One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the greatest movie of all time
Review: This movie is one of the greatest of all time. It pits good against evil, shows the power of non-conformity, and shows that it is okay to be who you are even if you're messed up, because after all, everyone else is, too.
R.P. McMurphy, who is played by Jack Nicholson, is brought to a mental institution so it can be decided by the powers that be if he is faking mental illness just to get out of jail, or if he is really mentally ill. For a time he is going to be evaluated so this determination can be made.
Nurse Ratchet is the nurse who is in charge of the ward that McMurphy is put on. She is the true definition of an antagonist and also very malicious, even though it appears she doesn't think that she is. She makes the patients on the ward talk about their problems and then criticizes them, and makes them dependant on the institution.
McMurphy tries to show the patients that they're no more messed up than the average person through antics such as a fishing trip and a basketball game versus the employees of the institution, all of which he uses to show the patients they can do things like normal people.
This movie is a masterpiece and this review does not do it justice. It is an inspirational movie and the acting is superb by Nicholson and Fletcher (Nurse Ratchet)as well as the excellent supporting cast that includes Christopher LLoyd, Danny DeVito, Scatman Crothers, Wil Sampson, and Brad Dourif just to name a few.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, entertaining
Review: Based on a novel by Ken Kesey, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is a clever story with an excellent twist.

Kudos to Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher and Milos Forman for quite an excellent movie.

Rating:
Summary: a classic
Review: I don't buy DVDs just because. My collection is only of DVDs I'll watch again & again. Some people just buy to have & that's ok if you have the time and money to spend on them.
"One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" is without a doubt a classic. It is funny and gives you something to think about. Jack Nicholson is a great actor and he really shows that in this movie. I highly recommend this one for your "Classic Collection"!!

Rating:
Summary: Indictment against the Society of Control
Review: Upon viewing this movie it becomes immediately apparent that
the pathology resides even more in the doctors, nurses and administrators of the mental hospital than with the patients.
As we get to know the patients, it occurs to us that most of
them are just a bit eccentric and have been placed in this hospital -or in some cases have even placed themselves there -
because society is intolerant of all those who can not neatly adapt to
the discipline of the 9 to 5 organization man and his protestant work ethic. The hospital personnel intends to "help" people by making them good cogs in the machine. To the extent that there is anything "wrong" with the patients, it is "the machine" and the "help" that has driven them to a poor state of being. In other words, the medicine is not only worse than the disease, it IS the disease.

Nurse Cratchett may even have good intentions, but she cannot tolerate individuality or other peoples desires...these must be controlled and follow the regulations to the letter. She is your typical control ... and when McMurphy reacts violently
to her mainacal control and evil consequences it has for the young stuttering patient, he is the one penalized, not her. We all know a Nurse Cratchett...she tells us to become accountants instead of musicians. In fact, this mental hospital is a microcosm of society at large, a machine that wants to create false desires, distort or suppress true desires in order to

perpetuate the socio-ecomomic machine as it is.

Now Ken Kesey who wrote the novel upon which this movie was based
had a first hand look at all of this. He worked in a psychiatric ward when he was a graduate student at Stanford.
He was also very concerned about the shackles placed on our minds, not necessarily by this or that individual, but as an epiphenomenon of our society. He sought to break free of these shackles and, to that end started, the Merry Pranksters, travelling around America distributing LSD...as a means of liberating the mind. I was happy to see in a documentary done for the history channel (The History of LSD) that he held this view of the liberatory nature of LSD to the end of his life.

This classic film was a milestone in his evolution and must be seen by all generations to come. All the actors, not just Nicholson (we know he is great), are wonderful!

-Thomas Seay

Rating:
Summary: Nicholson's best acting job.....EVER!!!
Review: O Me Digas! This film has it all. Right when you think it's safe to laugh, you find yourself sitting on the sofa in complete shock. There are many elements to this film and they are all entwined perfectly.

Nicholson plays an eccentric who is forced to stay at a psych ward. It's there that he begins to make his co-nutties feel a little bit better about themselves. He ends up becoming the nemesis of the head nurse, and she counters by making his life a living hell. The end of the film will shock you and make you feel resentment towards the authorities in the hospital.

This film has a great message, humor, a high shock value, and Jack Nicholson at his very best. You cannot go wrong with this film, one of my personal all time favorites.

Rating:
Summary: A disturbing movie about the disturbed.
Review: In this multi-Academy award winning flick based on Ken Kesey's novel, actor Jack Nicholson as jail-bird Randle P. McMurphy seeks escape from the prison work farm by feigning madness. He is committed to a psychiatric ward for the mentally disturbed for evaluation while the staff try to determine whether his behaviour is genuine insanity or mere rebellion. But being with the mentally ill isn't as rosy as McMurphy imagined it to be, particularly under the repressive regime operated by Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). In the battle of mind-games with Ratched, McMurphy discovers that even a simple thing as watching the World Series is impossible, because it might disturb the patients' routine.

Only three movies have ever taken out all five major Academy awards (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Screenplay), and "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" is one of that elite group. To say that the acting is superb is an understatement. It takes a lot of talent to convincingly portray someone mentally disturbed, but this cast accomplishes it with brilliance. The supporting roles as nearly as terrific as the leading roles: Sydney Lassick as the shaky inarticulate Charlie Cheswick, Brad Dourif as the stuttering virgin Billy Bibbit, Danny DeVito as the infantile Martini, Christopher Lloyd as the wide-eyed trouble-maker Tabor, William Redfield as the eloquent intellectual Dale Harding, and Will Sampson as the mute Indian giant.

