One of the Last Anti-Establishment Films of the 1970s

Rating: 10/10 (8 August 2007)

"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is about the triumph of the human spirit, but it's depressing as hell.
Jack Nicholson gave the last of his great performances before he started playing parodies of himself, and Louise Fletcher plays one of the screen's greatest villains, the only role this forgotten actress was really ever known for. Their battle of wills in a mental institution symbolizes the battle of humanity against oppressive authoritarianism, and if Nicholson's character happens to lose this particular battle, the movie implies, humanity is determined to win the war.
Looked at now in historical context, this film was one of the last gasps of anti-establishment film making. Vietnam was ending, American political corruption was starting to fade into memory, and the boom years of the 1980s were not far away. "Cuckoo's Nest" stands as one of the supreme examples of what made 1970s film making great.
Grade: A+