One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

• Year: 1975
• Released: 19 Nov 1975
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Won 5 Oscars. 38 wins & 16 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073486/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoos_Nest
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Drama
• Runtime: 133 min
• Writer: Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman, Ken Kesey
• Director: Milos Forman
• Cast: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Michael Berryman
• Keywords: based on novel or book, friendship, hospital, nurse, oregon, usa,

	8.7/10
	84/100
	93% – Critics
	96% – Audience

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Storyline

1963. With a few months left in his sentence, thirty-eight year old convict Randall Patrick McMurphy – “Mac” – serving time for several assaults and statutory rape, has just been transferred from a labor camp associated with Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton to a psychiatric hospital. Mac has been able to use acting “crazy” – having a belligerent and smart-alecky attitude and anti-authoritarian behavior – to his benefit in not having to do any work. He is at the hospital as the authorities at Pendleton want him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to prove he is not crazy, believing this is all an act to get out of work. He believes this stint will get him out of any more work while he serves out the remainder of his sentence. He is placed in a ward with a group of men who have differing degrees of lucidity and control of their mental faculties. He continues to behave in the same manner as always to get what he wants, using the other patients either as accessories or things for his own amusement. He adds to his list of goals to do anything to annoy the ward’s tyrannical head nurse, Miss Mildred Ratched, whose seeming want is to break the spirit of any of the men in her care. In his battle with Nurse Ratched, Mac eventually tries to help the men get a voice of their own while in the hospital, and for some for their eventual return to the outside world.

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Movie Reviews

A wonderful film

Before I discuss this exceptional film, I need to point out that there is a lot of truth to this film if you are looking for what it was like in psychiatric hospitals in the 1950s and into the 60s. The hellish practices and dehumanization was definitely true of many facilities during this era. However, today, many of the horrific abuses are no longer relevant. So, while some will point to this film as proof that psychiatry in general is evil personified (such as the Scientologists), for the most part, this isn’t the case today. Shock treatment is rarely done today and when it is, it’s nothing like it is portrayed in the film and it actually has therapeutic value when all else fails. Lobotomies are also thankfully a thing of the past. So, while debating the pros and cons of hospitalization and medications is reasonable today, don’t assume the film is in any way like psychiatric institutions today–many of which have been closed or severely reduced in size as well as the length of stay of the average patient.

The film begins with a cocky sociopathic criminal, McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), being sent to a psychiatric hospital from prison. It seems McMurphy thinks that by “playing crazy” he’ll have an easier time and shorter stay in a hospital instead of prison. However, over time, he comes to see that a mental hospital is a pretty sick place–particularly when it comes to the crazy staff who run the place. McMurphy responds to this system by constantly fighting it and trying to subvert their needless rules and control. Some of this is very funny (such as the fishing trip) and you can understand why he would fight the oppressive ways of the hospital. In the end, however, the system ultimately crushes him like so many others. The conclusion is certainly something you won’t forget!

Although Jack Nicholson was great in the film as were the rest of the ensemble cast, the star in the film was Louise Fletcher. She played the coldest and most awful nurse in the history of film. Her tough performance truly made the film. Otherwise, if she hadn’t been so utterly devoid of humanity, the film just wouldn’t have worked. Oddly, the film’s producers had a hard time accepting her for the job–and she was the last one cast in the film.

Exceptional in every way–the writing, acting and direction. The only reservation I have regards the misuse of the film by anti-psychiatry groups. However, I am glad the film was made as the abuses of the industry need to be understood and not forgotten.

So much good about this movie…

What an amazing movie! I cannot begin to describe how good One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is, the whole film has the word classic written all over it. The production values are of top notch quality, and Jack Nitzsche’s music is excellent. The film also has a brilliant script, superb direction from Milos Forman(who also directed one of my other favourite movies Amadeus) and a compelling story. The pace is spot on, and there are many memorable scenes especially the very poignant yet harrowing ending. The characters all add a lot to the film, especially Nurse Ratched who is oppressive and terrifying. The cast are all terrific, Jack Nicholson is superb in one of his best roles and Louise Fletcher is just unforgettable as Nurse Ratched. Among the supporting cast are Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd and Brad Douif, all great. So overall, I cannot fault One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, it is considered not only one of the best of the 70s but one of the best ever, and it deserves that reputation. 10/10 Bethany Cox

The Ultimate Backfire

It took a dozen years for One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest to make it to the big screen from Broadway. In 1962 Kirk Douglas made his one and only return to Broadway to star as Randall P. McMurphy on stage with Joan Tetzel as his nemesis, nurse Ratched. Douglas bought the screen rights, but by the time anyone was interested in doing the film version, Kirk was too old for the part.

That may have been a break for the movie fans because as much as I like Kirk Douglas, I can’t see anyone but Jack Nicholson doing this role as the free spirited McMurphy. McMurphy’s a low level career criminal type who statutorily raped a girl as he put it ’15 going on 35′. He decides to fake a crazy act while in prison to get out of the work farm he’s assigned to.

So Nicholson’s goes to the mental hospital where he meets an odd assortment of people whom he discovers voluntarily checked themselves in there, mainly because it’s easier to stay there and not take all your psychological baggage into society. That’s a crucial difference that Nicholson finds out the hard way, his new friends most of them can pack up and leave anytime they want. He’s sent there by the state and the state determines when he’s ready to go even if it’s past the allotted jail time he was sentenced to.

The state in this case is Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched, one of the great Dickensian names ever given a movie character. Louise is the ultimate control freak and these people who’ve shut themselves away from life are her ultimate tools. When Nicholson comes in, he hasn’t given up on life like the rest of these poor souls, he becomes a threat to Fletcher’s little empire.

It’s hard to believe that such a smart guy like McMurphy would not have known the rules about commitment. Still it doesn’t detract a bit from the overall quality of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.

Though the topic is not a fixed one to any era, the script does leave many oblique references to the Sixties in the film. The electroshock treatment and the lobotomy operations depicted here were by 1975 no longer in use. They were pretty barbaric and the mental health profession discarded these, but not before too many lives were shattered with them.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest swept the main Oscar categories, it won for Best Picture, Best Director for Milos Forman, Best Actor for Jack Nicholson, Best Actress for Louise Fletcher and Best Adapted Screenplay to Lawrence Hauban and Bo Goldman. Brad Dourif was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but he lost to George Burns in The Sunshine Boys.

Louise Fletcher never got the career mileage she should have for playing Nurse Ratched. It took her years, but she did get another career role in television as the ruler of Bejor, Kai Winn on Star Trek Deep Space Nine.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is one timeless classic, it will be popular a millenia from now.