One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Reviews

(OK) Great story, subversion from the last of prisons, the undefined mental hospital, where people is so 'worked on' that they destroy their will to be free, haunting them with their complexes as Brad Dourif or with lobotomy as Nicholson...

Felon Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) gets sentenced to a term at a mental asylum. He is not really insane but pleaded insane to avoid a harsher sentence. Once inside he discovers that it is no picnic, with the patients being ruled with an iron fist by oppressive head nurse Nurse Ratched. The naturally free-spirited, rebellious and extroverted McMurphy livens up the place, making confrontation with Ratched inevitable.

Great, original movie. Decent dramatic plot with some great humorous detours. Maybe a bit too linear and basic to make it brilliant, but very entertaining nevertheless.

Won the 1976 Best Picture Oscar. Also won Best Director (for Milos Forman), Best Leading Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Leading Actress (Louise Fletcher) and Adapted Screenplay (Lawrence Hauben & Bo Goldman), making it the first movie since It Happened One Night in 1934 to win all 5 major awards at the Oscars.

One flew over the cuckoo’s nest o El que Voló sobre el Nido del Cuco es una película setentera que se hizo famosa en su país de origen (Estados Unidos) y que se le cataloga con un status de obra de culto y clásico de dicha nación. La trama es una tragicomedia de un criminal que se hace pasar por loco. De esta manera es internado en un manicomio en lugar de prisión, pero al llegar aquí se dará cuenta de que las cosas pueden ser mucho mas difíciles dentro de las instalaciones de lo que él creería.

La película se caracteriza por su énfasis en las interacciones de personajes y en los duelos de ingenio. El protagonista Randle Mcmurphy es el eje central de la obra y quien rompe el status quo del manicomio, al que se pelea constantemente con la enfermera Rached. Ambos personajes son carismáticos por su parte. Son polos opuestos en cada sentido. Mcmurphy es salvaje, desobediente y rebelde mientras Rached es estricta, ordenada y dominante. Cosa que trajo consigo un montón de momentos de tensión al debatir el uno con el otro sobre las reglas del manicomio y como Mcmurphy se saltaba algunas o buscaba huecos lógicos para rebatirlos. Lo que da paso a una de las más memorables rivalidades en el cine.

Algo que la película logra con creces es su manejo de los tonos. En una escena puede ocurrir lo mas cómico o trágico del mundo. Pero dichas escenas son muy bien balanceadas para que no saquen de la inmersión. Y dichas escenas de interacciones entre Mcmurphy y los discapacitados mentales fueron bastante entretenidas por lo alocadas que llegaban a ser las situaciones y por consiguiente se pueda formar un vinculo creíble entre el cast. De esta manera el drama se ve potenciado por los varios momentos alegres que pasan juntos.

Por lo que en eso se resume el nido del cuco. Un film con interacciones memorables, mucho sentimiento, debates tensos y y personajes carismáticos. Y poco más…. Y aquí es donde me saltan a la yugular porque les voy a dejar en claro que la película, pese a sus aciertos y memorabilidad, dista mucho de ser una obra maestra, que posee muchos problemas y que roza la mediocridad.

Si bien me gusta el mensaje de vivir feliz la vida de manera libre y jovial, al usarse en un escenario tan peligroso como puede ser un manicomio, donde los internados padecen de trastornos y discapacidades mentales, es raro y hasta ridículo que me hagan pensar que hacer locuras y rebeldía sería buena idea. No es un escenario opresivo producto de la estupidez de los personajes, sino de sus defectos mentales. En un lugar como ese se les debe atender de manera especial, no dejarlos realizar cuanta pendejada se les ocurra. Lo mismo va con Mcmurphy, que aún con su carisma y exploración durante el metraje, me es risible siquiera la posibilidad de dejarlo salir del manicomio. Es un sujeto que ha estado involucrado en relaciones con adolescentes y posee una personalidad digna de un criminal.

De hecho, me siento decepcionado que la película nunca tome dicho asunto en perspectiva al estar enfocada en el debate. Ya que de esta manera podrían dejar en claro por que deberían encerrar a Mcmurphy. Pero nunca se agarra tal noción y se resume en la clásica historia del joven rebelde que se opone a la visión de los maestros. Lo cual estoy seguro que fue la razón principal por la que se hizo famosa para empezar. Eran los 70’s, hace poco había terminado los 60’s, la época de la liberación en cada sentido. Y una película con semejantes tópicos era obvio que se haría popular. Pero sin seguir desviándome, por ello se siente reduccionista el asunto del manicomio.

