One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Plot synopsis:
In 1963 Oregon, Randle Patrick McMurphy (Nicholson), a criminal who has been sentenced to a fairly short prison term, decides to have himself declared insane so he'll be transferred to a mental institution, where he expects to serve the rest of his term free of prison labor and in (comparative) comfort and luxury.His ward in the mental institution is run by an unyielding tyrant, Nurse Ratched (Fletcher), who has cowed the patients (most of whom are "voluntary" or there by choice) into dejected institutionalized submission. McMurphy becomes ensnared in a number of power games with Nurse Ratched for the hearts and minds of the patients. All the time, however, the question is just how sane any of the players in the ward actually are and whether they really belong there.Throughout his stay at the hospital, McMurphy forms friendships with his fellow patients but the bonds are deepest with two in particular: Billy Bibbit (Dourif), a suicidal, stuttering manchild whom Ratched has humiliated and dominated into a quivering mess; and "Chief" Bromden (Sampson), a 6'5" muscular Native American who has schizophrenia. Recognized by the patients in the ward as deaf, and unable to speak, they ignore him but also respect him for his enormous size. In the former, McMurphy sees a younger brother figure whom he wants to teach to have fun, while the latter is his only real confidant, as they both understand what it is like to be treated into submission.McMurphy initially insults Chief when he enters the ward, but attempts to use his size as an advantage (for example, in playing basketball, for which his height is favorable). When Mac sees how submissive the patients are under Ratched's tyrannical control, he resolves to antagonize her and undermine her authority as much as possible. At a counseling session, McMurphy proposes that the ward's work schedule be altered so that the patients can watch the World Series on television. When the 1st meeting comes to a halt under Ratched's authority, Mac takes wagers on whether he can lift the ward's marble water-treatment control panel and throw it through a window to escape and watch the Series at a bar. He naturally fails, but puts forth an extreme effort.The next discussion over changing the work detail quickly becomes a battle of wills when Ratched announces that a majority vote will be acceptable. However, Ratched, upon realizing that the vote may go McMurphy's way, deftly alters the rules, stating that votes must be taken from the Chronic and Vegetable patients . When the vote doesn't favor McMurphy, he begins to imagine the game is on TV and rallies most of the other patients behind him, causing a major ruckus.McMurphy leads the patients in a basketball game against the ward's orderlies. Chief Bromden proves to be an effective player, scoring several baskets. While the orderlies claim that the patients are cheating, McMurphy ignores their objections. While the patients later relax in the hospital pool, Mac finds out, from an orderly, that he won't be released at the end of his prison sentence, but will remain in the hospital for as long as the board and Ratched deem necessary.Another counseling session ensues and McMurphy, very upset at the orderly's revelation, finds out that he's been listed as a "committed" patient and will only be released when Ratched permits it, a highly unlikely scenario. Murphy also discovers that many of the patients in the ward are there voluntarily: they can leave any time they wish but due to Ratched's dominance, they are afraid to take the chance. McMurphy seems particularly upset that a young man like Billy remains on the ward voluntarily when he could be free and maybe enjoying his youth.The session quickly erupts in violence however, when the subject of Ratched's cigarette rationing is addressed by an upset patient named Charlie Cheswick. A fight breaks out with the orderlies and Mac, Bromden (who'd pulled Mac off one of the orderlies) and Cheswick are sent to a detention area where electro-convulsive therapy is conducted on disruptive patients. Cheswick is sent first to undergo ECT, while McMurphy and Chief wait on the bench. In the few moments they have alone, McMurphy offers Chief a piece of gum, and Chief verbally thanks him. A surprised McMurphy realizes that Chief can speak and has actually been faking his situation at the ward the whole time. McMurphy resolves to allow Chief in on his escape plan because of his hidden wisdom. Ending this scene, a more defiant McMurphy emerges from the detention area to an awaiting Nurse Ratched.Closer to Christmas McMurphy, fed up with Ratched's oppressive methods, sneaks into the nurse's station and calls his girlfriend, Candy, to bring booze and assist in his escape. She brings a girlfriend, and both enter the ward when McMurphy convinces the ward's night attendant, Mr. Turkle, to open one of the ward's secured windows. The patients drink, while Billy flirts with McMurphy's