Notable Film Fact(s):
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.
The movie was filmed at Oregon State Hospital in Salem, Oregon, which was the setting of the novel.
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. The role of 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.
Film Synopsis
Randle Patrick McMurphy (Nicholson), a criminal who has been sentenced to a fairly short prison term, decides to have himself declared insane so he'll be transferred to a mental institution, where he expects to serve the rest of his term in comfort and luxury.
His ward in the mental institution is run by an unyielding tyrant, Nurse Ratched (Fletcher), who has cowed the patients, most of whom are there by choice, into dejected institutionalized submission. McMurphy becomes ensnared in a number of power games with Nurse Ratched for the hearts and minds of the patients.
Throughout his short stay at the hospital, McMurphy forms deep friendships with two of his fellow patients: Billy Bibbit (Dourif), a suicidal, stuttering manchild whom Ratched has humiliated and dominated into a quivering mess; and "Chief" Bromden (Sampson), a Native American who has schizophrenia. In the former, McMurphy sees a younger brother figure whom he wants to teach to have fun, while the latter is his only real confidant, as they both understand what it is like to be treated into submission.
McMurphy later realizes that Chief can speak and has actually been faking his situation at the ward the whole time. This leads McMurphy to allow Chief in on his escape plan. One night, McMurphy sneaks into the nurse's station and calls his girlfriend to bring booze and assist in his escape. She brings a girlfriend, and both enter the ward. The patients drink, while Billy flirts with McMurphy's girlfriend.
Nurse Ratched commands the nurses to clean up the patients after the mess from the partying. She threatens to tell Billy's mother about his behavior and when 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 for a lobotomy operation.
Chief, unwilling to leave McMurphy behind, suffocates his vegetable-like friend with a pillow. He lifts a heavy marble fountain and, hurling it through a barred window, escapes to Canada.
Director:
Miloš Forman
Producers:
Michael Douglas
Saul Zaentz
Screenplay:
Lawrence Hauben
Bo Goldman
Cast:
Jack Nicholson
William Redfield
Brad Dourif
Will Sampson
Danny DeVito
Scatman Crothers
Christopher Lloyd
Louise Fletcher
Distributor:
United Artists
Release Date(s): November 19, 1975
Running time: 133 minutes
My View Rating: *****
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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.
The movie was filmed at Oregon State Hospital in Salem, Oregon, which was the setting of the novel.
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. The role of 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.
Film Synopsis
Randle Patrick McMurphy (Nicholson), a criminal who has been sentenced to a fairly short prison term, decides to have himself declared insane so he'll be transferred to a mental institution, where he expects to serve the rest of his term in comfort and luxury.
His ward in the mental institution is run by an unyielding tyrant, Nurse Ratched (Fletcher), who has cowed the patients, most of whom are there by choice, into dejected institutionalized submission. McMurphy becomes ensnared in a number of power games with Nurse Ratched for the hearts and minds of the patients.
Throughout his short stay at the hospital, McMurphy forms deep friendships with two of his fellow patients: Billy Bibbit (Dourif), a suicidal, stuttering manchild whom Ratched has humiliated and dominated into a quivering mess; and "Chief" Bromden (Sampson), a Native American who has schizophrenia. In the former, McMurphy sees a younger brother figure whom he wants to teach to have fun, while the latter is his only real confidant, as they both understand what it is like to be treated into submission.
McMurphy later realizes that Chief can speak and has actually been faking his situation at the ward the whole time. This leads McMurphy to allow Chief in on his escape plan. One night, McMurphy sneaks into the nurse's station and calls his girlfriend to bring booze and assist in his escape. She brings a girlfriend, and both enter the ward. The patients drink, while Billy flirts with McMurphy's girlfriend.
Nurse Ratched commands the nurses to clean up the patients after the mess from the partying. She threatens to tell Billy's mother about his behavior and when 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 for a lobotomy operation.
Chief, unwilling to leave McMurphy behind, suffocates his vegetable-like friend with a pillow. He lifts a heavy marble fountain and, hurling it through a barred window, escapes to Canada.
Director:
Miloš Forman
Producers:
Michael Douglas
Saul Zaentz
Screenplay:
Lawrence Hauben
Bo Goldman
Cast:
Jack Nicholson
William Redfield
Brad Dourif
Will Sampson
Danny DeVito
Scatman Crothers
Christopher Lloyd
Louise Fletcher
Distributor:
United Artists
Release Date(s): November 19, 1975
Running time: 133 minutes
My View Rating: *****
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