Otro asunto que considero potencial desperdiciado es todo esto de los pacientes que resultan no ser inestables mentalmente. Siendo uno de los debates preferidos de los que gustan del Cuco es si Mcmurphy era un loco o no. A mi parecer no estaba loco, porque estaba completamente conciente de todo lo que hacía. Y ese es el asunto, como no una, sino dos y posiblemente mas personas pueden hacerse pasar por locos sin que la misma institución se de cuenta. Esto hubiese sido utilizado para dar una crítica a tales sitios, en los que uno puede hacerse pasar por loco y que de esta manera saltarse los problemas de prisión. Pero todo se queda en que Mcmurphy y el Jefe lo hicieron así sin mas. Te imaginas el escándalo que despertaría que se supiera eso en la película? Con una negligencia de tal magnitud, se demostraría como algunas técnicas psicológicas pueden ser erradas y dejar eso en claro. Pero no, es algo que nunca se explora.

Los personajes son desaprovechados para el caso. Fuera del duo protagonico, los internos no poseen una relevancia autentica y se sienten como peones en los juegos mentales de Rached y Mcmurphy y que son personalidades excentricas que ves de otra cosa. Esto último es común en historias relacionadas con discapacitados. Los personajes se basan en que tan raros y caricaturescos son en lugar de quienes son. Los únicos que verdaderamente son explorados son Billy y Brondem, y tampoco es que sean muy complejos o tan memorables. Billy solo destaca porque representa el lado sumiso de los internos, un chico obediente con miedo a faltarle a la autoridad, quien cambia por influencia de Mcmurphy para ser mas decidido. Y Brondem se caracteriza por ser distante hasta que por acción de Mcmurphy deja de ser así y cambia para ser mas sociable. Pero como les dije, tampoco poseen independencia y son igualmente complementos para Mcmurphy y Rached. Claro, esto es usado para mostrar lo imponente que es Rached, al ser una mujer aterradora para los demás y como son mas libres por Mcmurphy. Por lo que si bien criticable, lo dejo como algo polarizante en su conjunto.

Al final lo que nos queda es una película con muchos aspectos memorables, con excelente música al usar instrumentos de carácter folclórico y tocar piezas provenientes de dicha nación, la excelente dirección de Milosh Forman, las actuaciones que marcaron la carrera de Jack Nicholson y de todo el Cast los momentos conmovedores y con un muy atípico final. Pero que se queda a medias en su concepto y desaprovecha muchos otros. Solo desarrolla a conveniencia algunos tópicos para dar una sensación inmadura de rebelde contra opresor y que a fin de cuentas vale por la emotividad que otra cosa.

A rare screen adaptation of a beloved novel that maintains the emotional and dramatic power of the original while establishing its own distinctive approach to the story, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is an underdog masterpiece. "It was a classic story: the story of an individual fighting the system," is how producer Michael Douglas explained his attraction to Ken Kesey's novel about a strong-willed rebel fighting a domineering head nurse in a mental hospital... One of the great stories of defiance in the face of unchecked power, and one of the most powerful character dramas of its time.

R.P. MacMurphy is sent to an asylum. He isn't crazy. Watch what happens. One of only three movies to have won "The Big Five" Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay--yet this film is the only one that deserved them all. It is hilarious and often times frustrating to see MacMurphy struggle to connect with the patients in the ward. They are all just so used to droning away with their daily routine. MacMurphy (Nicholson) cannot and will not adhere to this and tries desperately to shake them free of it. He tries to teach them to take risks and stop being so afraid. Though at every turn, Head Nurse Ratched is there to reintroduce her brand of "therapy," pacifying any sense of defiance MacMurphy instills. This film delivers in every scene and has one of the most memorable endings ever.

I'm pleased this has such a high rating as it deserves nothing less. No matter how many times I watch this, I never fail to loathe the nurse throughout. Nicholson is easily one of my favourite actors and I absolutely love his performance in this one :] I always feel so sorry for him in the end :/ what they did was just horrible.

Jack Nicholson is one spontaneous actor for every decade and would be still resist in history of films. The more I'm getting into his acting the more I adore him. Every characters he take part in each movies are accuracy figures of description. I guess directors who working with him is lucky because he is the actor who can fulfill the plot to audience with his magnificent acting. Especially, " One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". This movie has simple plot just routine but characters are extremely impressive. My favorite incident in this movie is every time he looks at Nurse Ratched because her eyes are burning red with alter ego. It's makes me want to kill her in the movie some how :( But I am glad that I have had read that they both won Oscar. I really impress this movie and it's good to know that he's still alive :)

''Is that crazy enough for ya'? Want me to take a shit on the floor?''

Upon arrival at a mental institution, a brash rebel rallies the patients together to take on the oppressive Nurse Ratched, a woman more a dictator than a nurse.

Jack Nicholson: R.P. McMurphy

The opening shot of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest(1975) is a picturesque vision of an Oregon day awakening. Ponderous, lingering music gracefully glides from the score and a car is shown coming to us. Inside the car is one of film history's most remarkable characters.
Randle McMurphy is about to bring hope, humour, and a wake up call viewing of reality to some disturbed people in a mental hospital. Jack Nicholson as McMurphy, is something of a paradox. Is this guy crazy or is he really the lazy, conniving criminal most believe him to be? That is the magical mystery and start to a journey into mental illness and the effect this man will have on some truly fascinating individuals.