girlfriend.Later in the evening, when McMurphy and the Chief plan to finally leave, Billy, upset at Mac's departure, hints to Mac that he wants a date with Candy. Billy and Candy are given a private room and Mac boosts Billy's confidence & allows him to have sex with her. McMurphy, however, while waiting (believing the encounter will be quick), falls asleep with the rest of the patients.Nurse Ratched and the orderlies arrive in the morning to discover the patients asleep hung over. Though clearly upset and angry, she commands the orderlies to lock the open window and conduct a head count. When they discover that one patient, Billy, is missing, Ratched demands the others to reveal his whereabouts. Billy is discovered with Candy, who is immediately led out of the hospital.Ratched demands that Billy tell him who allowed him to have sex with Candy. Billy, his stutter noticeably gone, tells her that McMurphy did, and that the rest of the ward encouraged him. A passively angry Ratched then threatens to tell Billy's mother, citing her long-time friendship with her. Billy's stutter returns very quickly and, very upset, begs Ratched not to tell his mother. When she explains that he should have thought of the consequences, he breaks down into tears and is dragged away to Dr. Spivey's office, screaming. McMurphy, still in possession of Turkle's keys, unlocks one of the windows and is about to escape when Ratched's nurse assistant, Miss Pilbro, screams loudly.McMurphy and everyone else rush to Spivey's office where Billy had been led to. Having been left alone momentarily, he commits suicide, using a jagged piece of glass to slit his throat. After McMurphy sees what the ward has done to his friend and hears Ratched's orders for everyone to remain calm and return to their routine, he explodes into a violent rage, strangling Nurse Ratched until she is near death. She survives, but McMurphy is knocked unconscious by one of the orderlies and taken off the ward.Rumors float around the ward of McMurphy's fate. Some believe he'd escaped, others seem to know he was lobotomized. Late one night, McMurphy is quietly returned to his bed by orderlies. The Chief sneaks over to Mac's bed and finds him unresponsive; he also sees two scars on Mac's forehead, indicating that he'd been lobotomized. Unwilling to leave McMurphy behind, the Chief suffocates his vegetable-like friend with a pillow. He lifts the heavy marble hydrotherapy fountain that Mac was unable to before and, hurling it through a barred window, escapes to Canada.

Tags: psychological, depressing, dramatic, cult, violence, insanity, satire, claustrophobic, sadist, sentimental

Review:
But nonetheless, I was surprised at how easily the film surpassed my expectations and easily led me to understand how it merited all that praise.Based on the novel by Ken Kesey, the story follows Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), who, in an attempt to get out of spending more time in prison, pleads insanity for his crime, and is therefore sentenced to time in a mental institution.
However, he quickly finds out that surviving the institution with it's desolate patients (including Christopher Lloyd, Danny DeVito, Vincent Schiavelli and an absolutely brilliant Brad Dourif as the stuttering Billy Bibbit) and the monstrously repressive Nurse Ratchet (Louise Fletcher, in a career defining role) is considerably harder than he imagined.
His constant optimism and reckless defiance to the out of date rules in the institution can be very uplifting, and often quite funny as well, but much of the movie can be very depressing - the generally decrepit state of the institution is a consistently (and intentionally) bleak background to a superb story with a truly bittersweet ending.Jack Nicholson is at his best here, head and shoulders above other excellent performances such as in 'Chinatown' or 'As Good as it Gets'.
He makes friends with lunatics and starts his own circle of admiration within the hospital, much to the dismay of Nurse Ratched, the central authority figure in the story and one of the greatest movie villains ever.The movie exists to show not only how corrupt and poorly-constructed society's approach to the "mentally unstable" is, but it creates characters that we have all met in life and shows how the McMurphy-like figure that we all wish we had fights for freedom of choice and basic human rights.
What really impressed me was the editing, especially as far as the use of audio goes: some parts just made me go "...wow."My only complaint is that I believe the movie could've been slightly more effective if it were based more closely on the novel at certain points, but the modified point of view of the film does make a great point; anyone who has ever hated their job, been accused of something, had some person so self-righteous and convinced of their own authority and dependency on order get in your way, or attended the American public school system at any point in their life should be able to identify with this movie..
