, and The Crossing Guard allowed him to explore a character's downward spiral in more subtle ways. Jack plays a seedy jeweler who embarks on a mission of revenge against the drunk driver who accidentally killed his child.
Over-the-top Nicholson was something that audiences had seen before, but a broken man with nothing left to lose was a new weapon in his arsenal. The film squandered some of its artistic opportunities, but that didn't stop Jack from getting deeply intwined with his complicated character. Unfortunately, The Crossing Guard impressed critics, but not audiences and it flopped at the box office.
Mars Attacks! (1996)
While it has lived on as a cult classic in Tim Burton's filmography, Mars Attacks! left audiences and critics alike scratching their heads in confusion. The film chronicles the martian invasion of earth from many different perspectives around the United States.
Jack pulled double duty in the film and actually played two very different characters. First appearing as an overbearing gambler, and then as the President of the United States, a role that truly suited his status as an actor. Nicholson falls into both parts with equal gusto, and it is easy to forget that they are both him. Understanding the film's silly tone from the outset, Jack blends in perfectly with the movie's sense of humor along with the rest of the great cast.
The Raven (1963)
Early in his career, Nicholson got the opportunity to share the screen with legends of an earlier generation, and The Raven was a passing of the torch. The film, set in the 1500s, follows a sorcerer who turns to other magicians for help after he is transformed into a raven by an evil wizard.
Sharing the screen with icons like Boris Karloff and Vincent Price, Nicholson shines as the film's straight man. While he would eventually step into the over-the-top roles, he showed in The Raven that he was capable of playing the other half of the comedy equation. Though the film has nothing to do with Poe's classic poem, it was a silly horror romp with a legendary cast.
The Shooting (1966)
Unlike most of the slick Westerns that Hollywood produced at the time, The Shooting was a grittier take on the genre. A young woman convinces a miner to help her travel across the dessert to a new town. Along the way the gang picks up a violent gunslinger who has dark motives of his own.
Nicholson plays Billy Spear, a black-clad desperado who carries all of the bravado of a classic western anti-hero. Subtlety is the key in his performance, and he gives Spear none of the quirky traits that a lot of his characters possess. Instead, he speaks softly and slowly, and keeps the audience on the edge of their seat with suspense.
The Witches Of Eastwick (1987)
Horror and comedy are two genres that have served Nicholson well in his career, and The Witches of Eastwick gave him a chance to combine the two. The film follows a trio of women in a small town who wish for someone interesting to come into their lives. Like an answer to their prayers, a strange man arrives and begins to show the women that they possess supernatural powers.
Daryl Van Horne is the quintessential Jack Nicholson role, he is suave and debonair, but there is also a sinister edge to him. Over the course of the film, Nicholson devolves into a villainous character, and he indicates subtle changes just through his performance. In the end, Nicholson is perfectly suited for the hellfire and brimstone finale for the film, and it is reminiscent of his work as Jack Torrance in The Shining.
The King Of Marvin Gardens (1972)
Returning to work with director Bob Rafelson once again after their smash hit Five Easy Pieces, The King of Marvin Gardens was another opportunity for Nicholson to show what he could do. The film follows a fly-by-night businessman who convinces his radio host brother to help fund one of his get-rich-quick schemes.
Co-starring Bruce Dern in one of his best roles, the film is a tour de force of performance that also includes Ellen Burstyn. The film moves along at a slow pace, and it requires the actors to be on top of their game at all time. Fortunately for viewers, the trio of leads is practically electric every time they are on screen, and Nicholson gets the rare opportunity to be the understated one.
The Last Detail (1973)
The Last Detail saw Nicholson in a subordinate role after a decade of playing characters that lived on the fringes of society. A pair of career Navy officers are given a new assignment to transfer a court-martialed sailor to the nearest military prison. On the way, the seasoned vets decide to show the younger man a good time before he is locked up.
Billy "Badass" Buddusky is Nicholson personified and he is often the instigator of the trouble in the story. Running away from the darker aspects of his own life, Buddusky insists on making the young prisoner more like himself. Though the role has its fair share of familiar Nicholson energy, it is also a more subtle analysis of masculinity and the effects of military service on a person's psyche.