Editing Five Easy Pieces (section)

===Critical response===

''Five Easy Pieces'' opened to positive reviews. It currently holds an 89% positive rating on online review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]], based on 55 reviews, with an average rating of 8.60/10. The site's consensus states: "An important touchstone of the [[New Hollywood]] era, ''Five Easy Pieces'' is a haunting portrait of alienation that features one of Jack Nicholson's greatest performances."<ref>{{cite web|title=''Five Easy Pieces''|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/five_easy_pieces/| website=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=September 12, 2023}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] gave the film four out of four stars, describing it as "one of the best American films" and "a masterpiece of heartbreaking intensity" and deeming Bobby Dupea "one of the most unforgettable characters in American movies."<ref>{{cite web|title=Five Easy Pieces|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/five-easy-pieces-1970|date=January 1, 1970|last=Ebert|first=Roger|author-link=Roger Ebert|access-date=July 31, 2019|website=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |via=RogerEbert.com}}</ref> Ebert named it the best film of 1970, and later added it to his "[[The Great Movies|Great Movies]]" list.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ebert |first=Roger |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-five-easy-pieces-1970 |title=Five Easy Pieces |date=March 16, 2003 |website=RogerEbert.com}}</ref>

In a mixed review, critic [[John Simon (critic)|John Simon]] criticized ''Five Easy Pieces'' for its "pretentiousness" but praised the performances of Karen Black, Lois Smith, and Billy Green Bush.<ref>{{cite book |title=Reverse Angle |url=https://archive.org/details/reverseangledeca0000simo |url-access=registration |last1=Simon|first1=John |publisher=Crown Publishers Inc. |year=1982 |page=[https://archive.org/details/reverseangledeca0000simo/page/22 22]|isbn=9780517544716 }}</ref>

The February 2020 issue of ''[[New York Magazine]]'' lists ''Five Easy Pieces'' as among "The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars."<ref>{{cite news|title=The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars|url=https://www.vulture.com/article/best-oscar-best-picture-losers.html|magazine=[[New York Magazine]]|access-date=March 17, 2025}}</ref>

In 2022 retrospective review, Polish writer Jacek Szafranowicz called the film "flawless" and "one of the masterpieces of the New Hollywood era".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ponapisach.pl/2022/01/piec-latwych-utworow.html|title = Pięć łatwych utworów|date = January 28, 2022 |language=pl |website=ponapisach.pl |first=Jacek |last=Szafranowicz}}</ref>