One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Hand to God, I first learned about this in one of the horror movie books I read in my early teens, specifically The Amazing Colossal Book of Horror Trivia. In addition to the trivia questions, the book also profiled a number of notable people within the genre, one of whom was Brad Dourif. In the chapter called Demons and Devils, focusing on movies like The Exorcist, The Omen, and Rosemary's Baby, he was briefly profiled there because of his role in The Exorcist III, with the book noting, "This odd-looking actor has specialized in playing eccentrics since 1975, when he received an Oscar nomination for his role as Billy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Having just recently gotten around to watching and enjoying the Chucky movies, it was interesting to learn more about Dourif and how he was once nominated for an Oscar. When I brought up Cuckoo's Nest to my mother when I told her this, I learned that it starred Jack Nicholson. And after that, as I've said so many times about numerous others, I gradually learned more about it as the years went on. Naturally, I learned how it was both considered a full-on American classic and got Nicholson his first Oscar, and also saw clips of it on the various AFI Top 100 lists and documentaries about Nicholson's life and career. But at the time, I was very unwilling to step outside of my comfort zone of science fiction and horror, and so-called normal dramas like this didn't interest me, so I had no desire to see it. Unfortunately for me, one of my maternal uncles learned that I'd never seen Cuckoo's Nest and, every single time I saw him, which was almost on a weekly basis at that time, he would annoy me about seeing it, saying, "I can't believe that you've seen as many movies as you have and yet, you've never seen that." What's especially puzzling about this is that he's a Mormon and was always on me about watching violent movies and playing violent video games, and yet, here he is bugging me to watch a movie that, among other things, deals with mental illness, electroshock therapy, lobotomy, and suicide. He was also on me to watch The Wizard of Oz, which is more understandable on his part, but I don't get why he got such a stick up his butt about Cuckoo's Nest.

By the time I turned twenty in 2007, I decided that I'd had enough of his nagging, and picked up the newest DVD, which was a two-disc special edition, at a Best Buy just so I could see it and shut him up. Now, you may ask if I liked it when I saw it, and the answer is yes, I did, but I've always contended that I would've liked it a lot more had I not been watching it under protest. Still, you can't argue with great actors performing in a really good story, and that's what this most certainly is. Not only was Nicholson, as always, a joy to watch, but so were all of the other actors, like Dourif, Will Sampson, Sydney Lassick, and Louise Fletcher, and it was also cool to see Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd in early roles. And while it is quite a long movie, as with others like it that are set in one confined place, like The Shawshank Redemption or The Green Mile, it told its story well enough to where I never found it boring. That said, for a long time, I still had something of a love/hate relationship with it, given the circumstances under which I saw it, and would always say it was good but not one of my absolute favorites. While I maintain that latter opinion to this day, I have grown to appreciate and enjoy Cuckoo's Nest much more in recent years, both through further watches and due to my maturing enough to where I'm now open to all types of movies (up to a point). It may not be one I watch very often, and in terms of Nicholson's career, I would much rather watch either The Shining or Batman, but again, when something's good, you can't deny it.

The story of how the film came together is a really interesting one, especially in how it seemed like director Milos Forman was all but destined to make it. Based on a book by Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was originally meant to be a starring vehicle, both on film and on Broadway, for Kirk Douglas when his production company bought the rights to it in the early 60's. However, while the Broadway play with him as R.P. McMurphy did come about (it didn't last too long, though), he spent years unsuccessfully trying to get the film made, as no studio wanted to touch it because of the subject matter. Eventually, Douglas was ready to give up on it and sell it, but his son, Michael, convinced his father into letting him try to get the movie made, as he loved the story. He also wasn't successful in getting a major studio to touch it, so he partnered up with Saul Zaentz of Fantasy Records to produce the movie through the company's new film division. In writing the screenplay, they did initially get Kesey to adapt his own novel, but he left the movie early on due to conflicts with Douglas and Zaentz, including over the casting of Jack Nicholson as McMurphy and the story's point-of-view (like in the book, his screenplay was told from the point-of-vie of the character of Chief Bromden). He also filed suit against the producers, which he won a settlement from, and whether or not he ever saw or even liked the final film is up to debate, as different sources say different things.

Going back to how Forman was seemingly destined to make Cuckoo's Nest, it turns out that he was approached by Kirk Douglas to make the film back in the 60's, while Douglas was touring Prague. While Forman, naturally, jumped at the chance to make a movie with a big star like him, when Douglas attempted to send him a copy of the book, it was, unbeknownst to either of them, confiscated by the SIB in Czechoslovakia. For years afterward, they each thought the other had blown them off, and it wasn't until the movie was finally made that they learned the truth. By the time Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz had the film up and running and were looking for a director, Forman had fled to the United States. After seeing his 1967 Czech film, The Firemen's Ball, they decided he was the one to go for, not knowing that Kirk Douglas had tried to hire years earlier. This time, they were successful in sending him the book, which he loved, calling it, "The best material I’d come across in America," and after meeting with Douglas and Zaentz, was hired. According to Forman, the story was one that he could relate to, having lived in Communist Czechoslovakia for the first 36 years of his life, and he described Nurse Ratched herself as an allegory for the Communist Party, "Telling me what I could and could not do; what I was or was not allowed to say; where I was and was not allowed to go; even who I was and was not." Naturally, it paid off handsomely for him, as Cuckoo's Nest was not only an enormous hit and is still revered today, but it got him an Oscar for Best Director (the first of two he would receive during his lifetime, with the other being for Amadeus).

Although Kirk Douglas was still interested in playing McMurphy, Forman and somes others decided he was now too old for it. And even though McMurphy is now considered one of Jack Nicholson's signature roles and was the one that got him his first Oscar, according to Michael Douglas, it wasn't the type of character he was known for at the time, as he'd previously played "sensitive young men" in movies like Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces. However, it was his role in The Last Detail (the director of which, Hal Ashby, was initially attached to direct Cuckoo's Nest) that convinced Douglas and others of his range and so, he got. As cliched as it is to say, and as much as Ken Kesey may have disagreed with his casting, you now really can't picture anyone but Nicholson playing R.P. McMurphy, as it just seems like a role that was tailored for him. It's interesting that I mentioned The Shawshank Redemption earlier, as when he and Roger Ebert reviewed that movie when it came out, Gene Siskel compared it to Cuckoo's Nest, given how they both take place in an institution where people are both physically and mentally imprisoned by the system. They're also comparable in that, like Andy Dufresne, McMurphy is a newcomer into this environment who disrupts the oppressive atmosphere within, endears himself to a specific group of inmates, and, in the end, makes things better for them. However, that's where the similarities end as, unlike the quiet, introverted, and, ultimately, innocent Andy, McMurphy is a street-smart, wise-ass anti-authoritarian who's been arrested at least five times for assault, and most recently for the statutory rape of a 15-year old. Granted, he claims the girl told him she was of age and that she was the aggressor but, regardless, when he's sent to the work farm as punishment, he decides to act like he's crazy so he can be sent to the Oregon State Hospital and get what he thinks will be a much breezier sentence. He, of course, is very wrong on that score, and while he does do a lot of good for his fellow patients, he ultimately pays the price for it. 

