I don't cry easy, but I blubbed like a girl.

Rating: 10/10 (6 December 2000)

Possibly the most powerful movie ever made; it just goes to show what you can do with a superb script and an excellent cast, without having to resort to explosions or special effects.
Jack Nicholson has never been the most consistent of actors, but if ever an Academy Award was more deserved, I'd like to see that performance. His McMurphy is quite simply the most believable and easiest to relate to character in the history of celluloid. His love for the rest of the inmates is apparent all the way through, and he's backed up superbly by Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched, Brad Dourif (whatever happened to him?) as Billy, and Will Sampson as the Chief. Even Danny De Vito puts in his best ever performance.
McMurphy's punishment is heart-breaking, as a vibrant, intelligent small-time crook is reduced to a vegetable for daring to speak the truth, while Billy's demise is all the more tragic as it is far less inevitable than McMurphy's.
I can't believe that anyone reading this hasn't yet watched the film (if not - go and watch it NOW!) but just in case - stop reading now...
All I wanted to say was the scene where the Chief smothers McMurphy and then pulls the water fountain out of it's fitting and throws is through the window to escape is probably the best scene in movie history, rivaled only by the very start of Star Wars when the Star Cruiser passes overhead.
Saying that this film is a perfect ten is to do it an injustice. I defy anyone to watch this film and not be deeply moved by it. It is a perfect example of a screenplay not needing to stick rigidly to its literary fore-runner, and for me, sets the standard for emotional dramas - a standard which no other film has yet lived up to.