BrianKoller's Full Review: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was only the second film ever to sweep the five most important Academy Awards. The film won Best Picture, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Actress (Louise Fletcher), Best Director (Milos Forman), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman, from the Ken Kesey's novel and Dale Wasserman's play).
Actor Kirk Douglas bought the rights to the play in the 1960s, playing the lead role on Broadway. His son Michael produced the film version independent of the major studios, casting Nicholson as the lead. Many minor roles in the film were cast from location, which was the Damasch State Mental Hospital of Salem, Oregon.
Many of Nicholson's best roles had his character rebelling against society and authority. He was perfectly cast for "Cuckoo's Nest", playing a state prisoner who pretends that he is crazy to get out of work camp. His character, R. P. McMurphy, is a wisecracking, outspoken, likeable man who enjoys breaking the rules. Unfortunately, he is also prone to violence.
At the state asylum, he soon realizes that many of his fellow inmates may have emotional problems, but they're not crazy. He is a natural leader, and attempts to motivate them into emotional awareness and independence. Or perhaps he is simply trying to overcome the unbearable boredom of life in the asylum. But he soon meets resistance, not only from the inmates themselves, but also from Nurse Ratched (Fletcher).
Nurse Ratched is one of the most interesting film characters of the 1970s. Fletcher plays the character so well that she won her only Best Actress Oscar for what in truth was only a supporting role. Ratched is emotionally repressed, and always attempts to present a calm demeanor. She has turned her ward into an instrument of power, and has cowed the inmates into submission to her inflexible routine. She is aided by her staff, nurses and orderlies. Doctors may have titular control of the hospital, but Ratched has unquestioned power over her patients. The orderlies are more like prison guards. They are all black men, perhaps a commentary on the prejudices that existed in 1963.
Ratched is also somewhat sadistic. She would never admit to this personality trait, even to herself. However, her only latent pleasure comes from tormenting the patients. She does this through ritualized control: tranquilizers, insipid background music, and therapy sessions which accomplish nothing except to subject patients to uncomfortable personal questions. She enjoys setting patients against one another, listening to their abusive bickering with a Mona Lisa smile. She is the queen of her ward and has been for years.
Among the supporting cast are future stars Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd. They look so young! Making their film debuts are Indian giant Will Sampson and young Brad Dourif. Dourif was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Billy Bibbit, a shy, stammering man who meets tragedy in the film's violent ending. Dourif would never get another Oscar nomination, but his career has been successful nonetheless. He's the voice of Chucky, the killer doll.
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was also nominated for Best Cinematography (Haskell Wexler, Bill Butler), Best Score (Jack Nitzsche), and Best Film Editing. Czech director Milos Forman would continue Oscar success with "Amadeus" and "The People Vs. Larry Flynt". Nicholson would again win Best Actor in 1998 for "As Good as It Gets", the most recent of his eleven Oscar nominations. (87/100)
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