One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

“You had a choice: you could either strain and look at things that appeared in front of you in the fog, painful as it might be, or you could relax and lose yourself” ― Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

This is undeniably one fine movie.  And yet, and yet …

Randall P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) is transferred from a prison work farm to a state mental institution for evaluation.  The doctors believe he has been shamming mental illness and he is, in fact, trying for a discharge from the military.  McMurphy hasn’t counted on the poised but vindictive Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), with whom he is soon in open warfare.

McMurphy develops great compassion for his fellow patients and sets out to show them how to rebel and live more fully.  He may have his greatest success with a patient known as the Chief (Will Sampson),  a huge Native American who is believed to be deaf and dumb. Unfortunately for McMurphy, his compassion overcomes his street smarts when he needs them most. With Brad Dourif, Danny DeVito, and Christopher Lloyd as mental patients and Scatman Caruthers as an orderly.

I think this film deserved all the Academy Awards it won and then some.  In fact, I would have loved it if each of the mental patients had been nominated for a Supporting Actor Oscar — my favorite was Sydney Lasick as Cheswick.

I read the Ken Kesey novel multiple times before I saw the film.  The novel is told from the perspective of the Big Chief, which gives it an almost hallucinatory flavor.  McMurphy also comes off as far more heroic and I have always had a disconnect somehow with Nicholson’s performance.  To me, Nicholson comes off as a smart-ass bad boy who takes glee in being naughty.

On this viewing, I was also surprised to find myself in some sympathy with the hospital authorities.  Obviously, the electroshock and lobotomies are unconscionable, but surely they could not allow the patients in the shape we see them to go off on unauthorized and unsupervised excursions, hold drunken parties, or trash the ward.  I know the story is an allegory about repressive society but the movie is so realistic that it almost forces one to ask these questions.

Whatever my quibbles, I think this one definitely qualifies as one people should try to catch before they die.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was the first film since It Happened One Night to win Academy Awards in all major categories — Best Picture, Best Actor (Nicholson), Best Actress (Fletcher), Best Director, and Best Writing (adapted screenplay).  It was also nominated for awards in the following categories:  Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Brad Dourif); Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Music, Original Dramatic Score.

Clip – “group therapy”