One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a comedic-drama directed by Milos Forman (Amadeus) that takes place in a mental institution. It stars Jack Nicholson as R. P. McMurphy, a patient, and Louise Fletcher as McMurphy’s control-addicted nemesis, Nurse Ratched. It was based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey, and it went on to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Screenplay).
Buy One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest paperbackMcMurphy (Mc) has been detained at a work farm for statutory rape and several previous arrests for assault. He believes, incorrectly, that if he plays crazy for a bit, he can laze away his days at a mental institution and be out at the end of his regular sentence coming up in a few months. What Mc does not understand is that once you are committed, you do not get out until they let you out, and, considering her stranglehold on the hospital, it’s possible you do not get out until Nurse Ratched lets you out. He could be detained for the rest of his life.
Mc is surrounded by those who are chronically crazy and will never leave the hospital and those who are there of their own free will with the ability to leave any time they want. He befriends “Chief” Bromden (Will Sampson), a huge wall of a man who has fooled everyone into thinking he cannot hear and is unable to speak. He spends his days listening to the other inmates and the guards, and constantly sweeps the floor in front of him with a giant push broom. “Chief” likes that Mc is larger than life in his antics and demeanor and feels that Mc is much “bigger” than himself and more likely to find a way to escape the madhouse.
The ensemble is an amazing conglomeration of actors who were not yet household names. Brad Dourif plays Billy Bibbiit, the stuttering mama’s boy who is wrapped completely around Nurse Ratched’s finger. Christopher Lloyd is Max Taber who loves a joke. Danny DeVito is Martini who doesn’t understand that when one cigarette equals a dime at the poker table that doesn’t mean you can break that cigarette in half and create two nickels. Louise Fletcher gives a phenomenal performance as the verging-on-evil, passive-aggressive professional who is even able to coerce the doctors into doing her bidding.
McMurphy stirs up the cuckoos with his constant antics. He eschews pinochle for poker. He teaches the 6 foot 7 inch “Chief” to mostly cheat at basketball. He takes a group on a completely unauthorized fishing trip. He tries to rip a hydrotherapy appliance off the floor in an attempt to toss it through a window and escape. After this attempt, he is defeated, but his cries of “at least I tried” pushes other patients to try to get the things they want and to stand up for themselves. None of this plays well with Nurse Ratched and, in a meeting where the doctors have decided to send Mc back to the work farm, she convinces them to give her a little more time with him in the confines of the asylum.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is one of those rare films that fires on all cylinders with nary a hiccup. The music, the editing, the cinematography, the writing, the direction, and the acting all come together to make what might just be a perfect film.
