1975--One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Milos Forman

1975--One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Milos Forman

Nominated:Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, Nashville

Should have won: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Be sure to see: Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Picnic at Hanging Rock

“Five fights huh? Rocky Marciano has forty and he's a millionaire.”--Randall McMurphy

     One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is the second of only three movies to win Oscars for the five main categories: Picture, director, actor, actress, and screenplay. 1934's It Happened One Night was the previous one. The third you'll have to keep following along and find out later. 

     Randall McMurphy is a petty criminal who opts for a stint in a psychiatric hospital over prison. He is an anarchist, of sorts, as he doesn't take kindly to authority, especially from Nurse Ratched. The men in the ward seem to have had their identities taken. They are set in their ways and don't adjust to change...or so Nurse Ratched feels. In one of the best scenes, McMurphy suggests they get to watch the World Series game on television, but since it is against the routine a vote must be taken. The results of the vote and how McMurphy handles it is the shining point of the film for me.

     Each of the patients have his own peculiar quirks. My favorite character is known simply as The Chief. He is large and stoic, staying to himself, never talking; he might be deaf and mute. He and McMurphy form a bond. It was also nice to see Nicholson paired up with Scatman Crothers again, they would appear in The Shining together five years later.  There are too many great characters and moments to include them all here. The boat trip, Martini and his constant smile, the group meetings,the basketball games, and the “hot foot.” One of the famous scenes comes the day after the men throw a party and nurse Ratched scolds Billy, a stutterer, for sleeping with a woman. The climax of this scene is heartbreaking.

    The entire film is mesmerizing and the ending, which I wouldn't dare spoil, is bittersweet. One thing I wonder is if the movie would have played out differently had the story been told through eyes of the Chief, like it is in the novel. Instead it is told through he eyes of McMurphy played by Jack Nicholson in an Oscar winning performance. McMurphy does his best to show the others what life would be like if their personalities hadn't been strangled by the hospital; parts of life they can no longer enjoy. Louise Fletcher plays Nurse Ratched who has been said to be one of the most evil villains in movie history. Is she just mistaken? Maybe her actions are for the well-being of the patients. Some of the tactics she uses might show otherwise. The fate of McMurphy is a huge downer and I think we are supposed to feel anger toward Ratched and the hospital for what they do to him and why.

     This movie has so much going on, so many characters, I don't feel a brief review can do it justice. It might be the most character-driven of all the best picture winners. Everyone in it brings something memorable to the screen. The plot and action are solid and interesting, too, but this movie is about the people and personalities. It is one of the best Best Picture winners I have seen.