Milos Forman directs a much loved and celebrated story adaptation film, which swept the Oscars deservedly in the mid-seventies. The book which the film piece was adapted from was written bu author Ken Kesey while Lawrence Hauben and
Bo Goldman worked on the films screenplay.
It is a straight forward story about people, therapy and the difference one individual can make to a group. Chaotic instances are swirled with poignant acting all leading to an astounding climax. Not preceding or since has One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest collection of different characters had such a defining impression on cinema. You could write a book report about each of the patients in the ward. The two most important people here are Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher's main symbolic characters R.P. McMurphy and Nurse Ratched. R.P McMurphy appeals to their humanity while Nurse Ratched attempts to supress it further.

The plot of Ken Kesey's Novel and indeed the film adapt is as follows:
The story follows Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), who, in an attempt to get out of spending more time in prison, pleads insanity for his crime, and is therefore sentenced to time in a mental institution. This was McMurphy's intention, as he believes the conditions in an institution will be significantly easier to contend with than another harsh stay in prison. However, he quickly finds out that surviving the institution with it's desolate patients (including Christopher Lloyd, Danny DeVito, Vincent Schiavelli and an absolutely brilliant Brad Dourif as the stuttering Billy Bibbit) and the monstrously repressive Nurse Ratchet (Louise Fletcher, in a career defining role) is considerably harder than he imagined. McMurphy plays pranks, horseplay, and is generally defiant to the rules of the institution in an attempt to raise spirits. His constant optimism and reckless defiance to the out of date rules in the institution can be very uplifting, and often quite funny as well, but much of the movie can be very depressing - the generally decrepit state of the institution is a consistently (and intentionally) bleak background to a superb story with a truly bittersweet ending.

Jack Nicholson is at his best here, head and shoulders above other excellent performances such as Chinatown or The Shining. McMurphy is an apparently unquenchable optimist, refusing to succumb to the defeated spirit of all the other patients. His livewire antics, inspiring the patients are generally uplifting, and when his indomitable spirit is finally broken, we really feel for him and his fellow patients. Nicholson conveys the essence of McMurphy to perfection, demonstrating his excellent understanding and interpretation of the character.

Louise Fletcher plays one of the more reprehensible human beings in film as "Nurse Mildred Ratched". She is a hardened woman, one whom makes the daily meetings with the group a contest to see who will win. Her stubbornness and lack of compassion for the poor guys is rather one dimensional. That's perfect because that is exactly who she is. Her strong will to keep things monotonous leads to a final showdown with the free spirited McMurphy in what is easily one of the most shocking and disturbing climaxes in cinematic history.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest does not try to make a statement about mental illness or how the unstable should be treated. Rather, it is a very simple portrait of the long days and hilarious scenarios that can come about when a mixed group of suffering people are thrown together. Mental illness is nothing to laugh about, but the fact that Nicholson is not really crazy at all allows us to be amused. He seems to love his companions in the hospital. He is mislead, however, into thinking he can do as he pleases.
There is no denying the power and subliminal messages shown here. The two main powerhouse performances are golden, the cinematography is morbid and gritty like the story intended, the Chief is great as Nicholson's best friend, you care for these characters in a way their carers do not. The famous, final shot ironically happens to be an exit of one of the main characters, one whom is undoubtedly as great as the protagonist, into that early, Oregon early morning, an end for the film yet a new beginning for the free.

''What do you think you are, for Chrissake, crazy or somethin'? Well you're not! You're not! You're no crazier than the average asshole out walkin' around on the streets and that's it.''

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest tops off a list of movies wherein my favorite top three are all on this list specifically because of the performances of the leads in each film. Al Pacino is what made Dog Day Afternoon bark; the shark in Jaws bought the oversized man-eating sea predator to life; and finally, in the number one spot, it was Jack Nicholson's performance that provided the strong sense of rebellious sanity that was needed to take on the state of oppressiveness that ratchedly ran the looney bin.



Whenever I watch this movie, I'm always reminded that, for me, this is about as good as it gets (...sorry). Randall McMurphy is a mischievious criminal who first ends up becoming a leader of squirrelly rebellion & then, eventually, a friend to Billy & the rest the cracked eggs residing in the Cuckoo's Nest.
Jack's portrayal in this movie is determined not to follow the feel-good formula of a self-centered man with a salt-encrusted background who then becomes overly or angelically transformed. Instead, Randall is someone who is so deeply steeped in his own irresponsibility and with a hard to reach ability to care that is only gradually bought up to the surface by the only type of people who could cause such a subtle & internal catalyst in his disfunction: a group of guys who are crazier than he is.