During his first meeting with Dr. Spivey, the head of the institution, McMurphy is confronted with the suspicion from those at the work farm that he's faking it and, when asked if he really thinks there's anything wrong with his mind, he answers, "Not a thing, doc. I'm a goddamn marvel of modern science." He also claims that he's willing to cooperate but, of course, from the minute he's there, he does as he pleases... or, at least, tries to. He and Nurse Ratched immediately butt heads, with their first conflict coming when he

and some of the others are trying to play cards and he gets fed up with the music that's constantly playing over the loudspeaker, only for Ratched to refuse to turn it down. He also refuses to take the medication they give him and the others, especially when they won't tell him what it is exactly, and feigns swallowing it along with the juice he's given. Not at all scared when the others warn him that Ratched may have seen him, he bets them, "In one week, I can put a bug so far up her ass, she don't know whether to shit

or wind her wristwatch." Things grow even more tense between the two of them when the World Series comes around and McMurphy asks that the work detail schedule be changed so he and the boys can watch it, which Ratched is, naturally, against. They put it to a vote, but the others are so afraid of Ratched that very few of them raise their hands. Then, the next day, with a new game going on, they have another vote, and even though McMurphy, this time, does manage to get a majority vote, Ratched still finds a way to circumvent it. During a meeting with him,

Spivey, and some other doctors, McMurphy doesn't hide his disdain for Ratched, saying, "She ain't honest... She likes a rigged game, you know what I mean?", and half-jokingly says that he wanted to kill her. He only increases his rebelliousness against the system afterward, when he goes as far as to steal a bus and take the boys on a fishing trip out on the ocean. Shortly after that little stunt, however, he learns that his "free ride" is anything but. Thinking his prison sentence applies to his time at the institution, one of the orderlies he's often in conflict

with, Washington, tells him that they can keep him there as long as they see fit. Questioning the guys as to why no one told him about this, McMurphy sees just how much of a hold Ratched has on them, as most of them are voluntarily committed but are too afraid to leave.

Speaking of the other patients, when McMurphy first arrives at the institution, he's quite affable and friendly with them, although he also shows an affinity for messing with them a bit. Right after getting there, he breaks up a pinochle game by distracting Martini with some dirty playing cards and leading him away from the table, with Billy following out of curiosity. Later, when they're hanging out in the tub-room and some of them are playing Monopoly, which devolves into an argument, McMurphy, who's steamed about

not getting enough votes to where they could watch the World Series, sprays them with water from a hydrotherapy fountain. But, while some of them get on his nerves, particularly Harding, whom he often refers to as "Hard-on," and Martini, with how childish and deluded he can be, and he's frustrated when he sees just how scared they are to take a stand against Nurse Ratched, he grows a real affinity for them. He also, slowly but surely, inspires them to assert themselves, starting with the scene where he

proclaims he can escape into town to watch the ballgame by lifting that fountain and throwing it through the window. Naturally, he's unable to do so, but when he stomps out of the room, declaring, "But I tried, didn't I? Goddammit, at least I did that," this seems to inspire the others and light a fire under their asses. The next day, when the subject of watching the World Series comes up again and they have another vote, all of them raise their hands. Though Ratched still manages to negate this vote, much to McMurphy's anger, he then pretends watch the game,

whooping and yelling as if it were real, and gets them to join him. He also steals the bus and takes the boys on a fishing trip, ostensibly so he can get away for a while and have some alone time with his "girlfriend," Candy, confident that they'll simply be taken back when they're caught. However, it's another way in which he helps the guys, getting them out into the real world for a while and allowing them to find some self-confidence, as well as discover their own personal abilities. And when a group therapy session afterward goes badly downhill, with Cheswick

throwing a tantrum and demanding his confiscated cigarettes be returned to him, McMurphy tries to save him from getting into more trouble by punching through the nurse station window, grabbing the cigarettes, and giving them to him. But, despite his best efforts, Cheswick is still grabbed and yanked away by Washington, whom McMurphy gets into a fight with. This leads to the two of them, as well as Chief when he intervenes, getting electroshock therapy as punishment.

Chief is the first patient whom McMurphy finds himself drawn to because of his enormous size, walking up to him and exclaiming, "Goddamn, boy, you're about as big as a mountain! Look like you might've played some football." When Billy then tells him that Chief is deaf and mute, McMurphy can't help but take the opportunity to mock him with some Native American stereotypes. This doesn't get him any sort of reaction but McMurphy keeps at him, trying to get him to open up more. When he's on the

basketball court and is unable to get anyone to play with him, he tries to get Chief involved, encouraging him to jump up and put the ball through the basket. This doesn't work either, but when McMurphy is trying to get a deciding vote so they can watch the World Series, he's able to get Chief to raise his hand. The two of them grow ever closer, with Chief becoming a more willing participant in a later basketball game involving the other patients and the orderlies. And then, when he, McMurphy, and

Cheswick are taken away for electroshock therapy following that disastrous group session, Chief surprises McMurphy by revealing that he can actually hear and speak just fine. When he first says something to him, it's obvious that McMurphy wonders if he's hearing things, but when Chief speaks again, he's absolutely impressed and elated by the charade he's been putting on. McMurphy then suggests that the two of them escape to Canada, when it's his turn for electroshock therapy. Rather than making him submissive and "gentle as a puppy," as he

claims now he is to Nurse Ratched, it gives him more of an incentive to escape. But, before he goes, he decides to throw the boys their own private Christmas party, sneaking Candy and a friend of hers, Rose, into the place late one night, after Ratched and the staff have gone home. Later, after everyone has had their fun and the party is winding down, McMurphy announces that he's pulling out and says a sincere goodbye to everyone. Seeing how crestfallen Billy is in particular, he invites him to come with him, Chief, and the girls. Though Billy says he's not ready yet,

when he makes it clear that he's interested in Candy, McMurphy arranges for the two of them to have a "date," i.e. so they can sleep together. He figures it won't take long, but then, all the booze and the general sense of fatigue gets the best of him and everyone else.

