One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Movie Review

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

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Written by: Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman (screenplay), Ken Kesey (based on the novel by), Dale Wasserman (the play version: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by)
Directed by: Miloš Forman
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Michael Berryman, Brad Dourif, Christopher Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Danny DeVito, 
Rated: R
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Plot
A rebellious convict is sent to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation in 1963 Oregon and encourages his docile companions to take more control of their lives and defy the tyrannical head nurse.

Verdict
Most of the movie is McMurphy pushing against the rules and boundaries of a mental institution. He remains optimistic despite the circumstances, and this is also a look at freedom. McMurphy is forced to be there, many of the others are there voluntarily. Is he there as a ruse or should he be committed? It's a clash between the chaos of McMurphy and the order of Nurse Ratched. They can't coexist. The conclusion is tragic and heartbreaking, but it does leave us with a ray of hope. The institution represents the rules of life and the push to conform. McMurphy is the rebel, defying society's orders.
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Review
Forman is best known for this movie and Amadeus (1984).

It's a mental institution and McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) has just arrived, sent for observation. He quickly states he's not crazy, he just doesn't like being in prison. He doesn't want to work had labor. McMurphy is charismatic as he entertains himself to pass the time. He quickly takes issue with how the nurses treat him and the other patients like children. McMurphy also resents the tyrannical Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). I get it, but she has a difficult job of trying to keep the residents in line. The only way to make that happen is an iron fist. McMurphy is a wildcard, another potential problem. He's the unruly class clown that lives to topple the order and routine she's created. She's portrayed as the antagonist, but I understand her perspective. McMurphy wants to cause problems for his own entertainment.

Jack Nicholson plays McMurphy

The difference is that McMurphy treats the other patients like people, urging them to live a life beyond the walls of the institution. He steals a bus and takes them out fishing. Because of that stunt, the doctors want to get rid of him, sending him back to a work detail. Ratched is the only one that wants to keep him, stating the hospital's mission isn't to abandon people. I wondered if she wanted to keep him so she could break him. It's a battle of wills. She's created an order, which is needed, but he's a disruption as he openly defies her. I'm thinking she wants to teach him a lesson.

Louise Fletcher plays Nurse Ratched

Part of this is conforming to society's rules. McMurphy defies expectations and conformity. Life would be easier for the nurses without him, but for the residents their lives are enriched. McMurphy is the only person that takes any interest in Chief (Will Sampson). Everyone else ignores him. Crazy is just a label, a mindset. Like McMurphy states, no one in the institution is crazier than anyone else walking the street. McMurphy's only there because he thought it would be easier than prison. The problem is that these people are detained and they shouldn't be. It gnaws at McMurphy that the patients are there voluntarily. They could walk out but don't, and he can't understand being imprisoned by choice.

McMurphy decides his way out is to escape. He plans a big party on the night of that has unexpected consequences causing McMurphy to snap. He cares about the patients, and that's why he put effort into creating experiences for them; something that was normal. He felt bad for them. McMurphy faces consequences for the party. At some point later, he's still institutionalized. We don't see him, but rumors persist. Did he escape? Was he 'cured?' When he finally returns to the ward, Chief is heartbroken at what he sees. He was planning to escape with McMurphy the night of the party. He's been waiting ever since for a second chance.

It's an incredible ending, bittersweet. It's a metaphor for life. It's the order of what the world tells us pitted against the inner rebel that lives inside us. McMurphy wants to have fun and defy rules while enriching the lives around us. It's a noble ambition, but McMurphy paid the price in the battle of wills. What this does and means is nothing short of amazing.