The Star with the Killer Smile

Lining up a free throw against the Lakers, Walt Frazier is weighing the basketball in his hands, letting things simmer just a minute. He is about to let go and he hears a voice, loud and gleeful, come right out of the stands clear across to him: "Hey, man—you're the fourth-best guard in the league right now, and you ain 't movin' up 'till somebody dies!" Frazier blows the shot right there.

The deep-dish whammy comes from a Lakers fanatic, bravura bench jockey and this year's monster movie star, Jack Nicholson. He is...