They all fall asleep, and only awaken when Nurse Ratched and everyone else arrive the next morning. Despite his escape being seemingly thwarted, McMurphy, at first, remains confident and smarmy in his attitude towards Ratched, mainly because he still has the keys to the window's lock on him. But then Ratched, after discovering Billy in the one room with Candy following their passionate night together, immediately destroys his newfound self-confidence and assertiveness by threatening to tell his dreaded

mother, as McMurphy looks on in shock. When Billy is dragged away and placed in Dr. Spivey's office as punishment, with Ratched continuing to threaten to tell his mother, McMurphy decides he's had enough and he and Chief prepare to slip out the window and join the girls outside. Though they get in a scuffle with the orderlies, and Washington then threatens them with a leather band wrapped around his knuckles, they have a chance to escape when he's distracted by a sudden scream. Seeing one of the nurses stumble in with blood on her, however,

McMurphy has to see what's happened. Running to the room where Billy was being kept, he and everyone else discover that he's committed suicide. This, combined with Ratched attempting to maintain control by demanding that everyone just go about their daily routine, pushes McMurphy over the edge and he attacks her. He nearly strangles her to death and is only stopped when Washington knocks him unconscious.

All of that sheer charisma and free-spirited energy that Jack Nicholson brought to McMurphy throughout the entire movie, and all of that bravado that inspired the others to be more assertive in the face of Nurse Ratched, is what makes the ending as utterly bittersweet as it is. The bitter part is that, despite rumors that he escaped, you learn that McMurphy has been lobotomized and is now a truly submissive, mindless shell of the man he used to be. The fact that he'd earlier faked being this way after the electroshock therapy, and let Chief know before everyone else that he was faking, makes Chief's discovery that it's not a put-on this time all the more devastating and tragic.

Naturally, the sweet part of the ending comes when Chief (Will Sampson) then does what McMurphy tried earlier: rips out that hydrotherapy fountain, smashes it through the window, and runs off into the wilderness. He's also the last person you expect to see do this because, up until the end of the second act and beginning of the third, he seems to be truly deaf/mute and completely passive. When McMurphy interacts with him the first few times, Chief doesn't seem to be comprehending anything he's saying or doing but, as time goes on, he slowly but surely opens up and interacts with him. It starts with him raising his hand to put the vote for watching the World Series over the top, something which, upon knowing the truth, you go back to in retrospect and realize he either wanted to see the game himself or, at the very least, wanted to help McMurphy and the others watch it. Afterward, when he helps McMurphy get over the fence, who then commandeers the bus, Chief smiles at this, clearly beginning to respect him. Then, when McMurphy is playing an actual basketball game with the patients and the orderlies, Chief participates by using his height to tip the scale in the patients' favor, something he starts to really enjoy and get into. The tipping point comes when McMurphy gets into the fight with the orderlies over Cheswick's tantrum about his cigarettes and Chief intervenes, resulting in the three of them being sent down to have electroshock therapy. Once he and McMurphy are alone, Chief shows that he now trusts him more than anyone else by revealing he can hear and speak just fine, and that it was all an act so as not to attract attention. When I first saw the movie, I didn't know about this twist, so it was as much a surprise to me as it is to McMurphy. 

With that, the two of them plan to escape to Canada, but when the night comes, Chief finds himself hesitant to go through with it. He tells McMurphy, "My pop was real big. He did like he pleased. That's why everybody worked on him. The last time I seen my father, he was blind and diseased from drinking. And every time he put the bottle to his mouth, he didn't suck out of it; it sucked out of him until he shrunk so... wrinkled and yellow even the dogs didn't know him... I'm not saying they killed him. They just

worked on him. The way they're working on you." Chief doesn't really take part in the Christmas party that McMurphy throws for everyone (he does enjoy the sight of the fun that everyone's having, though), but he does stay by the window, having reluctantly come around to the idea. However, like everyone else, he drinks way too much and falls asleep, waking up when Nurse Ratched and the staff arrive the next morning. Throughout this entire scene, Chief stays by McMurphy, the two of them waiting for the

opportunity to slip out the window. But, of course, when it comes, McMurphy misses it and ultimately pays a heavy price for what he ends up doing. Afterward, Chief has gone back to his deaf/mute routine, passively pushing the broom around, and seems distraught when he hears the rumor that McMurphy has escaped without him. But then, Harding insists that McMurphy hasn't gone anywhere, and Chief learns that's the case that night, when he sees some orderlies walking him back to his bed. Thinking he waited for him, Chief gets dressed, walks

over to McMurphy, and happily tells him,"I knew you wouldn't leave without me. I was waiting for you. Now we can make it, Mac. I feel big as a damn mountain." But then, when McMurphy doesn't respond, Chief looks at him more carefully and is horrified when he sees the lobotomy scars on his forehead. He desperately tries to get him to sit up, but realizes that not only is McMurphy's body completely limp, but he has no idea that Chief is there or who he even is. Devastated, and likely reminded of what happened to his father, Chief tearfully declares that

he's not going leave his friend there like that, adding, "You're coming with me." But, seeing once and for all that that's not possible, he puts him back on the bed and, whispering, "Let's go," smothers him to death with a pillow, then escapes, much to the delight of Taber, who's awakened by the sound of the crash.

While most of the patients on McMurphy's ward are memorable, the one whose backstory we really get an insight into is Billy Bibbit. It's amazing how, in just his first film role, Brad Dourif gives a very sensitive, poignant performance as Billy, making him the gentlest, most soft-spoken one among the group. In his first couple of scenes, we see that he's a shy young man with a serious stutter, and during the first group therapy session, it's obvious that Nurse Ratched particularly targets him in her intimidating, passive-aggressive method of "treatment." During a later session, when Ratched forces him to talk, we learn that he once went over to a girl's house and asked her to marry him. Upon being rejected, he tried to commit suicide for the "first time," according to Ratched, who is also often in contact with Billy's mother, whom he clearly fears. When she asks him why he didn't tell his mother about this incident, Billy is too anxious and uncomfortable to answer. And when he later admits to McMurphy that he's not among those who are actually committed, which astounds him, it's obvious that his fear of his mother and Ratched's personal line with her is what keeps him from leaving (it may not have even been entirely his idea to be there in the first place). Billy becomes fairly close with McMurphy, and also takes a liking to Candy when he first meets her during the fishing trip. Moreover, during the late night Christmas party, Billy is seen happily dancing with Candy, the latter of whom seems to like him as well. When McMurphy announces that he's leaving, Billy is devastated, telling him that he's going to miss him. McMurphy invites him to come with them but Billy says, "Well, you think I don't want to?... Well, it's not that easy. I'm not ready yet." McMurphy then tells him that he'll send him a postcard from Canada so he'll know where to find them when he is ready to leave. Billy next asks if Candy is going to be there as well and if McMurphy is going to marry her. McMurphy, naturally, picks up on Billy's infatuation with her and decides to let him have a "date." Though Billy is initially bashful and tries to run and hide, McMurphy and the others goad him into it, and he takes to it with obvious enthusiasm.

