One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
A nice rest in a state mental hospital beats a stretch in the pen, right? Randle P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), a free-spirited con with lightning in his veins & glib on his tongue, fakes insanity & moves in with what he calls the "nuts." Immediately, his contagious sense of disorder runs up against numbing routine. No way should guys pickled on sedatives shuffle around in bathrobes when the World Series is on. This means war! On one side is McMurphy. On the other is soft-spoken Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), among the most coldly monstrous villians in film history. At stake is the fate of every patient on the ward.
Member Reviews
i liked it - FRISCOSAURAS
The performances are utterly Oscar-worthy and the film is worth seeing just for that. The characters in the mental hospital are very compelling and totally believable. The scenes of chaos that McMurphy provokes had me laughing in amazement. I did feel the pacing dragged in parts.The Chief of the tribe - Imperical
This movie is one of the most remarkable movies to ever be made. Spectacular performances by Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Danny DeVito, and basicially just every single person in the cast. This was probably the greatest cast for a movie ever assembled in terms of work the actors needed to perform in order to make the movie truly believable. The difficulty of creating such a variant cast gave the movie its perfection.
The last ten minutes of the film were true triumph. I won't go so far to say that it was the best ending of all time but it sure did have a very nice finishing touch. The movie assembled a good view of the 1950s medical scene with a twist of charactor and plot to give it hollywood appeal.
Lobotomy was a very serious procedure which had became barbaric later after the introduction of Thorazine in the late 50s. The procedure itself had attained a poor reputation and eventually had ceased by the early 70s basicially during the same time as the release of this movie in 1975. This movie didn't necessarily push the abandoning of the procedure but rather sported as a great piece of cinema and history of the medical society.
Enough of the history facts though, I must get back to saying how spectacular the acting was. Jack Nicholsons best performance ever to say the least puts the butter back in the popcorn only to shine strong with the power the film has conveyed. Not only was it Jack Nicholsons best it was also Milos Forman best directorial performance whos known for other well known movies like Man on the Moon, Amadeus, The People vs Larry Flynt.
In end this film has become the chief in our little tribe of a landmark films and nothing more can be said other then it was a unforgettable classic.The System. - cathyottawa
I don't always find the descriptors Zip uses very accurate or well written - but this one is bang on.
This does indeed draw paralells to society at large, with Nurse Ratched (best character name ever) representing the old school "Establishment" in her need for order, unearned respect, and political correctness.
Nicholson (McMurphy) is the hippie generation, who dares to question authority, and call a spade a spade. He recognizes immediately that most of these inmates aren't clinically crazy at all. He comes to care for them more than Nurse Ratched or anyone in the asylum, and he tries to show them that they should be questioning the powers that be that told them they were nuts.
Each looking to win the loyalty of the inmates, Ratched and McMurphy fall into a war of wills, with McMurphy sacrificing his own opportunities for escape in caring too much about the others, and Ratched utterly forgetting why she is there and what's in the best interest of her patients as she tries to get the better of McMurphy.
Kirk Douglas bought the rights to this film, and played McMurphy on stage - but by the time he convinced a studio to finance the film, he was too old for the part. He passed the rights to Micheal Douglas, who produced the movie (I wonder why he didn't take the role?)
Point of interest - Actors who were offered, or considered for the role of McMurphy - Marlon Brando, James Caan, Gene Hackman, Burt Reynolds (!).
Member Reviews
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i liked it - FRISCOSAURAS
The performances are utterly Oscar-worthy and the film is worth seeing just for that. The characters in the mental hospital are very compelling and totally believable. The scenes of chaos that McMurphy provokes had me laughing in amazement. I did feel the ...The Chief of the tribe - Imperical
This movie is one of the most remarkable movies to ever be made. Spectacular performances by Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Danny DeVito, and basicially just every single person in the cast. This was probably the greatest cast for a movie ever assembled ...The System. - cathyottawa
I don't always find the descriptors Zip uses very accurate or well written - but this one is bang on.
This does indeed draw paralells to society at large, with Nurse Ratched (best character name ever) representing the old school "Establishment" in her ...