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Jack Nicholson is singular for many reasons, but one of his most fascinating attributes is that he was commercially bulletproof. Don't get me wrong, Nicholson made a flop here and there, but there was never a sense with the star that he needed a hit. Even when he was slumping, everyone figured Nicholson would get it straightened out one way or another. He was just too damn appealing to not score a hit once every few years.

If Nicholson was ever kinda-sorta in trouble, it was probably in 1977. Yes, he was only two years removed from winning Best Actor Oscar for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (which was an incredibly competitive year), but he was more immediately on the hook for two box office bombs in Arthur Penn's "The Missouri Breaks" (a pricey Western that paired him with...

Jack Nicholson was the epitome of the New Hollywood movie star. He broke through via the cultural earthquake that was "Easy Rider," and quickly established himself as a guarantor of quality filmmaking thanks to his star turns in "Five Easy Pieces," "Carnal Knowledge" and "The Last Detail." As the revolutionary spirit of the New Hollywood movement faded, Nicholson found himself becoming more of a traditional leading man in more traditional films like "The Postman Always Rings Twice," "Terms of Endearment" and "Prizzi's Honor." He worked in spurts, taking breaks here and there, but he was never gone for long — which is why his 14-year absence from our screens (save for the occasional Los Angeles Lakers game appearance) feels so notable. And sad.

While we let Nicholson enjoy his retirement, we've no shortage of classics, near-classics, and assorted oddities to remind us how great he could be when he was at...

As the social and political turmoil of 1960s America spilled into the 1970s, network television executives and producers knew they could no longer ignore the thorny issues being argued over kitchen tables and at work/school. The Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Equal Rights Amendment, etc. were driving a wedge between families and neighbors. So when Norman Lear trotted out the unrepentant bigot Archie Bunker on "All in the Family" in 1971, many people in the country felt seen. And while they might not agree on the hot-button topics explored on this show, they could at least laugh through their many disagreements.

There came a point, however (somewhere between President Richard M. Nixon's resignation and the end of the Vietnam War), where television viewers grew weary of all these socially conscious sitcoms. Yes, they were still watching them in huge numbers, but they needed a break from the nonstop tumult of their lives.

If Jane Austen were alive today, and if for some baffling reason she wrote film criticism instead of brilliant novels, she'd probably say it is a truth universally acknowledged that a film that makes a fortune must be in want of a sequel.

Sure enough, no matter how much the industry changes, the desire to capitalize on a hit film by making another one just like it, rubber-stamped for audience familiarity, must be overwhelming. The history of cinema is littered with sequels and for each one that audiences remember — for better or worse — there's at least one that's almost completely forgotten, even if they're the sequel to a film that won Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

Indeed, there are more forgotten Best Picture sequels than you might expect. George C. Scott reprised his Oscar-winning role as General George S. Patton 16 years later, in the TV movie "The Last Days of Patton.

Larry McMurtry, who won an Oscar for penning Brokeback Mountain, earned a nomination for The Last Picture Show and authored books that spawned Emmy winner Lonesome Dove and Best Picture Oscar winner Terms of Endearment, died Thursday of heart failure. He was 84. The news was confirmed to media outlets by family spokeswoman and 42West CEO Amanda Lundberg.

McMurtry — whose son is the singer-songwriter James McMurtry — won the Pulitzer Prize for writing Lonesome Done, which became a popular 1989 CBS miniseries and spawned a sequel and a syndicated series, and was awarded the 2014 National Humanities Medal by President Obama.

McMurtry’s 1975 book Terms of Endearment became the 1983 film from writer-director-producer James L. Brooks. Starring MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Jeff Daniels and John Lithgow, the pic was a commercial smash and led all films with 11 Oscar noms. Along with Best Pictrure, it earned Academy Awards for Shirley MacLaine, Nicholson and...

Larry McMurtry, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer whose novels, such as “The Last Picture Show,” “Terms of Endearment” and “Lonesome Dove,” were turned into award-winning films and who won an Oscar for co-adapting “Brokeback Mountain,” has died, according to The New York Times. He was 84.

