Best Picture Winner: 1975

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is the first film since It Happened One Night (1934) to take home the big five Oscars: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay. (This wouldn’t happen again until 1991’s Silence of the Lambs.) Time has proven the Academy made the right choices. Jack Nicholson delivers one of his signature “Crazy Jack” performances as Randle Patrick McMurphy, and Louise Fletcher’s character made such an impression that “Nurse Ratched” has become a nickname for any unfeeling caregiver. Another film that delights in slapping the face of authority, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is an unexpectedly moving story about life and the human condition inside the confines of a mental hospital.

Randle McMurphy has been sent to a state hospital for the mentally ill for observation. Serving time in prison for statutory rape, McMurphy has been acting crazy. The warden believes Randle is faking it, but sends him anyway. McMurphy meets his fellow patients at a group counseling session presided over by the stern, officious Nurse Ratched. McMurphy grows to dislike the nurse as he observes how she seems to delight in making certain patient’s lives miserable. He starts to form friendships with the hulking Chief Bromden (Will Sampson) and the stuttering Billy Bibbit (Brad Dourif). Soon he finds himself in a struggle with Nurse Ratched for control of the men’s spirits.

Based on Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest may be the pinnacle of the wave of anti-establishment films that arose during the 1960s. Events such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War brought about mistrust in authority that resulted in films such as Easy Rider (1969), where young people shunned the “nine-to-five” life and looked for something more meaningful. The famous chicken salad sandwich scene in Five Easy Pieces (1970) is another example. (Both of these films also star Nicholson.) Here, Nicholson’s McMurphy takes on a tyrant who has drained the joy out her charges. She tells them when to eat, when to sleep, and what they can or can’t do. It gets even more troubling when we learn most of the men are voluntary. Even though they can leave Ratched has made them dependent on her. She probably has one of the coldest smiles you’re likely to see.

But amidst the antiseptic atmosphere and unadorned walls of the hospital McMurphy is able to arouse the men’s spirits. When Ratched won’t let the men watch the 1963 World Series, McMurphy stands in front of the television and announces a mock game to the delight of the patients. He kiddingly taunts the 6.5 foot tall Chief on the basketball court. He arranges a little party around Christmas time. And at one point, he commandeers a bus and takes the group on a boating excursion. Initially McMurphy does these things to amuse himself. But the result is that he comes to care about these men. Suddenly they are smiling and laughing again in spite of their difficulties. This does not sit well with Ratched who finds she is losing control of the men. Not surprisingly this leads to tragedy, because people in power always have options others do not. And yet, there is still something stirring and upbeat about the film’s final moments, that even though McMurphy has left the building, so to speak, his positive influence will not be so easily quashed.

Nicholson and Fletcher make fine sparring partners, and the tension their characters generate is at times palpable. They are ably supported by a cast that includes Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd in early roles. Scatman Crothers has a brief but humorous bit as an orderly who lets McMurphy talk him into allowing a party. Marya Small is delightful as McMurphy’s girlfriend Candy. But it is Nicholson that we can’t take our eyes off of here as he mugs and merrily dashes about. And Nicholson also effectively conveys the growing rage in McMurphy as he witnesses Ratched’s tactics.

In spite of the heavy subject though One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest emerges as a mostly warm-hearted exercise in restoring the human spirit. Anchored by Jack Nicholson’s performance, this 1975 Oscar winner retains its power to provoke and inspire.