What happens the next day, however, is absolutely gut-wrenching. When Nurse Ratched and the orderlies come in, and find Billy still in bed with Candy, he initially panics, running out of the room while putting his pants on, stumbling and falling as he does. But when the others applaud him, Billy is taken with a newfound self-confidence and assertiveness, and manages to speak without a stutter. He even makes a subtly crass joke, as when Ratched insists he explain everything, he smiles and asks, "Everything?"

And when Ratched asks if he's ashamed of himself, Billy firmly answers, "No, I'm not," receiving applause from the guys. Bu  Ratched then says, "You know, Billy, what worries me is how your mother is going to take this," and Billy panics and reverts back to stuttering, asking her not to tell his mother. He's so desperate that he accuses everyone else, specifically McMurphy, of pressuring him into doing it. He even gets down on his hands and knees, begging Ratched not to tell his mother. Instead, she orders Washington to put him in Dr. Spivey's office as punishment and he

has an awful panic attack, slapping himself and repeatedly screaming, "No!", as he's dragged away. Shortly afterward, it's revealed that he killed himself with a broken glass while he was in there alone.

Among the established group when McMurphy first arrives, the most level-headed is Harding (William Redfield), who comes off as very articulate and intelligent, but is also neurotic and tightly wound. His problems come down to his suspecting that his wife is cheating on him, although he has no proof of this, nor does he even know why he thinks it, saying he can only "speculate." When he and Nurse Ratched are talking about this in the first group therapy session, Harding tries to get all philosophical, saying, "The only thing I can speculate on, Nurse Ratched, is the very existence of my life with or without my wife, in terms of the human relationships, the juxtaposition of one person to another. The form, and the content." Thus, he often finds himself in conflict with the other patients, with Taber often picking on him, Martini annoying him, as does Cheswick with his temper tantrums and unwelcome attempts to help him, and McMurphy getting under his skin with his anti-authority attitude and antics. Still, Harding, like the others, does grow fairly close with him, and is the one who lets him know that just about everyone on the ward is voluntarily committed, as well as that he, and likely everyone else, didn't know how much McMurphy had to lose by antagonizing Ratched. He's horrified by the sight of Billy having killed himself at the end, and when McMurphy attacks Ratched over this, Harding yells at him to stop, knowing he's going to get it. During the group's last scene, you can tell he's trying to capture McMurphy's spirit and charisma as he's passing out the cards. And unlike the others, he knows that McMurphy didn't escape, breaking it to Sefelt, the one who tells them that he did, "McMurphy is upstairs and he's as meek as a lamb."

Despite his very childish nature, one person who's not afraid to call out Nurse Ratched, with or without McMurphy by his side, is Cheswick (Sydney Lassick). He may be prone to loud temper tantrums, but he's one of the few who has enough gumption to raise his hand with McMurphy during the first vote about watching the World Series, and even offers to go with him when he later boasts about smashing open a window to head down to a bar to watch it. During the second therapy session, when Ratched is forcing Billy to talk about what happened with him and the girl he was infatuated with, Cheswick asks, "You know, if, uh... Billy doesn't feel like talking... I mean, uh, why are you pressing him? Why... why can't we go on to some new business, huh?" Nurse Ratched says this meeting is supposed to be about therapy, and Cheswick brings up the World Series, how he's never been to a baseball game, and feels that watching it may be good therapy for the group. Though Ratched doesn't like that this issue has been brought back up, Cheswick and McMurphy insist they have another vote. It doesn't matter in the long run, but it does show how Cheswick does actually have more guts than some of his fellow inmates. One of Cheswick's funniest moments is when, during the fishing trip, McMurphy has him steer the boat, something he's initially terrified of doing, although he gets the hang of it, singing Popeye the Sailor to himself. But then, he sees that there's no one on deck, panics, and lets go of the wheel, which everyone onboard immediately realizes. And while the others are trying to bring up some fish that they've managed to hook, Cheswick starts fighting with Harding over control of the boat. A much less funny, albeit well-known moment, happens shortly afterward when, during another group therapy session, Cheswick, after demanding to have his confiscated cigarettes back, throws a tantrum about it, yelling, "Piss on your fucking rules, Miss Ratched!" Ignoring McMurphy telling him to knock it off, and instead repeatedly yelling, "I want something done!", Cheswick, along with McMurphy and Chief, is taken away for electroshock therapy. The moment where they force him down the hall, towards the room is really hard to watch, as Cheswick, terrified because he knows what's about to happen, resists with all his might and not only screams but, at one point, hysterically cries and lets out a high-pitched wail. While it doesn't completely destroy him mentally, Cheswick doesn't have enough outburst like this again.

Like Brad Dourif, Christopher Lloyd makes his screen debut as Taber, and while he's not a major character, he definitely stands out because of his expected manic energy and crazy facial expressions, as well as because of how loud and profane he is, not something you immediately expect with Lloyd.It's not too surprising that Taber is one of the patients who's actually committed, as he seems pretty unstable. The first time he speaks, he antagonizes Harding when he's going on about his wife and his overly philosophical musings during the first group therapy session, grumbling, "Harding, why don't you knock off the bullshit and get to the point?", which sends Harding on a rant. Eventually, Taber yells, "You know what, Harding, I think you're some kind of morbid asshole or something!... You been talkin' about your wife ever since I can remember, you know?! She's on your mind all the time, and blah, blah, blah, blah, and on and on and on!" When they're later playing Monopoly in the tub room, and Harding gets aggravated with Martini, Taber keeps poking at him, literally, telling him, "Play the game, Harding. Play the game," and, "Knock off the bullshit." Going back to Lloyd's facial expressions, one of my favorite moments is when, during the one therapy session, Harding loses his cigarette and, unbeknownst to everyone, it gets tossed around until it winds up in the cuff of Taber's pants leg. It takes a while, but he eventually starts to feel the burning, then gets up, flails around, and yells in pain, which gets him physically restrained and taken away, as he's believed to be acting out. But my absolute favorite moment with Taber is when they're all hiding from the late shift supervisor and McMurphy, unaware that Turkle, the late night orderly, is hiding in there with them, asks where he is. Taber randomly says, "He's jerkin' off somewhere," and Turkle answers, "Ain't nobody jerkin' off nowhere, motherfucker!"

