One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Directed by Miloš Forman. Starring Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Sydney Lassick, Brad Dourif, William Redfield, Will Sampson, Danny DeVito, Dean Brooks, Christopher Lloyd, Vincent Schiavelli, Scatman Crothers, Marya Small, William Duell, Nathan George, Alonzo Brown, Louisa Moritz, Mimi Sarkisian. [R]

Logic need not apply in this spirited, funny, rousing story of naughty nonconformist R. P. McMurphy (Nicholson)—who fakes insanity to get committed to a mental hospital instead of prison for a statutory rape charge (“she was fifteen going on thirty-five, Doc”)—and his hell-raising fight against a coldly regimented system that inspires rebellion in the ranks of the “loony” misfits around him. Works far better as a parable than a realistic depiction of mental illness (most of the afflictions are treated as “cute” quirks that can be cured by McMurphy’s influence), but on those grounds, it is milked masterfully by its expert filmmakers and actors, cast in relief against the turbulent politics of its post-Vietnam/Watergate era, even if the story is actually set just before those events would reshape contemporary society. Even the creation of its inflexible antagonist, the blandly righteous and domineering Nurse Ratched (Fletcher) who can’t be swayed or defeated by McMurphy’s live-wire antics, is such a personification of restrictive authority that she becomes a symbol of contemptibly phlegmatic menace even though she certainly has her reasons for maintaining unfeeling composure and letter-of-the-law order. Won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Adapted Screenplay (Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben, taken from Ken Kesey’s novel), marking the first time a film won the “Big Five” since It Happened One Night over forty years ago. Early film roles for much of its talented supporting cast, including DeVito, Schiavelli, Dourif, and Lloyd (the latter two were making their feature film debuts). Produced by Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz; the former’s father, Kirk, played the McMurphy role on stage in the 60s Broadway version.

92/100