This cult study of American alienation - one of the few US films to explore the question of class distinctions - contains a brilliant performance by Jack Nicholson as the self-tormenting misfit drifter who's in flight from middle-class rectitude and responsibility.

'I move around a lot,' he tells his paralysed father, 'not because I'm looking for anything but to get away from things that go bad if I stay.'

Not always comfortable to watch and full of suppressed (and sometimes unsuppressed) rage, the movie nonetheless earned Academy Award nominations for Best Film, Screenplay, Actor and Actress.

It also has its moments of high good humour, notably in a scene of escalating hysteria when Nicholson goes to a diner and tries to order an item not on the menu.