Danny DeVito had already played Martini in the original Broadway version of Cuckoo's Nest, and I assume that, as it is here, it also wasn't a very showy role, with little dialogue, but a memorable one, regardless. For one, it's a young DeVito, with a full head of hair, so that's going to make it stand out in and of itself. For another, like Cheswick, Martini is portrayed as being very childish, but rather than throwing tantrums, he just comes across a precocious and mischievous, looking at other people's cards

when they're playing pinochle, constantly saying, "Hit me," even when it's not his turn, and annoying Harding while they're playing Monopoly by putting a hotel that he doesn't own on a space. Vincent Schiavelli, whom I always remember as the organ grinder in Batman Returns (another of quite a few films he appeared in with DeVito), has a small role here as Frederickson, a patient who's almost always never far from another man, Sefelt (William Duell). We never learn exactly what their deal is, but they're

not only as thick as thieves but, like Taber, they enjoy annoying Harding. It's suggested that they share each other's medication and a moment where they're in the lounge area behind the nurse station suggests that might be the case. Frederickson only has one major line: during one of the later sessions, when Nurse Ratched insists that it's better to be with others than by oneself, he asks, "Do you mean to say... it's sick to want to be off by yourself?" Also, at the end, Sefelt is the one who tells the others of the erroneous rumor that McMurphy has escaped. Other patients who have

small roles but are still memorable include Scanlon (Delos V. Smith Jr.), this guy with a big, bushy beard who, like Frederickson, has only one major line during that one session, when he asks, "I wanna know why the dorm is locked in the daytime and on weekends." Bancini (Josip Elic) is an old guy who often says that he's tired and wants to go back to his bed, while Col. Matterson (Peter Brocco) is an old man in a wheelchair who seems to be constantly talking with himself. Mr. Ellsworth (Dwight

Marfield) is a guy who never speaks but is dancing whenever he gets a chance. And finally, Michael Berryman, two years before The Hills Have Eyes, appears as a patient named Ellis whom the others get drunk during the Christmas party (I also remember a deleted scene that involved him wetting himself).

You know the saying that villains never think they're villains (I personally don't agree with that, as I've seen plenty of villains who know how evil they are but just don't care, but that's beside the point)? Nurse Ratched is the perfect embodiment of that. When I first watched Cuckoo's Nest, I went into it expecting her to be an utterly despicable, loathsome woman from her first scene, given everything I'd heard about her thanks to cultural osmosis. Funnily enough, Milos Forman talked about how that was indeed the original direction he planned to go with her, but instead, decided it would be more effective if she weren't a full-on villain. Sure enough, Louise Fletcher instead plays Ratched as someone who whole-heartedly believes that what she's doing is right and is best for everybody. It's just that her manner of politely but coldly and passive-aggressively forcing them to talk when they don't want to, and about subjects that are really troubling for them, is clearly not healthy. This is most clear when she gets Billy to talk about the time he naively asked a girl he was infatuated with to marry him, then brings up both his mother and his attempting suicide after he was rebuffed when he himself is unwilling to acknowledge them. But there's also no doubt that she does quietly revel in the control she has over them. When the first group therapy session goes downhill, resulting in Harding arguing with several of the others, Cheswick freaking out, and Bancini being forcibly removed when all he does is say that he's tired, McMurphy looks at Ratched, who's looking back at him with a stoney yet satisfied expression, as if she's telling him, "Yeah, you're mine now, just like them." Thus, it's not surprising that she despises McMurphy's rebellious nature. When she watches him when he's on the basketball court with Chief, she already seems to be considering him someone to keep an eye on, and very soon, the two of them enter into a battle of wills, with Ratched doing everything she can to put McMurphy down flat. It starts with her refusing to turn the music down and threatening to force him to take his medication "some other way" when he initially refuses to take it, then escalates into confiscating the guys' cigarettes, suspending their tub room privileges, and refusing to let them change the work detail so they can watch the World Series, going so far as to come up with arbitrary reasons to keep McMurphy from winning the second vote regarding the latter. When McMurphy then starts pretending to watch the game, regardless, and the guys join in with him and get rowdy, Ratched futilely tries to regain order, glaring daggers at them, though nobody notices.

Despite this, when Dr. Spivey and the other psychiatrists are considering sending McMurphy back to the work farm following the fishing trip, Ratched is against it, telling them, "Well, gentlemen, in my opinion, if we send him back to Pendleton or we send him up to Disturbed, it's just one more way of passing on our problem to somebody else. You know, we don't like to do that. So, I'd like to keep him on the ward. I think we can help him." More than likely, she's just not willing to let McMurphy defeat her and

is determined to squash him. (Fittingly, Spivey mentions in this scene that she and McMurphy are a lot alike, as they're both strong-willed and unwilling to yield an inch.) After this is when he learns just how much of a hold she has on the others, as most of them are voluntary and should, conceivably, be able to leave whenever they want, but they're too afraid. Going back to Billy, it's, again, obvious that Ratched's connection to his mother is the reason why he doesn't leave and isn't, as McMurphy says, "Out in a

convertible, bird-doggin' chicks and bangin' beaver." But it's also during this session that she starts to lose control, as some of the other patients begin to challenge her methods and what she feels is best for them, with Cheswick going nuts and demanding his cigarettes. This is when you first see Ratched get visibly angry, as she repeatedly yells at Cheswick to sit down and be quiet, but he doesn't, and it escalates until he, McMurphy, and Chief are taken down for electroshock therapy. In the next therapy session after that, Ratched is trying to make Sefelt admit that he's

been giving Frederickson his medication, when McMurphy comes in, acting like he's been brain-damaged from the electroshock. Though everyone else is horrified at this, Ratched just looks aggravated, as she knows he's faking. Also, when McMurphy, after dropping the act, joins the group and calls Ratched by her first name, Mildred, that seems to slightly take her aback (Louise Fletcher said that she blushes in response, as no patient had ever called Ratched by her first name before).

