Review of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) by Aodhan R — 25 Dec 2014

Jack Nicholson delivers a powerhouse performance as former criminal: Randle P. McMurphy. The other team of cast members, who portray the inmates of the asylum depicted in the story also deliver superb performances so there's no singling out anyone for maximum praise. Though Nicholson is the show stealer.

It's quite an interesting cast that leaves curiosity as there's a lot of familiar faces that have been seen in well known movies in later years - like Vincent Schiavelli who appeared in 1990s movies: Ghost, Batman Returns and Tomorrow Never Dies; Christopher Lloyd from Back to the Future trilogy; Danny Devito from Batman Returns; and Brad Dourif from Child's Play and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

It was great to wintness these familiar faces all in the same movie and as they were younger at the time as the movie was released in 1975.

The five Oscar wins received by this movie our well deserved, as well are the nominations for the other categories it lost out on. Nicholson has never acted better nor has he been directed in such a well produced movie in such an iconic way before. At the moment I think it's the performance of his career.

As well as that the direction of Milo Forman was excellent and he successfully brings out the realism of the madness within the asylum to best possible extent for a movie of its time.

The screenplay was fantastically written by Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben, which is undoubtedly one of the best screenplays ever written for a motion picture and one of the best unforgettable ones of the 1970s.

As the movie proceeds towards the end a heartfelt performance is delivered by Brad Dourif, who portrays probably the youngest inmate whom has speech problems, and the way Dourif managed to pull that off was excellent.

There's really not enough credit to offer this movie as it's one of the greatest movies ever made and one of the most emotional ones that anyone can relate to.