The screenplay by Adrien Joyce (aka Carole Eastman) serves up poignant anomie and bitterly funny humor for a cast masterfully orchestrated by Bob Rafelson in this Best Picture Oscar nominee. Oil rig worker Jack Nicholson has long since forsaken his upper-class family for the lower depths, but a reunion with classical pianist sister Smith—named Best Supporting Actress by the National Society of Film Critics—cues an uneasy visit home.