Where Ratched crosses the line is when she comes in the morning after the Christmas party and finds the mess awaiting her. Initially concerned when they can't find Billy, and showing that, deep down, she does have his best interest in mind, when she learns that he spent the night with Candy, she tries to shame him into feeling regretful for it. When he doesn't, she pulls out the trump card and says she's going to tell his mother, which terrifies him. He starts stuttering again, saying she doesn't need to tell his mother, to which

she says, "I don't have to tell her? Your mother and I are old friends. You know that." He starts begging her, only for her to say, "Don't you think you should've thought of that before you took that woman in that room?" Though he desperately accuses everybody else, particularly McMurphy, of putting him up to it, Ratched has him locked up in Spivey's office by himself, ignoring his panicked pleas for mercy. And after he commits suicide, she tries to retain control by telling the others to just go about their daily routine. This leads McMurphy to viciously

attack and nearly strangle her to death, before she's saved by Washington knocking him out. The last time we see her, she's wearing a neck brace and her voice is much weaker. What's more, it's clear she no longer has as much influence over the guys as she once did, as they're now back to playing cards and smoking in the day-room, and Sefelt doesn't seem as intimidated by her when he returns from treatment.

In an interesting bit of authentic casting, Dean Brooks, the director of the Oregon State Hospital where the movie was shot, actually plays Dr. John Spivey in the film (what's more, a number of actual patients appeared both as extras and helped the crew in various jobs). He doesn't have many scenes but, when he talks with McMurphy when he first arrives, he comes across as a pretty friendly guy, making conversation with him when McMurphy notes a picture of him on his desk showing him holding up a big fish, and allowing him to smoke while he looks over his file. He asks McMurphy point blank why those at the work farm would think he's mentally ill, which he doesn't have a clear answer for, and also brings up his being imprisoned for statutory rape of a fifteen-year old. He listens when McMurphy insists that the girl insisted she was eighteen and went after him, and after telling him that those at the work farm believe he's faking being mentally ill, Spivey asks him point blank if he thinks there's anything wrong with him, which McMurphy denies. After McMurphy has been there for a month and has become combative with Nurse Ratched, Spivey tells him that he doesn't see any sign of mental illness within him. And, following the fishing trip, Spivey meets with some other doctors (one of whom, Dr. Songee, is played by another actual doctor at the hospital, Prasanna K. Pati) and they agree that, whether or not McMurphy is actually insane, he's dangerous. Spivey decides that it might be best to send him back to the work farm, which Ratched advises against. As nice of a guy as he may appear, his either turning a blind eye to or not recognizing Ratched's tyranny, as well as allowing the hideous procedures that occur in the hospital, does speak volumes (ironically, when Brooks took over as the hospital's actual director in reality, he did away with practices like electroshock therapy and lobotomy). The last time we see Spivey, he's dealing with Billy having committed suicide in his own office, and probably had the final say in McMurphy getting lobotomized.

Outside of Nurse Ratched, the most memorable member of the hospital staff for me is Scatman Crothers as Turkle, the night orderly whom McMurphy bribes into letting him bring in Rose and Candy. I was really delighted when I first saw the movie and recognized him, as I, for one, already liked him in The Shining, and for another, I have childhood memories of the cartoon voice acting he did. I like how McMurphy initially tries to bribe him with just a $20 bill, which he says, "It don't send me... Don't do nothin' for me," then he brings up that they're going to bring some "bottles," to which Turkle says, "You're gettin' closer brother." And when Turkle asks if the girls are going to be sharing more than just the bottles, and McMurphy answers, "Sure, I know what you mean," he takes the bill and says, "I'm on my knees, brother. I'm on my knees." But, as up for that as he is, when McMurphy gets everyone out of bed for the Christmas party, Turkle blows his stack, yelling, "Ain't this a bitch?! McMurphy, what you tryin' to do?! Get my ass really fired?!" Then, just as he's breaking it up, the supervisor shows up and he forces everyone back into the lounge area behind the nurse's station. Another funny part, aside from the one I mentioned with Taber, is when McMurphy, hearing the supervisor calling for Turkle and realizing he's in there with them, exclaims, "Turkle, what the fuck are you doin' in here?! Go out there and talk to her!", and Turkle answers, "I'm doin' the same fuckin' thing you doin' in here: hidin'!" But then, he has no choice but to go out and talk with her. Just when it seems like he's going to be able to send her away no problem, someone in there knocks something over with a loud clatter. Fortunately for the others, Candy peeks her head out and the supervisor sees her, but it puts Turkle in a really bad light, needless to say. Once she's gone, he gets everyone out of there and breaks down crying, complaining that they're fucking with his job. He yells, "Fuck it!", and starts getting drunk, eventually passing out.

I have to give it to McMurphy's sort of girlfriend, Candy (Marya Small): she's definitely willing to do anything for him. Not only does she save him and the others from being discovered by the supervisor in that scene, but she's also willing to sleep with Billy, whom she already took something of a liking to beforehand anyway. McMurphy is apparently right when he tells Billy that he and Candy aren't going to get married, even though he's planning to take her with him to Canada. Rather, it seems like they're just really close

friends who use each other to blow off some steam every once in a while (I may come off as naive here, but I think she is meant to be a prostitute). Candy's most memorable moment is when, after McMurphy brings her aboard the bus before the fishing trip, she innocently asks the boys, "You all crazy?", as they're looking at her, with Cheswick nodding an emphatic "yes." For the Christmas party, Candy brings a floozy friend of hers, Rose (Louisa Moritz), who, according to Candy, was once married to a maniac... who liked to put frogs in her bra (at least, that's what Rose says). Rose doesn't do much except act ditzy and drunk, as well as momentarily distract Turkle. Later, while Candy is dancing with Billy, Rose opts to dance with Martini.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is one of those movies where, even though it's in color, it often feels more like black-and-white, due to the drab look of the hospital interiors (which are extremely dark at night after lights out), the clothes that everyone wears, and how, save for the fishing trip and the later basketball game between the patients and the orderlies, it's always overcast and rather chilly-looking outside. During said fishing trip, however, the movie not only becomes more lush-looking, thanks to the very lovely scenery, but its vibe is the antithesis of the enclosed,

claustrophobic feeling it's had within the walls of the institution up to that point, with big, wide beauty shots of the Oregon coast and the open ocean. It gives us an inkling of how the patients themselves feel as they're exposed to the real world after being shut in for so long. However, aside from that, and some high-angle shots of the hospital's interiors and exteriors when McMurphy first arrives and when he's first allowed on the basketball court, giving an impression of how overbearing the place is, Milos Forman goes for a type of direction that's anything but showy.