But the mentally ill are depicted not merely as objects for examination and pity, but with genuine sympathy as victims under an oppressive regime. Admittedly they're also the source for warm humor; Highlights include McMurphy's commentary of an imaginary baseball game with all the "nuts" cheering, and McMurphy's creative introduction of all patients as "doctors" from the mental institution as they hijack a fishing boat. Those who work with the mentally disturbed in real life will be the first to tell you that you need a sense of humor in dealing with them. But humor doesn't exclude compassion, and this movie raises serious questions about the treatment of the mentally ill.

Everything is geared towards arousing sympathy for the mentally disturbed: minimalist music and silence, dreary colors, bright lighting, and male care-givers who are police-like unnamed uniforms. These factors combine to create an atmosphere that conveys a clinical and sterile environment devoid of compassion for those who need it. Nurse Ratched is depicted as a cold and distant woman without feelings for those in her charge, and her authoritarian role personifies an establishment that cares little for the mentally ill. Rather than show compassion for the weak, she uses therapy sessions to uncover whatever hope and spirit they have and destroy it. McMurphy's embodiment of this human spirit is somewhat exaggerated (the way he initiates interest in basketball games and escapes on a fishing expedition is not entirely plausible), but it makes the point. Interestingly, some have seen the movie as a social criticism on all oppression of the human spirit, with a broad application even to ideologies like communism. As others have said: tyranny has many faces, and the story of freedom from oppression goes beyond the walls of a mental asylum.

The criticism of the handling of the mentally ill is most evident in how the institution handles McMurphy. We identify with McMurphy because we know his insanity is faked, and yet the "treatment" he receives is thoroughly troubling, especially when those in charge resort to electric-shock therapy. Is there a parallel in the way that many social problems (eg depression, ADD) are today diagnosed as mental illnesses and treated with drugs? The tragic way in which McMurphy's "mental illness" is mishandled at the conclusion arouses righteous anger, and is a disturbing indictment on all mistreatment of the mentally ill. There is no crowd-pleasing feel-good ending as his attempt to topple the establishment fails. Yet the lack of a happy ending makes his criticisms of the establishment all the more piercing.

The movie was rated R for frequent profanity/blasphemy, crude sexual talk and one violent scene at the end (there are also scenes involving alcohol, suicide, an incident where sexual promiscuity is applauded, and an implied endorsement of mercy killing). The violence and language is deliberately distasteful and one can hardly feel sympathy for McMurphy as an immoral criminal (he is a convicted rapist, rebels against authority, sets up a gambling casino, and encourages Billy to lose his virginity). Yet one has to feel sympathy for him as he is abused by an inhumane establishment that is equally criminal in its own way by failing to show genuine compassion for those entrusted in its care. If McMurphy's character is distasteful and criminal, so is the character of care given to the mentally ill. Rather than become sidetracked by McMurphy's failings, we need to take a serious look at the failings of the establishment as embodied in Ratched. The tragic consequences (represented by Billy's death & McMurphy's lobotomy) of these failings are just as horrific as the consequences of an immoral life. Understood in this way, this movie is much more than a vindication of the free human spirit and an endorsement of rebellious anti-authoritarianism. More importantly it functions as a biting criticism against the abuse of authority to crush that spirit. This is not a pleasant movie to watch, but it packs a powerful philosophical punch and raises profound questions that are more enduring than mere entertainment.

The conclusion does offer a note of hope, as the silent Indian escapes the cuckoo's nest (perhaps a metaphor of true freedom being found in escaping the establishment and modern institutionalized civilization?). But we are still left with disturbing questions about those who do not escape: Would we really want our family members in a place like this? This is a disturbing movie that raises disturbing questions about the treatment of the disturbed - but questions that need to be asked ... and answered.

Rating:
Summary: I must be crazy to be in a loony bin like this.
Review: Surely, this film is a metaphor for the Nixon era. I won't get into that though. McMurphy thinks he can get out of doing work while in prison by pretending to be mad. His plan backfires when he is sent to a mental asylum. He tries to liven the place up a bit by playing card games and basketball with his fellow inmates, but the head nurse is after him at every turn. After he organised a party, one of the inmates commits suicide and things start to go badly wrong.

Nicholson's acting, however, is not the best. That honor belongs to Louise Fletcher, AKA Nurse Ratched. I remember seeing this film in the theater upon its hyped up release. The moment McMurphy lunges at Ratched's throat, trying to choke her, he did exactly what every single member of the audience wanted to do throughout the entire picture. Upon accepting her Academy Award, Fletcher stated that since she played the part so well, everyone she saw on the streets would have an angry look on their faces when seeing her.

The 2-disc Special Edition DVD deserves a spot in your DVD Library. It has the following extras:

*The Making Of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest: 48-Minute Documentary featuring the actors, moviemakers and writer Ken Kesey recounting the history of the original novel to its stage and movie adaptations
*Eight Additional Scenes
*Theatrical Trailer
*Cast/Crew Film Highlights
*Widescreen 1.85:1 (Anamorphic)
*DD 5.1

One of the 30 greatest films ever made according to AFI.
"I don't want your cigerettes, or his cigerettes, I want MY cigerettes!"

Rating:
Summary: what i think of one flew over the cockoo's nest
Review: well i think that one flew over the cockoo's nest is a great movie that points out the importance of abnormality in todays society

Rating:
Summary: Mind Touching
Review: I saw this movie many years ago.
The story was really astounding.
Jack Nicholson acted so amazingly in the movie.

Rating:
Summary: GOOD AS NEW
Review: Pleasure doing business. Good quality, good price and delivered in a timely manner.