Review of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) by Harry W — 10 Aug 2013

One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest is a great film, but I feel it's better as a standalone film than as an adaptation of the novel.

First of all, the cinematography and music is beautiful, and the acting is incredible. Jack Nicholson was great, and ignoring that he didn't have red hair like the novel said McMurphy has, he is exactly as you would envision the character while reading it, and Louise Fletcher was very good playing the evil Nurse Ratched, keeping the evil on an internal level. I also really enjoyed Danny Devito, Christopher Lloyd and Sydney Lassick, but I feel most definitely that Will Sampson's portrayal of Chief Bromden was especially immaculate, and since he was my favourite character when I read the novel. I was glad that aside from the chewing gum thing, they got his character practically perfect. The film kept me smiling the whole time, which was surprising considering the content, but they were able to take that straight from the book.

Many critics managed to overlook some things, but I found that since One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is one of the greatest books I've ever read, I was disappointed with the film staying true to the novel. It removed a lot of symbolism in the story, as well as key plot dynamics and the story itself. I thought I could get over it, but I struggled to do so. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's must be great if you haven't read the book and expected as much as I did, and it wasn't helped by the fact that it won Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture, cause that just had me hyped up further. I thought that key parts such as the part where McMurphy strangles Ratched messed up the film overall, because he didn't tear off her shirt like in the book, and she still had her voice, her most intimidating feature. They messed that up and I'm sure I can't be the only one disappointed by that. Also, the tone of the film didn't seem as on-edge as the book and Nurse Ratched wasn't explained as evil as she actually was. I also kinda expected that they wouldn't make the film from Chief's point of view, but I still found myself disappointed.

Near the end of the film, I was all set up to give it three and a half stars, and then I saw the ending. The ending was executed so beautifully that I cried. I didn't cry when Charlie Cheswick was being dragged off to electroshock therapy, I didn't cry when Billy Bibbit slashed his throat, but I cried at the end. The sight of seeing Chief Bromden finally free, running through the hills and being as free as all native Americans should have been was so excellent that I teared up. That single scene alone redefined a lot of thoughts I had about this film, and now I see why it has grown to become such an acclaimed classic.