Watching "About Schmidt" recently (for the first time), I thought "this must be one of Jack Nicholson's very best performances". This then led me to wonder how good he really is, given that he is a Hollywood acting legend. Off the top of my head, his great performances going back nearly 48 years are:
Five Easy Pieces
Chinatown
The Last Detail
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Shining (personally I find it rather hammy and I just see Jack Nicholson rather than Jack Torrance the character, but people seem to like it)
The Witches of Eastwick (weak film but he IS good)
Batman (hammy again)
The Pledge
About Schmidt
This doesn't seem much. Let me know what I am missing; there are certainly a good few I haven't seen or don't remember well, some of which could be promising or worth a revisit, but at the same time there's a lot where he's just phoning it in. Again off the top of my head and in the wrong order probably (and skipping a few silly things like Mars Attacks):
Goin' South (seen but don't really remember)
Carnal Knowledge (ditto)
The Missouri Breaks (ditto)Terms of Endearment (good BUT not really a lead, and anyway massively overshadowed by Debra Winger)
Prizzi's Honor (phoning it in)
Broadcast News (extended cameo, not carrying the film so not really included in the argument)
The Two Jakes ("meh")
Hoffa - not seen
A Few Good Men - not seen but again a bit of an extended cameo from what I hear
The Crossing Guard - have not seen but heard good things about it
Wolf - not seen, interested though
As Good As It Gets - seemed a bit of coasting it, rehashing old performances
The Departed - again "meh", he was just kind of "in it".
Those were off the top of my head
A quick peep on the Internet reminds me of some more.
The Passenger - not seen, intrigued, have heard good things
The Border - saw it many decades ago but nothing memorable
The Postman Always Rings Twice - intrigued, could be a great one
Heartburn - saw decades ago before I could appreciate the potential maturity of such a film. Maybe worth a revisit
Ironweed - never seen. Promising.