Excellent!

Rating: 9/10 (28 March 2012)

Based off a novel of the same name, One flew over the cuckoo's nest provides an interesting look at the lives of a group people living in an insane asylum. Life in the asylum changes when Randle McMurray, a memorable performance from Jack Nicholson, arrives and turns the place on its ear.
The central piece to this story is the performance of Jack Nicholson. It is almost easy to forget that Nicholson was such a great actor in his prime. Some actors, unfortunately, sometimes become caricatures of themselves as they age under the Hollywood spotlight, with Nicholson falling into this category at times. This film, however, highlights the wonderful acting ability that Nicholson possesses. Playing the charmingly deranged Randle McMurray, Nicholson gives the character a level of likability that makes us forget, at times, that his character is actually a criminal guilty of violent crimes, which ended up earning Nicholson an Oscar win for Best Actor.
Director Milos Forman stated that he wanted to use unknown actors in the parts of the asylum inmates, with the exception of McMurray, who he wanted to use someone with some star power. His reasoning being that it would make the film more believable as the inmates started rallying around McMurray. While much of the cast may have been unknown at the time, some well-known names emerged from this film such as Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Vincent Schiavelli, Michael Berryman, and a superb performance from Brad Dourif as the troubled Billy Bibbit. Louise Fletcher also turns in great performance as the disciplinarian Nurse Ratched.
With a run time of over two hours, Forman did a great job of never letting the film sag or bog-down due to its length. He did a great job of keeping the audience engrossed in the movie throughout its entirety. There are several memorable scenes throughout, such as when McMurray is "calling" the baseball game when Nurse Ratched forbids them from watching it. A fantastically crafted movie, is one of the few to sweep the major categories at the Academy Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay, and on top of that, had several other nominations. After viewing this film for the first time, I can understand how this has stood the test of time and is still a relevant film today.