The Top 36 films of Jack Nicholson.
by jacobyjhn-18-315763 | created - 09 Aug 2011 | updated - 25 Jan 2015 | PublicSince his breakthrough performance in Easy Rider (1969), Jack Nicholson has been at the top of every acting list of the best actors in film. He is revered as one of the finest screen actors of all time. Moreover, Jack is a unique character. His persona is quirky, playful, and always interesting. His acting talent is immense and he has created many indelible screen characterizations over his long career. Here are 36 of his very best.
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1. Chinatown (1974)
R | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez
Votes: 349,494
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
R | 133 min | Drama
In the Fall of 1963, a Korean War veteran and criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies up the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco
Votes: 1,071,322 | Gross: $112.00M
3. As Good as It Gets (1997)
PG-13 | 139 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A single mother and waitress, a misanthropic author, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship after the artist is assaulted in a robbery.
Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr.
Votes: 318,143 | Gross: $148.48M
4. Prizzi's Honor (1985)
R | 130 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Two professional assassins fall in love.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Robert Loggia, John Randolph
Votes: 26,367 | Gross: $26.70M
5. The Departed (2006)
R | 151 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg
Votes: 1,420,734 | Gross: $132.38M
6. A Few Good Men (1992)
R | 138 min | Drama, Thriller
Military lawyer Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee defends Marines accused of murder. They contend they were acting under orders.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon
Votes: 287,018 | Gross: $141.34M
7. Terms of Endearment (1983)
PG | 132 min | Comedy, Drama
Follows hard-to-please Aurora looking for love and her daughter's family problems.
Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito
Votes: 65,397 | Gross: $108.42M
8. The Last Detail (1973)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.
Director: Hal Ashby | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, Otis Young, Clifton James
Votes: 27,916 | Gross: $3.19M
9. Five Easy Pieces (1970)
R | 98 min | Drama
A dropout from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.
Director: Bob Rafelson | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Billy Green Bush, Fannie Flagg
Votes: 40,484 | Gross: $19.40M
10. About Schmidt (2002)
R | 125 min | Drama
A recently retired man embarks on a journey to his estranged daughter's wedding, only to discover more about himself and life than he ever expected.
Director: Alexander Payne | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, Kathy Bates
Votes: 133,520 | Gross: $65.02M
11. The Pledge (I) (2001)
R | 124 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A retiring police detective pledges to catch the killer of a young child.
Director: Sean Penn | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Benicio Del Toro, Patricia Clarkson, Beau Daniels
Votes: 67,624 | Gross: $19.72M
12. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,105,140 | Gross: $44.02M
13. Ironweed (1987)
R | 143 min | Drama
An alcoholic drifter spends Halloween in his hometown of Albany, New York after returning there for the first time in decades.
Director: Hector Babenco | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Carroll Baker, Michael O'Keefe
Votes: 9,910 | Gross: $7.39M
14. Easy Rider (1969)
R | 95 min | Adventure, Drama
Two bikers head from L.A. to New Orleans through the open country and desert lands, and along the way they meet a man who bridges a counter-culture gap of which they had been unaware.
Director: Dennis Hopper | Stars: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Antonio Mendoza
Votes: 116,866 | Gross: $41.73M
15. The Bucket List (2007)
PG-13 | 97 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes, Beverly Todd
Votes: 259,672 | Gross: $93.47M
16. Hoffa (1992)
R | 140 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of the notorious American labor union figure Jimmy Hoffa, who organizes a bitter strike, makes deals with members of the organized crime syndicate and mysteriously disappears in 1975.
Director: Danny DeVito | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Armand Assante, J.T. Walsh
Votes: 24,770 | Gross: $24.28M
17. Reds (1981)
PG | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia, and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States.
Director: Warren Beatty | Stars: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Edward Herrmann, Jerzy Kosinski
Votes: 24,698 | Gross: $40.38M
18. Batman (1989)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure
The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being Jack Napier, a criminal who becomes the clownishly homicidal Joker.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl
Votes: 403,906 | Gross: $251.19M
19. Heartburn (1986)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Drama
She's a magazine writer who gives up her career for love and family. He's a playboy newspaper columnist who can't quite give up his old tricks. And if that combination doesn't give a relationship Heartburn, nothing will.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Jeff Daniels, Maureen Stapleton
Votes: 12,541 | Gross: $25.31M
20. The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)
R | 103 min | Drama
A daydreamer convinces his radio personality brother to help fund one of his get-rich-quick schemes.
