Cheswick and the loonies under a microscope

Rating: 10/10 (12 February 2001)

An awesome, gripping film. Certainly the best film of the 1970's and probably my favorite ever. This film really gave me a kick in the ass. Salute to Milos Forman, the cast, and crew for turning in an intense, harrowing (but nonetheless hopeful) film that illustrates the very best and worst of people. Since there are many obvious praises (Nicholson's magnetic smart-ass that we all want to be, R.P. McMurphy, as well as the stringent Nurse Ratched, Danny DeVito's as the hilarious Martini and Christopher Lloyd's confrontational, border psychotic Taber, etc.), I think that Sidney Lassick as Charlie Cheswick is not regarded as being as important to the film as he is in actuality. I have never seen in my life a performance that is so truthful and engaging. Looking back at personal experiences with "mentally disturbed" individuals I see a Cheswick in many of them. Both Cheswick and Billy (Brad Dourif) are children in men's bodies. We see them everyday on the streets, men who are not quite tough or hard-edged enough to act as men supposedly should. Look at how Cheswick "just wants to help" or how Billy searches for acceptance under restrictive and scorning eyes. Then look at the slick, pompous yuppies on the streets and how they gave up caring about anybody but themselves long ago. Who would you rather be your buddy? These two guys represent a lot of the naivenes of being a kid that you have to destroy in growing up. Stuff that you miss when you get older. So I get sad when I see Chewick and Billy cuz I know they're the little men who don't understand authority and discipline and are thus punished for their actions. Nice guys they are. All these characters represent a distinguishing quality that makes me actually give a crap about humans. I see the faces of all these guys in countless people every time I look hard enough. RATING: 10/10 -GRIFF- p.s. I'm desperately in need of a wet nurse.