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The 1975 film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is considered a classic among movie fans. During its initial release, the film won five Academy Awards which included best Picture, Male Lead, Female Lead, Director, and Screenplay. Meaning, it was not only regarded as cinematic gold during its time but as well still today. And so, when a millennial like myself watches this for the first time, the question becomes, how do I react? Does One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest fly over my expectations? In some ways, no. But in others, yes. In a lot of ways, I couldn’t believe what I was watching.
To summarize the film, the story plays like this: Jack Nicholson plays Randle McMurphy, a man who is about to be convicted due to a rape accusation. He is transported to a mental institution, hoping he can convince his doctors of an actual mental illness in order to avoid the rest of his sentence in prison. While a mental ward sounds nicer than jail, McMurphy quickly realizes there might be bigger challenges. One is understanding the minds of the other men in the institution. McMurphy encounters several interesting characters such as: Dale Harding, a well-educated but uptight man who has marital problems; Billy Bibbit, the paranoid one with a speech disorder; the sensitive and prone
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I can understand why the team would write and shoot from McMurphy’s perspective, as he’s the character that evokes the change in the ward. But from a stance of character development, it doesn’t make much sense. In the original novel by Ken Kesey, the Chief is the protagonist, which actually clarifies a lot. Even in the film, the Chief is the most dynamic character who evolves from not interacting with anyone to being the first to successfully escape the institution. Although I understand the decision, I think the film could have been stronger if the Chief was framed as the