When it comes to the many intimate scenes with most of the main actors, particularly during the group therapy sessions, there was a lot of improvisation on their part and Forman would often just let the cameras roll, many times without some of the actors knowing that what they were doing was being captured and that some of it, in particular, would be used in the final movie, even if it was just a brief moment. That's why those scenes are so authentically chaotic, as they really are a bunch of people saying and doing random

and unexpected stuff at the same time, and the reactions they're getting from each other are genuine. One moment that I feel was likely genuine and not expected or planned is when, at the end of the Christmas party, McMurphy, while waiting on Rose while she's with Billy, slowly nods off while sitting near the window. Taking a bottle from Chief, he sits down, drinks from it, and the camera stays on a close-up of his face for well over a full minute, as he looks around at everybody, glances back and smiles at

Chief, stares ahead for a little bit, then looks out the window and smiles again at the sound of a passing train in the distance, before beginning to nod off. It's so genuine that you wonder if Jack Nicholson even knew he was being filmed. And in a similar vein, Forman effectively goes back and forth from very loud, chaotic scenes like those I've described to very quiet, almost still ones, punctuated by how there's not a lot of music in the movie.

In a nicely inspired example of his need for authenticity and realism, as well as because it was what he did while making movies in Czeckoslovakia, Forman insisted that they shoot the film in a real mental institution and they ended up using Oregon State Hospital in Salem, the very place where the book was set. As I said, because we spend probably 90% of the movie either within the place's walls or on its grounds, it very quickly starts to feel claustrophobic and oppressive. This feeling is made all the worse due to the expected ugly look to the

interiors, with an unappealing paint scheme of white and a sort of light-green, sections that are separated from each other by wire-mesh walls and doors, and windows that have both the mesh and bars on the outside. As big as the place is, we don't see that much of it, as the main setting for many significant scenes, particularly the group therapy sessions and the Christmas party, is Nurse Ratched's ward, the main area of which is made up of the day-room, which is separated from the sleeping area by the mesh, and the nurse's station, with the lounge area in back of it. Also

in this area is the tub-room, where the boys hang out and play Monopoly in one scene, and is notable for that hydrotherapy fountain that Chief ultimately uses to escape. There's a large room with a heated indoor pool, which is the setting for only one scene but a significant one, when Washington tells McMurphy that he's not going to be skating through his time there like he thought he was. And then, there's the disturbed ward, where McMurphy, Cheswick, and Chief are taken for electroshock therapy, which is filled with

the more seriously ill patients, who are either behind bars or just milling around in the hall, including one guy who's lying in the middle of the floor. Even the basketball court and recreation areas on the grounds have a feeling of imprisonment, with the chain-link fences and barbwire running along their tops.

The atmosphere and sense of oppression within the asylum is also quite palpable, with Nurse Ratched insisting on doing everything her way and none other, from forcing people to discuss things in group that they don't want to, and even humiliating them in some regards, to loudly playing that classic music on the ward, which feels more depressing than soothing for the patients. The sense of fear she creates is reinforced by how simply speaking your mind or angrily criticizing what she does, let alone causing actual trouble, leads to your either getting beaten up

by the orderlies or forcibly dragged away, as happens during the first group therapy session, when Bancini simply says he's tired and wanders into the midst of the group, and the orderlies not only grab and pull him away, but also yell at and apparently beat on him offscreen. And then, there are the major punishments of electroshock therapy, which McMurphy, Cheswick, and Chief are forced to endure, despite McMurphy managing to get Cheswick back the cigarettes that was throwing a tantrum about, which would've likely

satiated and calmed him down. Like I said earlier, the terror and desperation in Cheswick's screaming as he's forced down the hall to the room where they perform the procedure is really disturbing, just as it is when he's wheeled back out, suffering from the aftereffects. This primes us for when we then see it firsthand when it's McMurphy's turn, and it's just as unsettling as the implication (Jack Nicholson is said to have witnessed an actual session, so his performance is apparently very on point). Finally, the most horrific example of the place's cruelty is when McMurphy is lobotomized after attacking Nurse Ratched, despite it being her fault that Billy committed suicide.

Because of all these bad vibes, it's very refreshing when the guys finally get outside into the real world when McMurphy hijacks the bus and takes them on an impromptu fishing trip. We get to see a little bit of the actual city of Salem (which, aside from the bit of the World Series heard on the radio at one point, is the only indication that this is set in the early 60's), a little town nearby with a trailer park where McMurphy picks up Candy, the harbor where they take a boat out to sea (the seaside town of Depoe Bay), and the open ocean. Milos Forman considered

cutting this sequence, as he felt the whole movie should be confined to the hospital in order to make Chief's escape at the end more cathartic. However, I'm glad he opted not to, not just because of the needed change of scenery but also because it has some of the movie's funniest moments, from how McMurphy introduces himself and the patients as doctors from the institution to the man who charters the boats (which is such an obvious lie), to some instances of physical comedy, like when Taber nearly slips into the water while trying to climb aboard, and

other antics like the guys trying to find the the best way to put little fish on the hooks and Cheswick being tasked with steering the boat. The scene's climax has McMurphy going into the cabin to have sex with Candy, expecting the guys to stay out on the deck and fish, only for them to instead decide to peep in on them. Then, when Cheswick sees nobody on the deck behind him, he panics and lets go of the wheel, causing the boat to steer around in circles. McMurphy comes out, yelling, "Cheswick, goddammit, I thought

I told you to steer that boat straight!", and goes to grab the wheel himself, only for Taber to yell that he's hooked a fish. He, McMurphy, and just about everyone else try to bring the fish up, while up on the poop deck, Cheswick and Harding get into an argument over steering the boat, which devolves into them slapping each other like little kids. A final big wide shot shows that they are, indeed, going around and around in circles in one spot.

