One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Directed by	Miloš Forman
Written by	screenplay by Lawrence Hauben Bo Goldman based on the novel by Ken Kesey
Produced by	Michael Douglas Saul Zaentz
Starring	Jack Nicholson Louise Fletcher William Redfield Brad Dourif Will Sampson Danny DeVito Scatman Crothers Christopher Lloyd
Cinematography	Haskell Wexler
Edited by	Sheldon Kahn Lynzee Klingman
Music by	Jack Nitzsche
Distributed by	United Artists (theatrical) Warner Home Video (home entertainment)
Release dates	19 November, 1975
Running time	133 min.
Language	English
Budget	$4.4 million

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a 1975 film directed by Miloš Forman. The film is an adaptation of the 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.

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.

Plot

Randle Patrick McMurphy (Nicholson), a recidivist criminal serving a short prison term for statutory rape, is transferred to a mental institution due to his nonconformist behavior. This appears to be a deliberate gambit by McMurphy, on the belief that he'll be able to serve the rest of his term in relative comfort and luxury.

His ward in the mental institution is run by a calm but unyielding tyrant, Nurse Ratched (Fletcher), who has cowed the patients — most of whom are there by choice — into dejected submission. While he initially has little respect for his fellow patients, McMurphy's antiauthoritarian nature is aroused. His needling of Nurse Ratched is initially just for kicks, but his sense of injustice at their treatment leads him into a battle for the hearts and minds of the patients. Rather than simply bide her time with McMurphy and have him transferred, Ratched becomes increasingly embarassed at her own loss of control and obsessed with breaking him down.

McMurphy gradually forms deep friendships on the ward, especially with two of his fellow patients: Billy Bibbit (Dourif), a suicidal, stuttering teenager whom Ratched has humiliated and dominated into a quivering mess; and "Chief" Bromden (Sampson), a 6’ 5” muscular Native American who has schizophrenia. Believed by the patients to be deaf and unable to speak, Chief is mostly ignored but also respected for his enormous size. In Billy, McMurphy sees a younger brother figure whom he wants to teach to have fun, while the Chief ultimately becomes his only real confidant, as they both see their struggles against authority in similar terms.

McMurphy initially insults Chief when he enters the ward, but attempts to use his size as an advantage (for example, in playing basketball). Later, they and patient Charlie Cheswick (Lassick) are detained for being involved in a fight with the male attendants. Cheswick undergoes electroshock therapy, while McMurphy and Chief wait their turn on a bench. During this time, McMurphy offers Chief a piece of gum, and Chief verbally thanks him. A surprised McMurphy discovers that Chief actually hates the hospital establishment just as he does, but handles it in a different way (by remaining silent instead of Randle's strategy of open defiance). McMurphy hatches a plan that will allow himself and Chief to escape. Following his "therapy," McMurphy jokingly feigns catatonia before assuring his cohorts and Nurse Ratched that the attempt to subdue him didn't work.

One night, December 10, 1963, McMurphy sneaks into the nurse's station and calls his girlfriend to bring booze and assist in his escape. She brings another woman, and both enter the ward after McMurphy bribes the night watchman (Crothers). The patients drink while Billy flirts with McMurphy's girlfriend. McMurphy sees that Billy likes his girlfriend and tells her to sleep with Bibbit. While Billy and McMurphy's girlfriend are in a separate room, the rest of the patients, including McMurphy and the Chief who had been planning to escape, pass out from drinking and fatigue.

When Nurse Ratched arrives the next morning she commands the attendants to clean up the patients and conduct a head count. Billy is found in the room naked with McMurphy's girlfriend. Billy is initially happy and the rest of the patients are happy for him until Nurse Ratched threatens to tell Billy's mother about what he did. He begs her not to, breaking down into tears. While left alone momentarily, he commits suicide. After McMurphy sees what the ward has done to his friend, he explodes into a violent rage, strangling Nurse Ratched until she is near death. She survives, but McMurphy is taken away yet again for punishment - this time, a lobotomy.

Chief, unwilling to leave McMurphy behind, suffocates his vegetative friend with a pillow. "I'm not goin' without you, Mac. I wouldn't leave you this way. You're coming with me." He lifts a heavy marble hydrotherapy fountain and, hurling it through a barred window, escapes to Canada.

