Please note that this is my first review. Because of this, it may be somewhat different than my future reviews. This is because I am still experimenting with different writing styles and what I want to talk about. Also note that I believe that this review is significantly longer than what I have planned for my future ones. If you have any comments or suggestions, please tell me!
Introduction
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is an Academy Award winning film from the mind of Milos Forman based on the book by Ken Kesey. When it was released, it completely stormed the Academy Awards, being the second film in history to receive all five major awards (Best Picture, Best Actor in a Lead Role, Best Actress in a Lead Role, Best Director, and Best Screenplay). I saw this film a few months ago and instantly fell in love with it. Even though I never read the book (but will in the future), I still thought that this film was brilliant. Because I didn’t read the book, I may not be as knowledgeable as some people are about this movie. Regardless, I have decided to share my knowledge of the movie with you guys to hopefully persuade you to give this movie a chance.
Plot (WARNING: SPOILERS!!! (duh))
The story starts with a woman named Nurse Ratched walking through the ward of a mental hospital. She calls up the patients to get their medication while a phonograph plays a waltz. Then, a man named Randel Patrick McMurphy (often shortened to Patrick or McMurphy) enters. He is handcuffed and escorted by officers. When the asylum guards uncuff him to allow him in the asylum, he is ecstatic, literally bouncing with joy in his newfound freedom. Nurse Ratched initially ignores McMurphy as he proceeds to enter the ward.
Once on the ward, McMurphy introduces himself to Chief Bromden (shortened to the Chief), who is a large, mute, Native American patient at the ward. When this proves unsuccessful, McMurphy then introduces himself to Billy Bibbit, a mental patient with a stuttering problem and some mother issues. McMurphy interrupts the patients’ game they were playing, and leads one of them off with his set of pornographic playing cards.
McMurphy then has a meeting with Dr. Spivey, the doctor of the ward. The doctor discusses with McMurphy about his crime. McMurphy had committed batter and illegal gambling, and also apparently raped an under aged girl, and was sent to work at a prison work farm before being sent to the asylum. The doctor asks McMurphy if he is faking a mental illness to get out of the work at the prison, to which McMurphy replies that he believes there is nothing wrong with his mind.
After that scene, McMurphy attends his first group therapy session. When the session breaks out in shouting, Nurse Ratched remains calm. Later, she watches disapprovingly as McMurphy tries to teach the Chief how to play basketball. McMurphy and Ratched later clash again, when McMurphy goes into the Nurses’ station to turn down the waltz music that plays when the patients take their medication. This causes a conflict since patients are not allowed inside the nurses’ station.
The McMurphy-Ratched conflict continues later when McMurphy requests that Ratched change the patients’ schedule to allow them to watch the World Series on the television. Ratched denies this request, saying that the change in the schedule would be too disruptive to the patients. She does however, agree to a vote. Only two patients besides McMurphy vote on his side, as the others are too scared of Ratched to oppose her. McMurphy later claims to the patients that he is going to use a marble plumbing fixture to break through the window bars so that he can watch the game at a bar. When he ultimately fails, he claims that at least he tried.
The next day, another vote is held to try to change the schedule. When every man in the therapy session raise their hands, Ratched informs them that the “chronics”, who are the more severe mental patients who have mostly lost grip with reality, also have a vote. McMurphy tries to get at least one of the chronics to raise their hands, but fails. Ratched then closes the meeting. Just after the meeting is closed, the Chief raises his hand in order to break the tie, but Ratched refuses as the meeting had already been adjourned. Despite her claims, McMurphy sits in front of the blank television and begins to call out the baseball game, like an announcer would, even though nothing is there. The other patients join him in cheering, and for once, Nurse Ratched loses control of her patients.
In a later scene, McMurphy uses the help of the Chief to climb over the hospital fence and hijack a bus to bring some of the patients on an outing. They go fishing with McMurphy’s girlfriend, Candy. While on the boat, McMurphy teaches Cheswick to drive the boat while the others fish.
When they get back to the hospital, Dr. Spivey calls a meeting for some of the orderlies. The doctor wants to send McMurphy back to the prison farm, but leaves the decision up to Nurse Ratched. She thinks that McMurphy should stay. When McMurphy later finds out about this, and figures out that they intend to keep him in the hospital for longer than his prison sentence.
Nurse Ratched suspends the patients’ cigarette privileges, and begins rationing them out. She claims this is because of the gambling operation McMurphy had that was taking away the other patients cigarettes. One of the patients, Cheswick, then begins yelling in anger, so McMurphy breaks into the Nurse’s station and retrieves cigarettes for Cheswick. McMurphy begins fighting with one of the attendants, only to have the Chief come to his defense.
Nurse Ratched then sends McMurphy and the Chief to electroshock therapy. While they wait, McMurphy offers the Chief a stick of gum, and the Chief thanks him, revealing that he is not really deaf. The night after they return from therapy, McMurphy confesses to the Chief that he plans on escaping the asylum.
