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.