Jack's well-deserved Oscar-winning role is top drawer in my book!

Rating: 10/10 (17 November 2006)

Is it any wonder that this film won Jack Nicholson his first Oscar? What a performance, I couldn't rave about it enough.
The main thing I loved about this movie was how it was actually filmed in a mental institution, with actual mental patients. I thought this really reflected on the actors' performances, and gave it that extra element of realism.
Nicholson's McMurphy is quite possibly one of the most interesting characters I've ever watched in a film. He has wit, charisma and no doubt charm but you can also sense real emotion there. He's not afraid to speak his mind and you can almost sense his desperation to be liked by his fellow patients. He's somewhat a force of nature and he likes to think he's being influential to the others.
Louise Fletcher was a fantastic contrast to Jack, playing the disdainful Miss Ratched effortlessly. You could really sense the hostility between her and Nicholson. Nurse Ratched has been respected and feared in the hospital for a long while-that is obvious-and when McMurphy comes into the ward and disrupts her regime it knocks her off balance and causes her to resent him. However, she doesn't outwardly show her hatred of him through words, she shows it through her actions. What I admired about Fletcher's performance was how she always managed to sustain that cool, icy exterior throughout, and it made you never really know what she was thinking. Then her Nurse Ratched would do, or say something, or have a reaction to something that completely shocks you. It truly says something about Fletcher's acting ability when she makes you hate this woman so much for the way in which she treats the patients (and the scary thing is, she thinks she's doing them good) and yet still want to understand her motivation and why she does what she does. The horrific way in which she taunts Billy after she finds him with Candy is devastating, and you can't take your eyes off the screen. Nicholson's reactions to her quiet taunts and his expression towards Billy, a mixture of confusion and pity, makes one of the best scenes of the film.
One of the key elements of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' is that it is supposed to imply that McMurphy represents freedom in the inmates' eyes. They may not be committed to the ward, most of them, but they still feel like they cannot escape this dull, dreary routine of group discussions and card games. McMurphy brings life into the ward, he makes the patients see that they're not crazy, that they do belong in the outside world, that they're just like everybody else outside on the street. The scene in which Nicholson tries to reach out to the inmates and explain this to them brings tears to the eyes and makes you laugh at the same time-very rare in a movie, but in turn makes powerful drama.
There are so many moments, and so many quotes, I love in this movie, particularly the whole World Series sequence. There's just so much energy in the character of McMurphy, you can't help but be transfixed. The only drawback being after I watched the film I found it hard to shut off from some of the more emotional scenes, however, I still find it one of the most effective and touching films I have seen.
The fantastic Milos Forman, Michael Douglas and of course Nicholson and Fletcher well deserved their Oscars. Best Picture of 1975? I would say so!