I once worked in such a hospital as a volunteer and still saw things like forced feeding, giving people so much medication until they no longer know who or where they are,...When the movie first came out, some people were shocked because when you watch the movie, you can't help it feeling more attached to the patients than to the doctors and nurses.
Her strong will to keep things monotonous leads to a final showdown with the free spirited "McMurphy" in what is easily one of the most shocking and disturbing climaxes in recent memory.ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST does not try to make a statement about mental illness or how the unstable should be treated.
The two main powerhouse performances are golden, the cinematography is morbid and gritty like it should be, the "Chief" is great as Nicholson's right hand, ah, protagonist, and you care a lot about what will happen as the film moves on.
And rightfully so, it became only the 2nd (1 in 3 films in history along with It Happened One Night and Silence of the Lambs) film to win the top five Oscars- Best Picture, Actor (Jack Nicholson), Actress (Louise Fletcher), Director (Forman), and Screenplay (Bo Goldman).The story (based on Ken Kessey's astounding, though not too similar, novel) focuses on a rowdy misfit named Randle Patrick McMurphy (Nicholson) who is put in a mental hospital with other people (some voluntarily in) who are not all there.
The central character in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" played by Jack Nicholson is also one of those characters, that wants to break the routine and even starts a revolt against the staff and nurse Ratchett in particular, in a mental institution.The movie is perhaps more comedy and entertainment than heavy drama.
The tension between the patients and the staff gets more and more notable and grows throughout the movie, which eventually leads to a 'wonderful' ending which I'm not going to spoil.Yes, Jack Nicholson is truly splendid in his role and it seemed like he was improvising all his lines and actions during the entire movie.
Viewing it again recently, I 'got' it.Set in the early 60s, the story involves R.P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) and his arrival at a mental institution in Salem, Oregon (where the film was shot).
Everything appears well at the hospital and Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) seems to be a benevolent overseer of McMurphy's ward, but there are sinister things going on beneath the surface.The movie criticizes the way institutions deal with mental illnesses.
McMurphy set him free from the shackles of mental illness and, worse, the institution that refuses to actually heal because it needs mentally ill people to exist; it only goes through the motions of caring and healing (not that there aren't any good people in such institutions, of course).No review of this film is complete without mentioning the notable character of Chief, played effectively by Will Sampson.The film runs 2 hour and 13 minutes.GRADE: A.
Jack Nicholson, who as always plays his character absolutely excellent, and makes the viewer want to hand him an Oscar himself.The supporting cast, Louise Fletcher, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, and Brad Dourif also give terrific performances.
'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975), based on the novel by Ken Kesey and directed by Milos Forman, centers around R.P McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) a prisoner serving time for the statutory rape of a 15 year old, among other things.
There, he befriends many of the other patients in the ward and attempts to break them out of the strict and monotonous routine set by Head Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher).OK, first of all, it has to be said, I had quite high expectations for this movie.
Louise Fletcher did a great job as the leading actress and strong performances by all the supporting characters made the movie brilliant.
Douglas bought the screen rights, but by the time anyone was interested in doing the film version, Kirk was too old for the part.That may have been a break for the movie fans because as much as I like Kirk Douglas, I can't see anyone but Jack Nicholson doing this role as the free spirited McMurphy.
He's sent there by the state and the state determines when he's ready to go even if it's past the allotted jail time he was sentenced to.The state in this case is Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched, one of the great Dickensian names ever given a movie character.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest swept the main Oscar categories, it won for Best Picture, Best Director for Milos Forman, Best Actor for Jack Nicholson, Best Actress for Louise Fletcher and Best Adapted Screenplay to Lawrence Hauban and Bo Goldman.
In the movie I feel that Jack nicholson, the one who plays mcmurphy in the film did an amazing job portraying who mcmurphy is.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is definitely one of those movies that would not be made the same if made today, and as far as I can tell, it is actually pretty accurate for the way mental hospitals worked at the time.