A spokesperson for McMurtry’s family confirmed his death to The New York Times. No cause of death was given.

McMurtry and his frequent collaborator Diana Ossana penned “Brokeback Mountain” based on Annie Proulx’s short story, taking the Western genre in which McMurtry so frequently worked in a new direction: a gay love story. The film saw this theme welcomed by large mainstream audiences for the first time and also won the Oscar for best director and was nominated for best picture.

McMurtry also shared a 1973 Oscar nomination with Peter Bogdanovich for the adaptation of McMurtry’s novel “The Last Picture Show.”

With William D.

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars and not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones they made in between.

Today we tackle legend Jack Nicholson, a movie star who has got enough B-Sides to warrant a handful of episodes. We bring back one of our favorite guests to do the job: Katherine Clark Gray, playwright & screenwriter for Uncompromised Creative as well as podcast writer for “Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman”.

The films we cover today include: The Two Jakes, Man Trouble, The Evening Star, The Pledge and How Do You Know. We discuss Jack Nicholson and Robert Towne’s failed hopes for a third Chinatown movie, the insane amount of money Jack was paid for How Do You Know and why his performance in The Pledge is one of the best he’s ever given.

Clement von Franckenstein, the urbane British actor who portrayed the president of France opposite Michael Douglas and Annette Bening in The American President, has died. He was 74.

Von Franckenstein died of hypoxia on Thursday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, filmmaker Gabriel Murray told The Hollywood Reporter. He had been in an induced coma for 10 days.

He also had roles in Lionheart (1990), starring Jean-Claude van Damme; in Death Becomes Her (1992), with Meryl Streep; in The Evening Star (1996), with Shirley MacLaine; and in Hail, Caesar! (2016), with George Clooney.

And he appeared as himself in Henry Jaglom's ...

Clement von Franckenstein, the urbane British actor who portrayed the president of France opposite Michael Douglas and Annette Bening in The American President, has died. He was 74.

Von Franckenstein died of hypoxia on Thursday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, filmmaker Gabriel Murray told The Hollywood Reporter. He had been in an induced coma for 10 days.

He also had roles in Lionheart (1990), starring Jean-Claude van Damme; in Death Becomes Her (1992), with Meryl Streep; in The Evening Star (1996), with Shirley MacLaine; and in Hail, Caesar! (2016), with George Clooney.

And he appeared as himself in Henry Jaglom's ...

Shirley MacLaine affirmed her commitment to making films about older people as she accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Texas Film Awards. “I am so thrilled now at my age to be part of the independent film world,” she said. “I want to thank you for reminding me that I am not going anywhere, and anyway I would come back right away.”

In his introductory remarks, Austin-bred filmmaker Richard Linklater touted “Terms of Endearment,” “The Evening Star,” and his own more recent film, “Bernie,” as three Texas films starring MacLaine that made her “an honorary Texan.”

Read More: SXSW 2017: 13 Must-See Films At This Year’s Festival

The beloved actress opened her acceptance speech with a political joke, suggesting that Austin progressives “Should build a wall around this city.” Taking a more serious turn, the actress affirmed her commitment to making films that “serve the quadrant that is forgotten and underserved,...

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More Best Picture Oscar winners have had sequels than you may think. This lot, in fact...

There’s still an element of snobbery where sequels to certain films is concerned. Whereas it’s now almost compulsory to greenlight a blockbuster with a view of a franchise in mind, it’s hard to think of most Best Picture Oscar winners being made with a follow-up in mind. Yet in perhaps a surprising number of cases, a sequel – or in the case of Rocky, lots of sequels – have followed.

These cases, in fact…

All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)

Followed by: The Road Back

Don’t be fooled into thinking sequels for prestigious movies are a relatively new phenomenon. Lewis Milestone’s 1930 war epic All Quiet On The Western Front, and its brutal account of World War I, is still regarded as something of a classic. A solid box office success,...

Does Hollywood try to remake/sequelize/franchise-extend every single one of its successful movies? Sometimes it feels that way, but there’s a little more nuance to studio practices than that. If you’re looking for meaning in this summer’s blockbuster season – not always easy – you could call it Dr. JurassicMax or How Hollywood Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Reboot. Rebooting franchises isn’t as common, well-received, or lucrative as you might think. Today let’s look briefly at the history of the reboot – and how this summer changed it.