Director: Bob Rafelson | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn, Julia Anne Robinson
Votes: 6,066
21. Something's Gotta Give (2003)
PG-13 | 128 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A swinger on the cusp of being a senior citizen with a taste for young women falls in love with an accomplished woman closer to his age.
Director: Nancy Meyers | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Keanu Reeves, Amanda Peet
Votes: 129,065 | Gross: $124.73M
22. The Border (1982)
R | 108 min | Crime, Drama
A corrupt border Agent decides to clean up his act when an impoverished woman's baby is put up for sale on the black market.
Director: Tony Richardson | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, Valerie Perrine, Warren Oates
Votes: 7,073 | Gross: $6.12M
23. The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
R | 118 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Three single women in a picturesque village have their wishes granted, at a cost, when a mysterious and flamboyant man arrives in their lives.
Director: George Miller | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer
Votes: 77,114 | Gross: $63.77M
24. Wolf (1994)
R | 125 min | Drama, Horror, Romance
Publisher Will Randall becomes a demon wolf and has to fight to keep his job.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Spader, Kate Nelligan
Votes: 60,270 | Gross: $65.01M
25. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
The sensuous wife of a roadside diner proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordid, steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.
Director: Bob Rafelson | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Jessica Lange, John Colicos, Michael Lerner
Votes: 25,749 | Gross: $12.38M
26. The Two Jakes (1990)
R | 137 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The sequel to Chinatown (1974) finds J.J. "Jake" Gittes investigating adultery and murder, and the money that comes from oil.
Director: Jack Nicholson | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, Meg Tilly, Madeleine Stowe
Votes: 15,478 | Gross: $10.01M
27. The Last Tycoon (1976)
PG | 123 min | Drama, Romance
F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel is brought to life in this story of a movie producer slowly working himself to death.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Robert De Niro, Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Jeanne Moreau
Votes: 9,571 | Gross: $1.82M
28. The Fortune (1975)
PG | 88 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
Two bumbling hustlers in the 1920s attempt to gain the fortune of an heiress. Nothing will stop them, not even murder.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Stockard Channing, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Florence Stanley
Votes: 3,156
29. Carnal Knowledge (1971)
R | 98 min | Comedy, Drama
Chronicling the lifelong sexual development of two men who meet and become friends in college.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen, Art Garfunkel, Ann-Margret
Votes: 14,875 | Gross: $28.62M
30. Blood and Wine (1996)
R | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A man who has failed as a father and husband commits a heist to make money for his fledging business, but things become complicated when his wife interferes.
Director: Bob Rafelson | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Stephen Dorff, Jennifer Lopez
Votes: 10,758 | Gross: $1.08M
31. The Crossing Guard (1995)
R | 111 min | Drama, Thriller
Freddy Gale is a seedy jeweller who has sworn to kill the drunk driver who killed his little girl.
Director: Sean Penn | Stars: Jack Nicholson, David Morse, Anjelica Huston, Robin Wright
Votes: 14,426 | Gross: $0.83M
32. How Do You Know (2010)
PG-13 | 121 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After being cut from the U.S.A. softball team and feeling a bit past her prime, Lisa finds herself evaluating her life and in the middle of a love triangle, as a corporate guy in crisis competes with her current, baseball-playing beau.
Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, Jack Nicholson
Votes: 54,585 | Gross: $30.21M
33. I'm Still Here (I) (2010)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Documents Joaquin Phoenix's transition from the acting world to a career as an aspiring rapper.
Director: Casey Affleck | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Antony Langdon, Carey Perloff, Larry McHale
Votes: 23,885 | Gross: $0.41M
34. Tommy (1975)
PG | 111 min | Drama, Musical
A psychosomatically blind, deaf, and mute boy becomes a master pinball player and, subsequently, the figurehead of a cult.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Roger Daltrey, Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Elton John
Votes: 22,607 | Gross: $34.25M
35. On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970)
G | 129 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A troubled young woman who visits a psychotherapist to help her quit smoking undergoes hypnosis and finds herself reliving a tragic Victorian romance from a past life.
Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Barbra Streisand, Yves Montand, Bob Newhart, Larry Blyden
Votes: 4,271 | Gross: $14.00M
36. The Shooting (1966)
G | 82 min | Drama, Western
A mysterious woman persuades two cowboys to help her in a revenge scheme.
Director: Monte Hellman | Stars: Millie Perkins, Jack Nicholson, Will Hutchins, Warren Oates
Votes: 6,416
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