Jack Nicholson's portrayal of Randy McMurphy was fantastical, also Louis Fletcher and Brad Dourif, who surprised me very much.Until the end, I was enjoying this "must-see masterpiece" without caring about the fact I knew how it would conclude, so, when the time came, I started to feel like talking to McMurphy, literally, to make him aware of what would happen to him.
The constant mental battle between McMurphy (played brilliantly by Jack Nicholson) and nurse Ratched (played by Louise Fletcher) is a delight to watch.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a story of patients in a mental hospital and how their life was changed by R.P. McMurphy.
Overall, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a great movie with excellent characters, a well written script, an interesting, and entertaining storyline.
Jack Nicholson does an excellent job playing the role of the stubborn McMurphy, and Louise Fletcher does a good job playing the role of the mean and scary Nurse Ratched.
an iconoclastic book crafted into a brilliant but difficult movie; obvious cudos to nicholson (back when he was acting), screenplay, direction; shooting is average; oddly, was recently shown (nov '12) on tcm as part of their series on handicapped, disability in film; the strange take being that films showing demented people (or crippled people, or otherwise disabled people) are somehow off, not true, not up to par; the PC culture reigns supreme- even, according to tcm, for movies set in the 17th century, like bedlam; as though best years of our lives should not have shown homer with no hands- even though the book it's from showed him with a horrible series of much more disturbing problems; so if you approach the movie with that PC view in mind it's so flawed; on the other hand it's a tight look at the individual versus the system, the loner versus the crowd, what you think you should do even when everyone says you should not; the late 60's-early 70's message, unfortunately, is that you lose- as though it presages the coming of the nanny state, the transposing of jfk's what you can do for your country to obama's what can your country do for you;though there are many movies about asylums and dementia, this one stays almost till the end on the edge of sane or not; that's what makes it interesting.
Misses the point on virtually everything from Kesey's masterpiece, casting decisions are awful (Jack Nicholson is completely 1 dimensional), sluggishly boring attempt at redoing a book that will never work as a good movie.This amateurishly simple movie turns One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest from an exploration on the nature of the mind & sanity into just a loudmouth guy goofing off in a hospital.
One of my all time favorite films: Winner of five Oscars in all major categories (the first film since "It Happened One Night" in 1939 and only recently succeeded in 1991's "The Silence of The Lambs"): Best Actor (Nicholson in his best performance of his career); Best Actress (Fletcher); Best Picture; Best Director (Milos Forman) and Best Screenplay Adapted From Another Medium (Lawrence Hauber and Bo Goldman, based on the novel by Ken Kesey).
As Kirk Douglas read the story and wasted no time in buying it He was so exhilarated from the story that he produced a play of One flew over cuckoo nest, but it didn't get that appreciation but it was his young son who fulfilled his dream of turning this story into movie after 9years .The stage was set and the project was given to not so famous Czech native director Milos Forman.
A softened (albeit no less hard-hitting) film-adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel about sex-deviate Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) sent to a mental institution instead of prison, quickly butting heads with the stony head-nurse on his ward (a hissable Louise Fletcher playing Nurse Wretched--uh, Ratched).
Winner of five Academy Awards, director Milos Foreman's ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST is without question one of the greatest movies ever made and I think it also contains some of the greatest assembled acting that you're ever going to witness.Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) is put into a hospital where he's going to be evaluated and right from the start this rebel butts heads with the main nurse (Louise Fletcher).
He went form doing almost nothing to moving around and even speaking but only speaking to Jack Nicholson's character Randle McMurphy.The director of the movie, Milos Forman, had different actors in mind for certain parts of the film, made the right decision in the actors that he chose.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is one of the most beloved classics of all-time and features Jack Nicholson as McMurphy, a man who's been ordered by a court to undergo psychiatric evaluation at a mental hospital.
Nicholson and Fletcher are perfect in their roles, and their scenes together make for some of the best drama in film.An excellent story whose style accentuates the strengths of the film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is not to be missed..
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" would not be complete without Nicholson and its supporting cast, and is one of the greatest prison movies of all time..
