A nice rest in a state mental hospital beats a stretch in the pen, right? Randle P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), a free-spirited con with lightning in his veins and glib on his tongue, fakes insanity and moves in with what he calls the "nuts." Immediately, his contagious sense of disorder runs up against numbing routine. No way should guys pickled on sedatives shuffle around in bathrobes when the World Series is on. This means war! On one side is McMurphy. On the other is soft-spoken Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), among the most coldly monstrous villains in film history. At stake is the fate of every patient on the ward. Based on Ken Kesey's acclaimed bestseller, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest swept all five major 1975 Academy Awards: Best Picture (produced by Saul Zaentz and Michael Douglas), Actor (Nicholson), Actress (Fletcher), Director (Milos Forman) and Adapted Screenplay (Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman). Raucous, searing and with a superb cast that includes Brad Dourif, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd in his film debut, this one soars.
One of the key movies of the 1970s, when exciting, groundbreaking, personal films were still being made in Hollywood, Milos Forman's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest emphasized the humanistic story at the heart of Ken Kesey's more hallucinogenic novel. Jack Nicholson was born to play the part of Randle Patrick McMurphy, the rebellious inmate of a psychiatric hospital who fights back against the authorities' cold attitudes of institutional superiority, as personified by Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). It's the classic antiestablishment tale of one man asserting his individuality in the face of a repressive, conformist system--and it works on every level. Forman populates his film with memorably eccentric faces, and gets such freshly detailed and spontaneous work from his ensemble that the picture sometimes feels like a documentary. Unlike a lot of films pitched at the "youth culture" of the 1970s, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest really hasn't dated a bit, because the qualities of human nature that Forman captures--playfulness, courage, inspiration, pride, stubbornness--are universal and timeless. The film swept the Academy Awards for 1976, winning in all the major categories (picture, director, actor, actress, screenplay) for the first time since Frank Capra's It Happened One Night in 1931. --Jim Emerson
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest Excellent.....I had forgotten how well written this movie was and the acting
is superb....
A great classic movie with some interesting view points I've had some bad experiences in the past with blu-ray discs and older movies. Most of the time they are just scamming people out of a couple bucks by putting it in a blu-ray box. This isn't one of those movies, the picture quality and sound quality are above and beyond the original. Definitely a great addition to my blu-ray collection.
An Emotionally Provocative Piece The edition is fairly generous with it's bonus material.It doesn't stretch for eight hours, but the commentary is interesting. As for the movie, It genuinely a classic example of the art of film. It is made beautifully in terms of cinematography and the characters are only played by extraordinary actors. It's not the same Jack from "Chinatown", "The Shining", or Tim Burton's "Batman". "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is a turning point in his career and it solidifies his versatility as an actor. This DVD... more info
Cuckoo "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" with Jack Nicholson, and Louise Fletcher was and still is a great film. As you possibly know this film won five Oscars countless other awards. I think this is a sad and feel good film all in one. I rank this with other redemptive films which I think are always the best kind. There is very little of extras on this disk but the notes. If you have library of films I HIGHLY recommend this one and enjoy.
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