McMurphy bribes one of the guards so that the patients can have a party. During the party, McMurphy takes the keys from the drunk orderly, and says goodbye to the men. Before leaving, McMurphy arranges for Billy to have sex with Candy, which delays his escape. All of the patients, including McMurphy and the Chief, pass out, only to be awoken the next morning by Nurse Ratched. She finds the ward completely trashed, and Billy Bibbit naked in bed with Candy. Ratched claims she will tell Billy’s mother, which fills him with shame. She sends him away, and while distracted, McMurphy tries to escape. One of the Nurses screams, interrupting the escape. It turns out that Billy Bibbit had committed suicide. McMurphy is filled with rage, and attacks Nurse Ratched. One of the attendants punches McMurphy to get him off of Ratched, while she is lying on the ground, gasping for air. The guards then take away McMurphy.
The Chief waits for McMurphy to return. When he does, the Chief notices that McMurphy has changed. It turns out that McMurphy had been lobotomized, leaving him a vegetable. The Chief claims that he will take McMurphy with him, and then smothers McMurphy with a pillow. The Chief then takes the marble plumbing fixture and throws it through the window, and proceeds to escape into the sunrise.
Critical Analysis
In almost every single story there is, you can find symbolism. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is no exception. The novel is absolutely full of symbolism, and the movie is no exception. First, one of the recurring motifs throughout the movie is oppression from authority. This can be seen in each of the three symbols I will be talking about today.
The first symbol I wish to discuss is keys. In the movie, keys represent a symbol of authority. The camera will often emphasize the fact that some characters are allowed to have keys, while others aren’t. The keys worn by the orderlies are used to ensure that the patients do not escape, and are kept close to their owners. The only reason McMurphy was able to get the patients away from the hospital, was because the keys were left in the activity bus. The entire reason, or at least McMurphy’s reason, that the patients throw a party is to get the keys from the night guard. McMurphy wishes to use the keys to open the window and escape with Chief Bromden, but he fails and has to relinquish the keys to an orderly the next morning. For everyone else, keys symbolize authority, but for McMurphy, keys symbolize a means to freedom.
The second symbol I wish to talk about is cigarettes. In this film, cigarettes represent freedom. Inside the asylum walls, cigarettes serve as gambling chips to the patients, with each cigarette worth ten cents. Because of this, cigarettes become a form of currency among the patients. These cigarettes give the patients a sense of freedom. Nurse Ratched, representing authority, doesn’t like this, so she confiscates them and begins rationing them out to the patients and blaming it on McMurphy. Cheswick begins yelling that he is not a child and he does not want his cigarettes doled out to him like cookies. McMurphy once again defies authority by smashing the glass to the nurses’ station, and gives some cigarettes to Cheswick. Cigarettes give the patients a sense of free will, like they are in control of their own life, even if they aren’t really.
The final symbol I wish to mention is McMurphy’s pornographic playing cards. If you were like me the first time you watched this film, you might not have even noticed that the playing cards were pornographic. Nevertheless, they are still a symbol of rebellion against authority. McMurphy uses them to lure the other patients to follow him. He uses this to gain control over them, and to undermine the figures of authority. In the group therapy sessions, McMurphy can often be seen defiantly shuffling the cards, especially when Nurse Ratched is speaking. He also uses them during his evaluation with the doctors. When they ask him if he has any questions, McMurphy shows the doctors one of the cards. This shows that McMurphy does not care that they are in control over him, and he is not scared to tell it to their faces.
Casting
The casting of this movie is one of the most interesting things in the movie. It is as if everyone in the cast was drawn there by fate. Three other actors were chosen to play McMurphy before the role was ultimately given to Jack Nicholson. Jack is also a strange choice, since in the book, McMurphy was supposed to be Irish and have red hair, which Nicholson doesn’t have, but he still has the right amount of madness in him to play the part amazingly.
Louise Fletcher was also not the first choice for Nurse Ratched. She was only chosen 1 week before filming started. She had applied several times for the part, but the director told her she just wasn’t approaching the part right. Her persistence allowed for her to play the role of the “evil” Nurse Ratched. One of the other actresses who was considered before Fletcher was Audrey Hepburn. Personally, I consider this a rather… odd choice. I love Audrey, but she doesn’t seem like she would be a very good “antagonist” of the movie.
The only reason that Will Sampson was chosen to play Chief Bromden is because he was the only person the Casting Department could find that was both Native American and matched the character’s large size. He was a park ranger in a park near where the movie was filmed.
While this bit isn’t technically about the cast, I still want to talk about it. The author of the book, Ken Kesey, actually hates this movie. He despises how the director changed the perspective of the book, as the book is told from the view of Chief Bromden. He hated it so much that he refused to see it once it was released. He also claimed that he was watching television one time, and not knowing what he was watching, proceeded to watch it for a few minutes. Once he figured out what he was watching, he switched channels.
Most of the other cast members do not have as interesting stories as these. But it is worthy to note that many of the background characters were actual mental patients at the asylum where filming took place.
Conclusion
Overall, I found this movie to be rather enjoyable. It might be a little strange if you have never read the book, but I would still recommend it whether you have read it or not. The cast has chemistry, the performance seems authentic, and it follows the story rather well (in my opinion). I’d say that this movie is well worth the two hours and fifteen minutes it takes to watch.
Question for discussion in comments:
Do you feel as if Nurse Ratched is an evil character, or just someone who is doing their job?
Critical Condition 