One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Theatrical Poster
Directed by Miloš Forman
Produced by Michael Douglas
Saul Zaentz
Written by Novel:
Ken Kesey
Screenplay:
Lawrence Hauben
Bo Goldman
Starring Jack Nicholson
Louise Fletcher
William Redfield
Brad Dourif
Will Sampson
Danny DeVito
Scatman Crothers
Christopher Lloyd
Music by Jack Nitzsche
Cinematography Haskell Wexler
Editing by Richard Chew[1]
Sheldon Kahn
Lynzee Klingman
Distributed by United Artists
Warner Home Video (video)
Release date(s) November 19, 1975
Running time 133 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $4,400,000 (est.)
Gross revenue $108,981,275 (domestic)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a 1975 American drama film directed by Miloš Forman. The film is an adaptation of the 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. The movie was the first to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor in Lead Role, Actress in Lead Role, Director, Screenplay) since It Happened One Night in 1934, an accomplishment not repeated until 1991, by The Silence of the Lambs. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is frequently called one of the greatest films in the history of American cinema, as the film is ranked number 105 on Empire's "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time"[2] and number 8 on IMDb Top 250. [3]

There had been an earlier stage version of the book, in 1963, but the film does not use the script of the stage version.

The movie was filmed at Oregon State Hospital in Salem, Oregon, which was the setting of the novel.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), a recidivist criminal serving a short sentence on a prison farm for statutory rape, is transferred to a mental institution. This is possibly a ploy to avoid hard labor and serve the rest of his sentence in a more relaxed environment. He is anti-authoritarian with a history of violence, but he exhibits no signs of mental illness.

McMurphy's ward in the mental institution is run by a calm but unyielding tyrant, Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) who employs a combination of subtle humiliation in group therapy, punishment disguised as unpleasant medical treatments, and mind-numbing daily routine. McMurphy finds that the other male and mostly-middle-aged patients are more institutionalized and afraid of Ratched than they are focused on becoming functional in the outside world. McMurphy befriends patients Billy Bibbit (Brad Dourif), a suicidal, stuttering young man, and "Chief" Bromden (Will Sampson), a silent six-feet-seven inch (2 m) tall Native American, Charles Cheswick (Sydney Lassick), a man disposed to childish fits of temper, Martini (Danny DeVito), who is delusional, and Dale Harding, a high-strung, well-educated patient. Believed by the patients and staff to be a deaf-mute, Chief is mostly ignored but is respected because of his size, at which McMurphy marvels at first sight.

McMurphy baits Nurse Ratched at first merely to amuse himself, but he intensifies his efforts to loosen her control. Rather than have McMurphy transferred, Ratched bides her time and increasingly asserts power. McMurphy gambles with the other patients, acting as dealer and humorously narrating and entertaining them, while draining their petty cash accounts and their allotments of cigarettes. To break the monotony (in two Oscar-winning scenes played by Jack Nicholson), McMurphy calls for votes on ward policy changes: watching a World Series baseball game on the television in the ward, and a pickup game of basketball against the orderlies. Then he makes a show of betting the other patients that he can lift an old hydrotherapy console—a massive and still-connected marble plumbing fixture—off the floor of the ward, and loses, collapsing in a heap. McMurphy then learns that Ratched has the power to keep him involuntarily committed to the ward indefinitely, as the more sympathetic ward psychiatrist, while nominally her supervisor, is a figurehead. He accuses the voluntary patients on the ward of deliberately neglecting to let him know this.