A tragedy drama that makes you look forward to what Jack is going to do next.I remember the feeling I had the first time I watched this movie over 10 years ago, the feeling was mutual watching it again in 2012.The movie is based on the 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey and it was shot at Oregon State Hospital in Salem, Oregon, which was also the setting of the novel.The director Milo Forman made sure that you get to feel a sort of attachment with the characters so you share their feelings of joy, sadness, remorse and loss at various times in the movie.The movie is blessed with some nice classic actors like Jack Nicholson, Brad Dourif, Christopher Lloyd and Danny DeVito just to mention a few.The movie focuses on the free spirited Randle P.
McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) who is sent for evaluation at a mental hospital.Upon getting there Randle had an idea that he was to do time, not knowing that he was there till the doctors say he is free to go.He made friends with some of the patients in the institution like mama's boy Billy (Brad Dourif) and silent Native American Bromden (Will Sampson) who all thought was deaf and dumb and whom he called Chief.The psyche ward is handled by Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), who is seen more like the antagonist in this flick.McMurphy was an instigator of unruly behaviour from breaking him and his fellow patients out from the hospital to go on a boat trip and to a night party at the hospital which led to a tragedy.The movie did have a message, live free, be happy don't allow yourself to be tied down by anyone or anything or let either stand in the way of your happiness.Two of Milo Forman films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Amadeus (1984), both gained him an Academy Award for Best Director.The movie was the second to win all five major Academy Awards which were Best Picture, Best Actor in Lead Role, Best Actress in Lead Role, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, an accomplishment not repeated until 1991 by The Silence of the Lambs.The thing about the movie that gets to me most has always been the ending, tragedy never sits well with me sometimes especially in the case of this movie.Well if you haven't had a dose of this movie, then you need to.www.lagsreviews.com.
I remained wholly unconvinced that a man like McMurphy (at least as depicted in the film) would truly act in that way, eschewing his own personal freedom.I felt that the movie was well made and that the acting was top-rate (watch especially for a great performance by a young Brad Dourif), but the way the story plays out ultimately left me feeling unfulfilled.
Milos Forman's film may not be entirely true to Ken Kesey's novel, but it is still, in its own right, an inspiring, well-crafted, emotional and intelligent telling of the choice to conform or rebel.One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest stars Jack Nicholson as Randal McMurphy, a prisoner who decides he'd have a better time serving out his sentence in a mental ward, but ultimately ends up enlivening the patients there and showing them the beauty of life.Jack Nicholson's performance as McMurphy is deservedly Oscar-winning, inspiring, and is surely one of the best of his career.
Film Review: "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" (1975)Based on a mental-institution-researched novel by Ken Kesey (1935-2001), who receives a stroke of ingenius gestures at the age of 26 in order to obtain the publishing in 1962 of the title-given book, when producing Michael Douglas, at just 30 years of age, accompanied by San Francisco Bay-based "The Saul Zaentz Company", led by supreme filmmaking Producer Saul Zaentz (1921-2014) himself, who options a arguably mediocre novel to engage director Milos Forman, who then in its own right and capabilities as calm-as-decisive, actor-intercepting-then-freedom-granting director even exceeds the long-time running Broadway version of the previously-published material adapted by Dale Wassermann (1914-2008), when Academy-Award-winning double Jack Nicholson as inferior R.P. McMurphy and Louise Fletcher haunting portrayal as Nurse Ratched as the head of an anonymously interior designs by art-directions-striking production designer Paul Sylbert (1928-2016) that I, as spectre of this exceptional film, actually am sitting with the inmate patients, including first notable acting receptions by Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Brad Dourif and William Redfield (1927-1976) as wife-denying as heart-breakinbg character of Harding in a therapy group sessions to exposing weakening as self-marking laughs, where no-laughs are given, stucking-in-my-throat of the utmost honesty-sharing beats of struggling humans in the zone of conditioning mind sets, when a Native American means to find his way back to nature in the maze of a mesmerizing cinematic experience.The Character of McMurphy carries the picture as the seemigly sane and lively man in an arguably disconnected-from-the-outside-world state of microcosm in moments when McMurphy becomes the beacon of a single day of bliss and happiness for any playing inmate involved in a rare-sweeping Oscar winner of all major five Academy-Award catogories from "Best Picture" over acting, directing to "Best Writing" at the infamous ceremony of honor on March 26th 1976 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillon, Los Angeles, California.Copyright 2018 Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC.