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Modernly, a lot, I agree. Something about the hairline and jowls. But when they were both young in the 60's -- not at all.

YES, I noticed this too! Look at the imdb pics of Jack on the set of the new movie "The Departed". He looks EXACTLY like Torn. I love Jack, it's a strange sight to see him age so much in the last few years; of course he really got fat too.

I'm glad someone else sees the resemblance. In addition to the physical resemblance is a similarity in acting style. For example, Torn's masterful turn as Tom Green's exasperated dad in "Freddy Got Fingered" and Nicholson's performance as Adam Sandler's court-appointed shrink (or so we think)in "Anger Management" have a lot in common. They are forces of nature and woe be it to anyone who gets in their way. Both actors go for broke in every scene, holding nothing back, which is at the heart of why they succeed so marvelously. I look forward to a movie where they play brothers who live together. A much more REAL "Grumpy Old Men" would result. It would be a very dark comedy in which both not so gentle men do nothing but rip into each other throughout the movie. While they're terrorizing each other, we, the lucky viewers, would be laughing so hard that snot would be literally shooting out of our noses.

They would be great today as brothers.

And this discussion reminded me of something very important in their respective careers:

Around 1968, Jack Nicholson had been slogging away in American International horror movies and biker flicks for ten years, and stardom looked like it would never happen.

But then Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda invited Nicholson to play a small part in "Easy Rider" as a funny pot-smoking lawyer. The role got Nicholson an Oscar nomination (supporting) and his star was born.

The actor who was cast in that role first and quit the movie was: Rip Torn.

True!

Wow, that's interesting. Who knows what effect that had on their careers. It's obviously possible that Nicholson would have somehow broken through at some point, anyway, but it does seem like it often is that one key role that turns an actor's career around. Torn had been more successful than Nicholson up to that point. And Torn didn't do much that I was aware from the late-60s up until "The Larry Sanders Show", where he showed some comedic abilities that hadn't been apparent in earlier roles. Now he's the commissioner of Dodge Ball on GSN. So Nicholson is making over $10 million a movie and Torn is the commissioner (an honorary position, as far as I can tell) of a show on Game Show Network. Two roads diverged at the Easy Rider junction and the rest is history.

Ability plays an important part, but so does luck.

They look like long lost brothers.

"A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough." -Bruce Lee