To boost morale on the ward, McMurphy sponsors a deep sea fishing trip, by escaping over the asylum's fence and stealing a school bus. Mac brings along a party girl, Candy. This is the only location in the film outside the hospital. Later, McMurphy, the Chief and patient Charlie Cheswick are detained for fighting with the ward orderlies. Cheswick undergoes electroconvulsive therapy while McMurphy and Chief wait their turn on a bench. While they wait, McMurphy offers Chief a piece of Juicy Fruit gum, and Bromden comments "Thank you", and a moment later, when McMurphy hands him another stick of gum, Chief says,"Ah, Juicy Fruit". McMurphy is shocked to hear the Chief speak to anyone for the first time in decades, and discovers that Chief shares his distaste of the hospital establishment but stays silent to deflect attention, instead of attracting attention to himself as McMurphy does. The Chief becomes McMurphy's confidant, given their shared experiences with authority. McMurphy devises a plan for the Chief and him to escape, and unsuccessfully tries to persuade him to try to lift the huge plumbing console. After this round of electroshock therapy, McMurphy stiffly walks onto the ward feigning catatonia before humorously animating his face and loudly greeting his fellow patients, assuring everyone that the ECT was unsuccessful as an attempt to subdue him.

One night, McMurphy sneaks into the nurses' station and calls Candy and another lady friend, Rose, and has them bring booze to the hospital. They enter the ward after McMurphy bribes the night watchman, Mr. Turkle (Scatman Crothers). The patients drink while Billy flirts with Candy. McMurphy goads Billy into trying to sleep with Candy, and Billy reluctantly agrees. After Billy and Candy go into a private room, the rest of the patients, including McMurphy and the Chief, who had been planning to escape that night, pass out after a long night of drinking.

When Nurse Ratched arrives the next morning she orders the attendants to lock the window and clean up the patients and conduct a head count. Billy is found undressed with Candy. When Ratched scolds him and asks if he is ashamed of his behavior, without stuttering, Billy announces that he is not. Nurse Ratched promises to tell his mother what she knows. Billy panics and his stutter returns, and after being carried into the doctor's office, he kills himself by slitting his throat. Ratched blames McMurphy. McMurphy, appalled at Nurse Ratched's handling of the situation, tries to strangle her. McMurphy is subdued and taken away.

After some time has passed, the patients on the ward are shown playing cards as before, only this time without McMurphy. Harding, now dealing, mimicks McMurphy's narration of the game. Nurse Ratched, still recovering from a neck injury from McMurphy's attack, is forced to use a microphone in the nurses' station to be heard by her patients.

Later that night, Chief Bromden sees McMurphy being returned to his bed. When the Chief looks closely at McMurphy's unresponsive face, he is horrified to learn that McMurphy received a lobotomy. Unwilling to allow McMurphy to be seen this way by the other patients, the Chief suffocates McMurphy. The Chief carries out McMurphy's escape plan by lifting the hydrotherapy console off the floor of the ward and hurling the massive fixture through a grated window. The Chief is last seen from the window of the hospital running away as the fellow patients cheer widly.

[edit] Casting

Kirk Douglas originated the role of McMurphy in a presidential stage production, and then bought the film rights, hoping to play McMurphy on the screen. He passed the production rights to his son, Michael Douglas, who decided his father was too old for the role. Kirk was reportedly angry at his son for a time afterward because of this. Actor James Caan was originally offered the McMurphy role, and Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman were considered as well. According to the director on the latest Special Edition DVD, he wanted Burt Reynolds to play the lead.

The role of domineering Nurse Ratched was turned down by six actresses, Anne Bancroft, Colleen Dewhurst, Geraldine Page, Ellen Burstyn, Jane Fonda, and Angela Lansbury, until Louise Fletcher accepted casting only a week before filming began.

Actor Role
Jack Nicholson Randle Patrick McMurphy
Louise Fletcher Nurse Mildred "Big Nurse" Ratched
William Redfield Dale Harding
Brad Dourif Billy Bibbit
Sydney Lassick Charlie Cheswick
Will Sampson Chief Bromden
Danny DeVito Martini
Christopher Lloyd Max Taber
Dean R. Brooks Dr. John Spivey
William Duell Jim Sefelt
Vincent Schiavelli Frederickson
Nathan George Attendant Washington
Scatman Crothers Orderly Turkle
Louisa Moritz Rose

The film marked the credited film debuts of Sampson, Dourif and Lloyd. It was one of the first films for DeVito. DeVito and Lloyd co-starred several years later on the television series Taxi.

