Following jack nicholson's breakout supporting turn in easy rider, director bob rafelson the king of marvin gardens devised a powerful leading role for the new star in the searing character study five easy pieces'. '.strtoupper('n')icholson plays the now iconic cad bobby dupea, a shiftless thirtysomething oil rigger and former piano prodigy immune to any sense of responsibility, who returns to his upper middle class childhood home, blue collar girlfriend nashville's karen black, in an oscar nominated role in tow, to see his estranged ailing father'. '.strtoupper('m')oving in its simplicity and gritty in its textures, five easy pieces is a lasting example of early 1970s american alienation.special edition featuresrestored high definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography lászló kovács, with uncompressed monaural soundtrackaudio commentary featuring director bob rafelson and interior designer toby rafelsonsoul searching in five easy pieces, a 2009 video piece with rafelsonbbstory, a 2009 documentary about the legendary film company bbs productions, with rafelson actors jack nicholson, karen black, and ellen burstyn directors peter bogdanovich and henry jaglom and othersdocumentary from 2009 about bbs featuring critic david thomson and historian douglas brinkleyaudio excerpts from a 1976 afi interview with rafelsontheatrical trailer and teasersplus an essay by critic kent jones