Script To Screen: “Five Easy Pieces”

The famous ‘hold the chicken’ scene from Five Easy Pieces (screenplay by Carole Eastman, story by Carole Eastman and Bob Rafelson).

Setup: Bobby (Jack Nicholson) with some traveling companions wants to order a meal at a diner… and he knows exactly what he wants.

                INT. ROADSIDE CAFE - DAY
		
		All four are seated at a booth. The women have
		given their orders and a WAITRESS stands above
		Bobby, waiting for his:
		
					BOBBY
				(looking at his menu)
			I'll have an omelette, no potatoes.
			Give me tomatoes instead, and wheat
			toast instead of rolls.
		
		The waitress indicates something on the menu with
		the butt of her pencil.
		
					WAITRESS
			No substitutions.
		
					BOBBY
			What does that mean? You don't have
			any tomatoes?
		
					WAITRESS
				(annoyed)
			No. We have tomatoes.
		
					BOBBY
			But I can't have any. Is that what
			you mean?
		
					WAITRESS
			Only what's on the menu...
				(again, indicating  with
				her pencil)
			A Number Two: Plain omelette. It
			comes with cottage fries and rolls.
		
					BOBBY
			I know what it comes with, but
			that's not what I want.
		
					WAITRESS
			I'll come back when you've made up
			your mind...
		
		She starts to move away and Bobby detains her.
		
					BOBBY
			Wait, I've made up my mind. I want
			a plain omelette, forget the
			tomatoes, don't put potatoes on the
			plate, and give me a side of wheat
			toast and a cup of coffee.
		
					WAITRESS
			I'm sorry, we don't have side
			orders of toast. I can give you an
			English muffin or a coffee roll.
		
					BOBBY
			What do you mean, you don't have
			side orders of toast? You make
			sandwiches, don't you?
		
					WAITRESS
			Would you like to talk to the
			manager?
		
					PALM
			Hey, mack!
		
					BOBBY
				(to Palm)
			Shut up.
				(to the waitress)
			You have bread, don't you, and a
			toaster of some kind?
		
					WAITRESS
			I don't make the rules.
		
					BOBBY
			Okay, I'll make it as easy for you
			as I can. Give me an omelette,
			plain, and a chicken salad sandwich
			on wheat toast -- no butter, no
			mayonnaise, no lettuce -- and a cup
			of coffee.
		
		She begins writing down his order, repeating it
		sarcastically:
		
					WAITRESS
			One Number Two, and a chicken sal
			san -- hold the butter, the mayo,
			the lettuce -- and a cup of
			coffee... Anything else?
		
					BOBBY
			Now all you have to do is hold the
			chicken, bring me the toast, charge
			me for the sandwich, and you
			haven't broken any rules.
		
					WAITRESS
				(challenging him)
			You want me to hold the chicken.
		
					BOBBY
			Yeah. I want you to hold it between
			your knees.
		
		The other three laugh, and the waitress points to a
		"Right to Refuse" sign above the counter.
		
					WAITRESS
			You see that sign, sir?!
		
		Bobby glances over at it, then back to her.
		
					WAITRESS (CONT'D)
			You'll all have to leave, I'm not
			taking any more of your smartness
			and your sarcasm!
		
		He smiles politely at her, then:
		
					BOBBY
			You see this sign?
		
		He reaches his arm out and "clears" the table for
		her.

Here is the scene in the movie:

Nicholson plays the scene almost exactly as written and you can feel the tension rising throughout. Here’s some background on the scene from Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson. Turns out Nicholson actually swept a table of all the drinks in a real-life situation. Color me Not Surprised!

I’ll see you in comments for a discussion of this terrific scene from Five Easy Pieces.

One of the single best things you can do to learn the craft of screenwriting is to read the script while watching the movie. After all a screenplay is a blueprint to make a movie and it’s that magic of what happens between printed page and final print that can inform how you approach writing scenes. That is the purpose of Script to Screen, a weekly series on GITS where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it.

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