Maybe you have seen this early Jack Nicholson movie Five Easy Pieces. I am not recommending it if you haven’t because Jack Nicholson as a concert pianist working in the oil fields of California is a bit hard to accept. Jack, in his youth, is showing the curmudgeon qualities that he perfected in his mature roles. Notice that he is not enjoying his confrontation with the surly waitress one bit. There is no joy in the battle and even though he wins in logic, not only does Jack not get his toast, he doesn’t get breakfast at all. Keep this video in mind as you anticipate the Coot Lesson for Friday, Cantankerous Old Coots are not Angry Old Farts.
One of our missions here at COC is to help our readers bring out the cantankerosity hidden within. To wash away the filters and restrictions imposed by society on our daily exchanges. Because of the disapproval of any honest disagreement or disapproval in our modern and civil times. it is difficult to even comprehend a cantankerous frame of mind. From time to time we will bring the best examples from film to COC in our zeal to foster the inner cantankerosity of our readers.
Jack Nicholson has certainly earned a place here at COC. You can expect to see more of Jack’s exquisite rants over time but today we want to start with this scene from As Good As It Gets where Jack is the eccentric writer in an apartment building. In this scene, he demonstrates the controlled rant. No wild hysterics. No shouting. But he makes it very clear that he does not want to be disturbed. He pulls no punches. He shows not an ounce of sensitivity or compassion. This is a quality rant. Enjoy and take good notes. There will be a test later. BTW do you think the sensitive neighbor is a mollycoddle?