Despite the subject matter, the film is still quite funny, both because of how colorful and out there the patients often are, especially Harding and Taber and how much they're at each other, as well as due to Jack Nicholson's performance as McMurphy. While he did deserve the Oscar he won for the dramatic side of things, there's no doubt that he's often so hilarious, bringing that manic energy, wittiness, and devilish charm he was so well known for in spades. Right at the beginning, as soon as they take the handcuffs off him, he laughs in the one guard's face, yells,

"Whoo-hoo, hoo! Whoo!", and kisses another right on the cheek. Then, as he's being brought onto the ward, you can see him fooling around and dancing as he walks. And when he meets the boys for the first time, he shows them his "special" playing cards, which particularly grab Martini's attention. Not too long afterward, when he's on the basketball court and fails to get Chief to jump up and dunk the ball, McMurphy gets up on Bancini's shoulders and has him walk over to where Chief still has the ball. He takes the ball and shows him what to do with it, but then, Bancini turns

and walks away, mumbling that he's tired, with McMurphy still on his shoulders, yelling, "Fast break! Defense! Back! Back! Come on, Bancini. Where the fuck you goin' at?!" He gets Bancini to turn around and walk back over to the Chief, although he still can't get him to put the ball into the basket. It's also funny how aggravated McMurphy gets with the other patients, like when they're playing pinochle with cigarettes and Martini bugs him, constantly saying, "Hit me," when it's not his turn, and breaking a

cigarette, which represents a dime, in half to make a "nickle." Upon being told that a dime is the limit, he puts the two halves of the cigarette back together to make a dime again, but McMurphy tells him, "If you break it in half, you don't get two nickels, you get shit. Try and smoke it. You understand?" Martini says, "Yes," but McMurphy says, "You don't understand." Between that and the loud classic music they're playing on the ward, McMurphy loses his patience and yells, "Jesus Christ almighty! Do you

nuts wanna play cards or do you wanna fuckin' jerk off?!" That's when he complains to Nurse Ratched about the music, after he's brazenly walked into the nurse's station to turn it down, and is then asked to take some medication. Unwilling to do so when he doesn't know what it is, he tells the other nurse, "I just don't want anyone to slip me salt peter. You know what I mean?", and makes an obscene gesture below the window. Ratched suggests he can take it some way other than orally, though also adds that he probably wouldn't like it. McMurphy looks at Harding and says, "You'd like it, wouldn't you?", before pretending to take the pills and acting like he enjoys it as he does so.

Even though, in hindsight, it's an allusion to his ultimate, very unfunny fate, McMurphy walking in like he's brain-damaged following the electroshock therapy scene, only to reveal that he's faking it, first by winking at Chief and then turning and laughing at everyone in the group, is pretty great. I especially like how, after he sits down and joins the group, he comments, "They was giving me ten thousand watts a day, you know, and I'm hot to trot! The next woman takes me on is gonna light up like a pinball machine and pay off in silver dollars." And then, there's the

Christmas party, where McMurphy and Candy wake everyone up by turning the lights on and off, while Candy sings Row Your Boat over the loudspeaker, and McMurphy tells everyone, "It's medication time... The nighttime spirits are here. It's Randall to say goodbye and get you high, and nighttime angel Candy. Ah, yes. That's right, Mr. Martini. There is an Easter Bunny." And after that hilarious situation with Mr. Turkle, the party goes into full swing, as Martini and Col. Matterson decorate a tree, before Martini

rolls him along in his wheelchair, with decorations all over him, and spins him around in the middle of the ward, as he laughs happily; Cheswick puts liquor down Ellis' throat via a tube, after which he smiles very happily; Cheswick then obliges Frederickson and Sefelt in the same way, with the former attempting to guzzle all of it down; and Mr. Ellsworth dances to his heart's content, among other such sights.

When Ken Kesey wrote the original novel of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, he based it on what he saw while working as an orderly at the Menlo Park Veterans' Hospital in the San Francisco Bay area, coming to the decision that most, if not all, of those patients were not insane but were deemed as such by society, as they didn't fit the notion of how people were supposed to act. It also criticized psychiatry at the time, which he felt only treated the "symptoms" rather then the cause. Whether or not he intended it, this story, especially when it was adapted into the

film, not only resonated with the hippie generation and the era of the Vietnam War in America, where young people were being made to go fight and possibly die for a war that few everyday citizens believed in, but also with people living in Communist countries. Like I said at the beginning, Milos Forman himself definitely identified with it, to the point where, when some American friends of his were trying to convince him that he wasn't the right person to make this book into a film, feeling it was a purely American story, he told them, "For you, it's a book,

it's literature, but for me, it's real life. I lived in that society." In a French documentary about the film that I found on YouTube, and which I highly recommend checking out, both Forman and Vladimir Boukovski, a Soviet dissident who had been put in a psychiatric hospital for twelve years because of his opposition to the USSR, went into detail about how psychiatry was often used as a method of repression by Communist regimes, especially after holding political prisoners was banned in 1975 (the very year Cuckoo's Nest was

released). As Forman himself says in the documentary, "Psychiatry is not political," so it was very easy for it to be used in such a manner, while Boukovski talks about how, when he was in the hospital, anything anyone did was seemed as another sign of "mental illness" and thus, they were punished, as we see in the movie. He also says that McMurphy's line about how, if nothing else, he at least tried to pull out that fountain and use it to escape through the window, became important to him, as well as

something of a motto for those who were fighting against the oppression. McMurphy himself became a symbol of those willing to rebel against such a system and society, and how, while you may pay the price for it, as he does, you can also inspire others to act and succeed, as Chief does at the end.

One aspect of the movie that you don't hear discussed very often is its music, probably because the score, composed by Jack Nitzsche, is used very sparingly, and when it does come up, what you hear is pretty off-kilter. The main theme, which you first hear over the short opening credits, starts out with a very strange, echoing sound, then transitions into a piece played on the theremin, accompanied by some guitar and sounds akin to what you expect to hear in a traditional Native American ceremony. Strange stuff, and it's not only played again over the ending credits, but is touched on beforehand when Chief euthanizes McMurphy, again with some Native American sounds accompanying it, before building and building into a full orchestral flourish when Chief manages to break out and escape (the music all but drowns out the actual sound in that instance). The section with the most score is the fishing trip, with some upbeat, rustic music for when McMurphy first hijacks the bus, takes the boys into the city, picks up Candy, and drives to the harbor. When they head out to sea, you get some offbeat nautical music, while the later part of the scene, where they've managed to hook a fish as the unmanned boat goes around and around, is played in a very airy manner. Other than that, the music that you most often hear is the classical stuff that they play over the loudspeaker on the ward, along with some Christmas songs during the party scene, and Charmaine, which I think is what Billy and Candy dance to.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, while not one of my all-time favorites, is one of those movies where I can't put my finger on any negatives. It tells its story in an engaging and entertaining way; all of the actors are fantastic, Jack Nicholson chief among them but also Brad Dourif, Louise Fletcher, Christopher Lloyd, and such; it's filmed in a very effective, realistic manner, right down to its being shot in an actual mental institution and making use of a number of actual patients and staff members; it's as funny as it is dramatic; and it's managed to speak to and inspire millions of people around the world who deal with oppression in various forms. Other than maybe the music score, which I'm not too big on because of how odd it is, this is most definitely a film that everyone should see at least once in their life.