[edit] Title interpretation

The title is derived from an American children's folk rhyme.[4]

Wire, bliar, limber-lock
Three geese in a flock
One flew east, one flew west
One flew over the cuckoo's nest.

It loses a bit of the significance it has in the novel, where it is part of a rhyme Chief Bromden remembers from his childhood. This detail was not included in the film, but the line retains its relevance since the story ends with two patients dead from different causes and one who escapes from the hospital.

[edit] Reception

The film received generally positive reviews from critics. Roger Ebert (who won a Pulitzer Prize later that year) claimed that "Miloš Forman's 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' is a film so good in so many of its parts that there's a temptation to forgive it when it goes wrong. But it does go wrong, insisting on making larger points than its story really should carry, so that at the end, the human qualities of the characters get lost in the significance of it all. And yet there are those moments of brilliance".[5] Ebert would later put the film on his "Great Movies" list.[6] A.D. Murphy of Variety wrote a mixed review as well.[7] The film went on to win a total of five Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Jack Nicholson (who played McMurphy), Best Actress for Louise Fletcher (who played Nurse Ratched), Best Direction for Miloš Forman, Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Laurence Hauben and Bo Goldman.

Today, the film is considered to be one of the greatest American films. Kesey himself claimed to have disliked the movie, a fact revealed by Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk in the foreword of the 2007 edition, "The first time I heard this story, it was through the movie starring Jack Nicholson. A movie that Kesey once told me he disliked".[8]

In 1993, this film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry.

The film was shown in Swedish cinemas between 1975 and 1987 — twelve years, which is still a record. When Miloš Forman learned that, he said, "I'm absolutely thrilled by that... It's wonderful."

[edit] In popular culture

A sketch during the 18th episode of the first season of Saturday Night Live, titled "One Flew Over the Hornet's Nest", had the notable SNL Killer Bees reenact scenes from the movie.

In an episode of The Simpsons, Barney Gumble imitates the final scene of this film where he attempts to suffocate Homer Simpson while he's hospitalized, then takes a kitchen sink, tosses it out a window, then runs through it. Moe the bartender, who is present, later comments that Barney really needs a girlfriend.

In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer is sent to a mental institution for wearing a pink shirt to work. He is intoduced to a patient named the Chief who hasn't spoken since 1968.

In TV series Trailer Park Boys, after holding Ricky gunpoint, Mr. Lahey pleads insanity and is sent to a Mental Institution. Randy and Mr. Lahey are shown outside of the Mental Institution, a man dressed as McMurphy is seen in the background.

In another episode of The Simpsons, The Old Man and the C Student, features many parodies of the movie. First, an Indian chief character constantly enters and exits an asylum by throwing water fountains through windows and climbing out. Later on, Bart takes the old folks in the asylum for a trip on a boat to have some fun.

In the film Freddy Got Fingered, the character of Brody (played by Tom Green) imitates the final scene from this film by tossing a figure head statue through a window at the psychologists office then jumping through it after implicating his father in a sexual abuse scandal with his brother Freddy. This scene is similar to the Chief escaping the institution at the end of the film.

In the TV series Spaced, in the episode "Mettle", Daisy works in a kitchen in a setting very similar to that of the film. Characters are imitated such as Billy and the Chief and Nurse Ratched. All of the characters who are insane in the film play writers or poets in the Spaced episode. Nurse Ratched is the boss of the restaurant. Tim Sampson, son of Will Sampson who played the role of Chief Bromden in the film, plays the role of Chief in the episode.

The video for the Green Day song "Basket Case" imitates several parts of the film, from some of the background props and imagery to a scene where bassist Mike Dirnt attempts to throw a large object through a window.

In an episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Danny Devito's character is placed in a mental institution after being found aimless on the streets after overdosing on pills. He later escapes by getting a large Native American man to strip the wall of a water fountain, in order to toss it at the window.