Casting

File:Louisefletcher-1-.jpg

Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched

Kirk Douglas originated the role of McMurphy in a 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 afterwards because of this. Actor James Caan was originally offered the McMurphy role, and Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman were considered as well.

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 Ratched
William Redfield	Dale Harding
Dean R. Brooks	Dr. John Spivey
Scatman Crothers	Orderly Turkle
Danny DeVito	Martini
William Duell	Jim Sefelt
Brad Dourif	Billy Bibbit
Christopher Lloyd	Max Taber
Will Sampson	Chief Bromden
Vincent Schiavelli	Frederickson
Nathan George	Attendant Washington
Mwako Cumbuka	Attendant Warren
Josip Elic	Pete Bancini
Lan Fendors	Nurse Itsu
Ken Kenny	Beans Garfield
Alonzo Brown	Miller
Michael Berryman	Ellis
Peter Brocco	Colonel Matterson
Sydney Lassick	Charlie Cheswick
Mimi Sarkisian	Nurse Pilbow

The film marked the 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.

Title interpretation

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

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

The "one [that] flew east" is McMurphy, and the "one [that] flew west" is Nurse Ratched, illustrating their opposite directions and rivalry. "And one flew over the cuckoo's nest" describes Chief, who was able to escape the mental institution.

It loses the significance it had in the novel, in which the line is a part of a rhyme Chief Bromden remembers from his childhood. This detail was not included in the film.

Reception

File:Cuckonest64.jpg

McMurphy receiving electro-shock therapy

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Roger Ebert (who would later win a Pulitzer Prize that year) claimed that "Milos 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." . Ebert would later put the film on his "Great Movies" list. A.D. Murphy of "Variety" wrote a mixed review as well. 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, as well as Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. (One of the other nominees for Best Actress that year, Ann-Margret, was also in a film that featured Jack Nicholson, Tommy.)

Today, the film is considered to be one of the greatest American films and has ranked as number 20 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest American films, Nurse Ratched was ranked number 5 on the Institute's list of 50 Greatest Villains, and the film consistently ranks in the top 11 on the Internet Movie Database.

Kesey himself did not hide his dislike of the film, particularly the casting of Nicholson as McMurphy (the characters were based on actual patients Kesey knew from a mental hospital). "I'm curious to see it, but I'm also really glad I haven't seen it. For one thing, I don't have Jack Nicholson walking around in my mind as that character. I kept telling him, he's too short, he smiles too much and he's smarter than McMurphy." Kesey also loathed the fact that the film was not told through the eyes of Chief Bromden, as the book was, for he saw this as fundamental to the story. Kesey claimed to have never seen the film for these reasons.

The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1993.

