AAfter Catherine breaks it off with Bobby and his attempts to talk with his father end with him in tears, Bobby and Rayette decide to head back home. Along the way, Rayette attempts to get amorous with Bobby, but he pushes her away. They stop at a gas station to fill up the tank, and Rayette asks for change so that she can go inside for a cup of coffee. Bobby hands her his entire wallet, then goes to the men's room where he stares at himself pensively in the mirror for a long time. When he goes back outside, he notices that a logging truck has pulled up. He talks to the driver for a moment, then hops into the cab with him. The driver wonders whether Bobby has a coat, but Bobby replies that it burned up in the fire along with everything else of his. The trucker offers him a spare jacket, because 'where we're going, it's gonna get colder than hell.' They then drive out of the station and head north on the highway. In the final scene, Rayette wanders around the parking lot looking for Bobby, but the logging truck is far up the road already.
QWhere is Bobby headed in the end?
AThe trucker's comment about it going to get 'colder than hell' suggests that they are headed north out of Washington, which could take him either to Canada or Alaska. Bobby's mention to Tita (at the recording studio) that, after visiting his dad, he'll probably head to Canada, and the two hitchhikers' focus on Alaska as being 'clean' makes either place equally as likely.
QWhat is 'Five Easy Pieces' about?
ATrained as a concert pianist, Robert 'Bobby' Dupea (Jack Nicholson) turned his back on his rich, intellectual family and on a promising career in order to work in the oil fields, go bowling, drink beer with his friend Elton (Billy Green Bush), and take up with Rayette (Karen Black), a not-so-bright waitress. Still, he doesn't find this life satisfying either. When Bobby learns from his sister Partita (Lois Smith), also a classical pianist, that their father has suffered two strokes and may not recover, Bobby decides that it's time to visit his estranged family. With Rayette in tow, Bobby makes the trip back to Puget Sound, Washington only to find that he's as big a misfit in the rich, intellectual world of his family as he is in the working-class world.
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