Five Easy Pieces (1970)

The 1970 film "Five Easy Pieces" stars Jack Nicholson as Robert Dupea, a former concert pianist who now leads a dull life as an oil worker living the same daily routine. Just when he can't bear it any longer, he gets a phone call from his sister that his father is ill, and he sets out on a road trip with his girlfriend Rayette (Karen Black) to Washington State to reunite with the family and life he left behind. The later half of the film is set in the large family home in what is supposed to be the San Juan Islands. However, all of these scenes were in fact filmed on central Vancouver Island just a few hours to the north.

Robert boards the ferry in Brentwood Bay, northwest of Victoria on Vancouver Island.

The ferry he rides on is the M/V Mill Bay, still in use on this same run today.

We also see Robert unload from the ferry on the Mill Bay side, where he stops his car and holds up traffic.

The family's island retreat was filmed in an old historic home further north from Brentwood Bay on Vancouver Island off Highway 17A. The mansion was torn down recently, but it was located at 8080 West View Road off McPhail Road in Central Saanich.

The final scene at the highway gas station where Robert hitches a ride on a logging truck was filmed further north on Vancouver Island, on Highway 1 (Trans-Canada Highway) just north of Westholme. All of the buildings visible in the film have since been torn down.

GPS Coordinates:

48.876067,-123.706788