In popular culture

• Was shown in Swedish cinemas between 1975 and 1987; twelve years, which is still a record. When Milos Forman learned that he said "I'm absolutely thrilled by that... It's wonderful".
• There is an episode of The Jeffersons titled One Flew Into the Cuckoo's Nest where George is mistakenly held in an institution.
• In an episode of Freaks and Geeks called Carded and Discarded, Daniel Desario (James Franco) is referred to as McMurphy, because his outfit is much like that of McMurphy at the beginning of the film.
• The song "Shadows that Move" by metal band Mastodon includes a famous part from this film right before McMurphy is subdued towards the end by Nurse Ratched's mind games.
• The song "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" by heavy metal band Metallica was inspired by this movie.
• Clips of the movie sometimes appear on The Opie and Anthony Show.
• The music video for Green Day's Basket Case contains several references to the movie.
• The episode of Futurama "Insane in the Mainframe" features a robotic nurse called "Nurse Ratchet," who looks just like her movie counterpart. As a play on her name, she has a rachet for a hand.
• In the television show Daria episode "Is it Summer Yet?", Mr. Anthony DeMartino suffers a nervous breakdown at a summer camp and escapes in the same manner that Chief does.
• The film has been parodied in several Simpsons episodes:
  • In one episode,"The Old Man and the "C" Student" Bart escapes with the inhabitants of a Retirement home, and goes boating with them, just like McMurphy does in the film. The Chief is also depicted in the same episode, as he rips a fountain and throws it out of the window to escape, just like in the film — despite the fact that the retirement home's door was open. The Chief then throws the fountain back through another window, claiming "Forgot my hat."
  • In an earlier episode, "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show", Homer is hospitalized by a practical joke by Bart involving a very thoroughly-shaken can of beer. When Moe and Barney come to visit him, Moe brings a can of Duff Beer as a present. Homer immediately starts shrieking at the sight of the can, and Barney exclaims "I can't stand to see him like this!" before smothering him with a pillow, ripping a water fountain out of the floor and using it to break a window, and then proceeding to run into the distance. This is a satirical retelling of the last scenes of the film.
  • In another even earlier episode, "Stark Raving Dad", Homer is admitted to a mental institution for wearing a pink shirt to work at the power plant. Characters in a long pan shot appear to be parodies of Cuckoo's Nest characters, and the hospital resembles the hospital in the film, including the trademark cross-hatched bars over the windows. Homer says "Hello!" to a large Native American known as "Chief", who startles doctors by responding in kind, explaining, "Well it's about time someone reached out to me." There is also an entire scene parodying Nurse Ratched's meetings, with the inmates sitting in a circle, a character who resembles Harding, and a nurse with hair and clothing almost exactly like Nurse Ratched's in the film. (The nurse bears no further resemblance, however.) Additionally, Homer's inmate friend eventually reveals that he is there voluntarily, like the inmates in the film.
• A popular pub in downtown Wyandotte, Michigan was named R.P. McMurphy's shortly after the movie was released.
• In the British sit-com Spaced (second series, third episode), habitually unemployed writer Daisy gets a job in a restaurant. Almost everything about this plot line is a direct parody of the film, from the characters to lines like "take these, it'll make it easier" (referring to a pair of rubber gloves as Daisy is taken downstairs to wash up). One of the restaurant employees is in fact portrayed by Tim Sampson, son of Will Sampson.
• In the comedy show The Wrong Coast, Ted Danson, asking to be called "Becker" lists one of the ways to use his name as "One flew over the Becker's nest".
• One Monsterpiece Theater skit on Sesame Street featured a parody of the title of the film, featuring a number one flying over a cuckoo's nest.
• R.P. McMurphy is the title of a song by Welsh band Manic Street Preachers taken from the 1991 single Stay Beautiful
• Chief Bromden can be seen with a concrete sink walking in the background in episode 10 of Frisky Dingo.
• Alternative Metal band Mushroomhead samples the movie in their first album.
• On an episode of "Family Guy", a reference to a game of blackjack between McMurphy and the other patients could have been alluded to when, in a casino, Peter continues to say to the dealer "Hit me" even though he has lost.
• The music video for Oasis' "Sunday Morning Call" contains several references to the movie.
• In the film The Island, the music played in the vitamin tube room is the same music that Nurse Ratched plays on the ward.
• In the film Good Burger, the series of scenes that take place in a mental institution are heavily influenced by the film.
• In "Trailer Park Boys: Season 4", during the final minutes of "Working Man", when Mr. Lahey is being wheeled out of a mental health institution someone dressed like R.P. McMurphy is playing basketball in the background.
• Atlantan progressive metal band Mastodon sample the movie on their Lifesblood EP. (They use Harding's rant at Taber as an introduction to opening track Shadows That Move). Alternative metal band System of a Down used to use the same sample as an introduction to the song Suite Pee at early shows.
• In Batman, the first shots of the Joker (also played by Jack Nicholson) show him shuffling a deck of cards the same way McMurphy does during the ward meeting.
• In Student Bodies, suspected killer Toby Badger is nervous about an upcoming session with her school's psychiatrist. Her friend Hardy warns her, "Don't let them give you a lobotomy like they did to Jack Nicholson in Cuckoo's Nest."
• In the Strangers with Candy episode "Trail of Tears" Jerri Blank leaves the camp by throwing a water fountain through a window.
• In the 1998 comedy film The Wedding Singer, while Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler) is explaining a past tragedy, one of his nephews can be heard in the background chanting Cookoo's Nest!, Cookoo's Nest!!.
• The last episode of the Golden Girls was entitled "One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest". The title is directly from One Flew over a Cuckoo's Nest.
• In the last episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will does an apartment search and encounters an old woman who is a landlord with space available. When Will see's that she is delusional and having conversations with non-existent people in her own apartment, he proceeds to ask her if she has ever seen the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". She then slams the door in Will's face.

External links

• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at IMDb
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at AllMovie
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• Template:Rogerebert as "Great Movie"
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