"Don't make a bit of sense to me."

Rating: 3/10 (4 January 2002)

I know I'm in the minority, but my take on this film is the exact opposite of most of the other comments here. To me, McMurphy is the villain in this film. He is not the lovable scamp whose madcap antics enliven a mental institution -- as some seem to see him. He is, rather, a destructive, evil force. He is in the institution because he is faking mental illness in order to avoid prison for statutory rape. He has no compassion or sympathy for the other patients in the ward; he uses them as pawns to get what he wants. It is his reckless behavior, and not the "evil Nurse Ratched", who brings about Billy's death. In the end, when he mets his "tragic fate," my feeling was that McMurphy is getting just what he deserves.
McMurphy is a selfish, manipulative, self-righteous s.o.b., more sociopath than rebel. Rather than being a symbol of freedom, he is the personification of the abuse of freedom, a coward who takes no responsibility for his actions and lives only for himself.
As for Nurse Ratched, to me, she is a sadly sympathetic character: a middle-aged, underpaid, under-appreciated nurse-turned-bureaucrat, apparently trapped in job for which she has no real competency. The only thing she can do is try to keep order, something which McMurphy cannot abide. Surrounded by patients she can't help, she has built up an icy wall and an iron will to retain what little power she has. This could have been a fascinating character around which a good film could have been built; McMurphy is just a devious little creep. (Plus, as a one-note heavy-handed, sexist symbol of oppression, I find the Ratched character offensive, but give kudos to Fletcher for managing to give her what little shadings she can.)
Furthermore, I find the surface story about life in a mental ward unconvincing and the underlying symbolism about freedom and oppression dishonest. And please, lets put an end to the tired crazy-people-are-saner-than-the-sane-people nonsense; it is a tired literary cliché. As for Nicholson, he chews up the scenery; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Here, I'm unimpressed. I know this film has sparked fanatical devotion, but as far as I'm concerned, it a total fraud.