A Pretty Decent Interpretation

Rating: 7/10 (24 May 2018)

The movie, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" directed Milos Forman in 1975, is an interesting interpretation based off the book and should receive a 7.1 out of 10. I will first start with the negatives of this movie that brought its score down a bit. As director Milos Forman did make it his own by changing up the script from the book, I think this negatively affected the movie. I feel as though Chief wasn't as involved in parts of the movie, and it makes it odd when he and McMurphy all of a sudden strike up an unlikely friendship. This would have been explained a lot better if Chief would've been allowed to go on the fishing trip and start bonding with the guys a little more. Also, Cheswick does not die in the movie, and the other inmates do not leave the ward at the end as they do in the book. I feel as though this takes away from the harsh life of the ward and the reason why McMurphy wanted out so bad in the end. What "OFOTCN" lacked in plot, it made up for in casting. The actors in this movie were quite fabulous. Jack Nicholson made a perfect McMurphy in my opinion and Will Sampson was the Chief I had pictured in my head all along. The movie kept excelling with its cast by sprinkling in actors such as Danny Devito as Martini, Christopher Lloyd as Taber, and Brad Dourif as Billy Bibbit. These actors fit their own "insane" quirks with perfection and couldn't have done a better job. "OFOTCN" kept the excellence going with its special effects. Lastly, I believe that the special effects in this movie exceeded its 1975 dating. Usually when one watches an older movie like this, you can see the cheesy special effects come into play. I thought that the boat scene with the water splashing everywhere was done very well. Also, all of the blood that came into play in the movie was very well done and didn't look fake as it so often does. In conclusion, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was a above average film by a slight margin. If someone asked me the exact words I would use to describe the quality of this movie, I would promptly say that it was "pretty decent," no more, no less.