In the Futurama episode "Insane in the Mainframe", Bender and Fry are held in a mental institution for robots that references the film with a robotic nurse named "Nurse Ratchet".

The video for Oasis song "Sunday Morning Call" imitates the movie, with some scenes that are similar to those of the film.

The show Total Drama Action, a show that spoofs reality shows by making it's contestants participate in movie themed challenges, has an episode called One Flu Over The Cuckoos, in the episode, the show's contestants were forced to participate in a challenge related to hospital dramas.

The two-part series finale of The Golden Girls is titled "One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest."

In an episode of Aaron sorkin's Drama The West Wing, Josh Lyman is compared to McMurphy, and the head of a Josh yman fansite is the "Nurse Ratched" CJ Cregg warns him, "You'd better break open the ward window, and run before she tries to give you a full-frontal lobotomy"

In the Broadway show, Next to Normal, Diana references the movie when refusing ECT in the song, "Didn't I See This Movie."

[edit] Awards and honors

[edit] Academy Awards

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest won all of the "Big Five" Academy Awards at the 48th Oscar ceremony

It was nominated for an additional four

[edit] Golden Globe Awards

The film won all nominated six awards

[edit] BAFTA Awards

The film won 6 BAFTAs

It was nominated for

[edit] Others

American Film Institute recognition

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Chew was listed as "supervising editor" in the film's credits, but was included in the nomination for an editing Academy Award.
  2. ^ http://www.empireonline.com/500/78.asp
  3. ^ http://www.imdb.com/chart/top?tt0073486
  4. ^ "What children's song is also known as "William Trimmytoes"?". http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question52475.html. 
  5. ^ [1] - Roger Ebert review, Chicago Sun-Times, January 1, 1975
  6. ^ [2] - Roger Ebert review, Chicago Sun-Times, February 2, 2003.
  7. ^ [3] - A.D. Murphy, Variety, November 7, 1975
  8. ^ Foreword of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Copyright 2007 by Chuck Palahniuk. Available in the 2007 Edition published by Penguin Books

[edit] External links

Search Wikiquote Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest


Awards
Preceded by
The Godfather Part II		 Academy Award for Best Picture
1975		 Succeeded by
Rocky
Preceded by
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore		 BAFTA Award for Best Film
1976		 Succeeded by
Annie Hall
Preceded by
Chinatown		 Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama
1976		 Succeeded by
Rocky
v • d • e
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Novel
Adaptations of the novel
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1963 play)  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975 film)
Characters
See also
v • d • e
Works by Ken Kesey
Novels:
Collections:
Plays:
Over the Border (1973) • The Furthur Enquiry (1990) • Twister (1999)
Adaptations:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1963 play) • Sometimes a Great Notion (1971 film) • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975 film)
v • d • e
Academy Award for Best Picture

West Side Story (1961) · Lawrence of Arabia (1962) · Tom Jones (1963) · My Fair Lady (1964) · The Sound of Music (1965) · A Man for All Seasons (1966) · In the Heat of the Night (1967) · Oliver! (1968) · Midnight Cowboy (1969) · Patton (1970) · The French Connection (1971) · The Godfather (1972) · The Sting (1973) · The Godfather Part II (1974) · One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) · Rocky (1976) · Annie Hall (1977) · The Deer Hunter (1978) · Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) · Ordinary People (1980)

Complete List · (1928–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–present)
v • d • e
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama

The Guns of Navarone (1961) · Lawrence of Arabia (1962) · The Cardinal (1963) · Becket (1964) · Doctor Zhivago (1965) · A Man for All Seasons (1966) · In the Heat of the Night (1967) · The Lion in Winter (1968) · Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) · Love Story (1970) · The French Connection (1971) · The Godfather (1972) · The Exorcist (1973) · Chinatown (1974) · One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) · Rocky (1976) · The Turning Point (1977) · Midnight Express (1978) · Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) · Ordinary People (1980)

Complete List · (1951–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–present)
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