Review of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) by Chris M — 05 Aug 2013

To start a review for special films like Milos Forman's excellent 1975 Oscar-winning comedy-drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, I might as well forget about trying to make an introductory paragraph to prepare my readers for what I think about the film I'm reviewing since I can't think of anything else to say at the moment besides the film being great. Instead, I'll just dive right into looking at the film's main plot and go from there.

Jack Nicholson gives what is arguably his greatest performance as Randle McMurphy, a criminal who tries to avoid prison by pretending that he has a mental illness and get admitted into a mental hospital in hopes that he will avoid hard labor. He soon discovers however that spending time in a mental hospital can be just as unpleasant as being in prison. This is due in large part to the strict authority of Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) whose mandatory group therapy sessions causes the other patients to feel humiliated about themselves. Now, Randle is determined to convince some of the other patients to join him in his rebellion against her practices.

From the moment he first appears on screen, Jack Nicholson simply delivers an outstanding performance here. Whenever his character claims to enjoy taking his medication in a sarcastic manner or whenever he is faking illness to his fellow patients and then is suddenly bursting with energy assuring his colleagues that everything's okay, one would not be surprised if cartoon animators were influenced by this type of charismatic, expressive performance. I really do believe Jack Nicholson's performance is worthy of such a comment.

Louise Fletcher seems to be subliminally having a great time portraying the icy Nurse Ratched and really does a terrific job at making the character as harsh and unforgiving as a person can be. The performances from the other patients are also unbelievably convincing from Sydney Lassick as Cheswick (a man with significant temper issues), to Christopher Lloyd as Taber (an excessively hostile patient), to Brad Dourif as Bibbit (a young man with a stuttering issue), and even Will Sampson as "Chief" (a deaf, mute American Indian) whose character has the best plot twist.

What ultimately makes One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest such a great motion picture experience is the well written screenplay by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman and Milos Forman's direction which brings it all together. On top of the fact that the script contains some inspired, humorous comedy in which the laughs are truly genuine, it also contains some emotionally intense drama in which you truly feel what the characters are going through.

Director Milos Forman tells this story about a rebel going up against an overpowering system in just the right tone. Although Nicholson is considered the protagonist and Fletcher is considered the antagonist, Forman was wise enough to make it so that it isn't as clear cut as just that. In other words, we can't completely say that Nicholson is the hero since he's basically serving a prison sentence for his past actions, and neither can we completely say that Fletcher is the villain since all she's really doing in the first place is her job and her duties. I think that this aspect of the picture is cleverly put together since it enhances the drama even more and makes it seem more realistic.

To get straight to the point, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is an all around triumph in storytelling, writing, acting, and directing. But most importantly, it is a film in which everything comes together and works to the film's advantage in terms of both its comedy and drama. It is a great American film and one of the finest films to come from the 1970's.