Carnal Knowledge (Mike Nichols, 1971)

What the hell happened to Mike Nichols? The director once delivered consistent films that held up a mirror to American bourgeoisie society with such poignant fare as The Graduate and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, but that was before his bite became gummy with film s like Heartburn and What Planet Are You From? Written by Jules Feiffer (Little Murders), Carnal Knowledge was the first pairing of Nichols with actor Jack Nicholson. He plays Jonathan Fuerst, a frustrated Lothario who plays “bad boy” to his friend Sandy’s “nice guy.” In only his second feature film (the first being Nichols’s Catch-22), Art Garfunkel turns in a terrific performance as Sandy.

Also in the mix are Susan (Candice Bergen) and Bobbie (Ann-Margret) as the major women in Jonathan’s life. The fights between Jonathan and Bobbie are absolutely intense. Nicholson pulls out all the stops as he goes off the handle, showing how great of an actor he could be before he gave it up for a career in self-parody. — Mike White

Tags: Carnal Knowledge, Jack Nicholson, Mike Nichols, Ann-Margaret, Candice Bergen, Art Garfunkel