First, what technically counts as a reboot? One school would say that anytime the cast shuffles, it’s a reboot, meaning we’re now on the second reboot (and third iteration) of Spider-Man films. That’s pretty rare; far more often, duration between films is the deciding factor, and it just doesn’t feel right to slap...

Michael Douglas. Anthony Hopkins. Just two actors who've returned to play the parts that won them Oscars...

When Oscar glory comes knocking for a successful Hollywood actor, it must be hugely tempting when the chance arrives for them to reprise that award-winning role. But while sequels and reboots are a common enough sight in the movie industry these days, examples of stars who've returned to their Oscar-winning roles are relatively few and far between.

The reason, perhaps, is because it's so difficult to recapture the creative lightning in a bottle that led to the Oscar win in the first place. Nevertheless, some actors do occasionally take up the offer and return to the filmmaking well. And as the list below proves, the results can sometimes be highly accomplished - though seldom quite as powerful and fresh as the films they're following...

Gene Hackman

Won for: The French Connection

Played the...

I've hijacked Michael C's column this week because I have a burning question of my own to ask. 

With that hot buzz for Before Midnight from Sundance warming the expectant hearts of even the coldest cinephiles this winter (it'll win more fans in warmer temperatures next month at SXSW), I've been thinking about movie sequels. Why do we get them, how we receive them, and whether or not we need them.

The first and usually sole reason of "why" is money. Humans are creatures of habit so it's an organic reality that nearly every artform indulges in sequels (whether they're named as such or not) and has since long before "branding" was a term people without business acumen understood. Branding is so common and catch-phrasey now that even non-sequels feel like sequels. What is, for instance, each new Johnny Depp and Tim Burton collaboration but an endless series of sequels Johnny & Tim: Now.

What's Jack Nicholson's secret? Maybe it's the eyebrows, hovering like ironic quotation marks over every line reading. Maybe it's the hooded eyes, which hold the threat of danger or the promise of joviality -- you're never sure which. Same with that sharklike grin. Or maybe it's the voice, which has evolved over the years from a thin sneer to a deep rumble, but is always precisely calibrated to provoke a reaction. Put them all together, and they say: "I am a man to be reckoned with. Ignore me at your peril." Nicholson, who turns 75 on April 22, is often criticized for relying on his bag of tricks, for just showing up and doing Jack Nicholson (though indeed, he often seems to have been hired precisely for that purpose). But he's also capable of burrowing deep into a character, finding his wounded heart, and revealing the ugly truth without fear or vanity.

Darren Star, one of the executive producers of ABC's midseason series "G.C.B.," is no longer on the show's set and has been told not to communicate with the show's other EPs.

Star ("Sex and the City," "Melrose Place") is still working on the show, but any notes he has on scripts or other aspects of the show are being funneled through ABC Studios, Deadline reports, rather than going directly to creator Robert Harling and showrunners Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts.

Why? According to Deadline, Star and Harling -- a veteran screenwriter who's doing his first series -- had a falling out, in part over the way ABC was positioning "G.C.B." as a show from Star. (Harling wrote the play "Steel Magnolias" and the movie adaptation, as well as the screenplays for "The First Wives Club" and "The Evening Star," which he also directed.)

Continuing tension led...

by Max Evry

Why do we crave sequels? Is it to revisit characters we fell in love with the first time around? To see a property improved upon by new talent? Before the "Godfather"'s and "Star Wars"' of this world, there was a time when sequels were frowned upon in Hollywood. Now they are the kneejerk reaction to nearly any film that makes bank, usually within two or three years of the original’s release. Sometimes, though, it takes a little longer…

Oliver Stone’s "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" is part of a tradition of late sequels, in this case a whopping 23 years after the 1987 original, which won Michael Douglas an Oscar for his portrayal of financial shark Gordon Gekko and put Stone firmly on the map. It is a rare sequel which brings back both the original stars (including a hilarious Charlie Sheen cameo) and production...