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One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest | Year: 1975 Classification: Drama Directed: - Milos Forman Actors/Actresses: - Jack Nicholson - Louise Fletcher - William Redfield - Michael Berryman - Brad Dourif - Sydney Lassick - Will Sampson - Michael Douglas BEST JACK NICHOLSON PERFORMANCE..ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES EVER This movie is one of the top films that emerged in the 70's decade; you can rank "One flew over the cuckoo's nest" in the same level of "The Godfather", "Taxi Driver", "Chinatown", "Jaws", and any other film from that great movie era.....The performance that Jack Nicholson delivers is absolutely brilliant; there's no way that you can hate Randle Patrick McMurphy, because Nicholson created a charismatic and free spirited character; Louise Fletcher (as nurse Mildred Ratched), brings another incredible performance that results in one of best movie nemesis of all time......The support cast is terrific as well, featuring enjoyable characters played by such solid actors as Danny DeVito, Cristopher Lloyd, Brad Dourif and Will Sampson. "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" should be in every movie fan collection. Great Adaptation Milos Forman has always had a knack for assembling great ensemble casts. This is particularly true in his most critically acclaimed releases (Taking Off, Amadeus and this film). It would be difficult indeed to come up with actors and actresses who were better suited to fill the roles in OFOTCN. This is true in terms of both the stars, Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher, and the secondary characters. Who could have been a better Harding than William Redfield? A better Billy Bibbit than Brad Dourif? A better Cheswick than Sydney Lassick? And most especially, a better Chief Bromden than Will Sampson? I rank this movie as the best of the best of what I consider to be American Cinema's golden decade, the 70s. It certainly won the widest acclaim, with its sweep of the major Oscars for 1975 (Nicholson also won best actor from the New York Film Critics voters that year). Not to be overlooked is the fantastic job performed by the film's adaptors, Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben, who also won Oscars for their screenplay. True, they did have a fairly decent stage version (by Dale Wasserman) to work with. I remember seeing an excellent production of the play, with a terrific cast, in San Francisco circa 1972. Just as an aside, I read in the Norton Critical edition of the novel, a review of a NY production of the play by Walter Kerr that was an absolute pan. Suffice it to say that the movie is much different than either the novel or the play. Those familiar with Kesey's great novel understand how difficult a transfer from page to screen would be; about a third of the story is Bromden's delusional interior monologue. The final script, quite rightly, focuses almost exclusively on Randal P McMurphy's struggle with Nurse Ratched for the hearts and minds of the inmates. This is truly a gut and soul-wrenching movie, with many moments of high maniacal comedy interspersed. Though many of his other films are top-notch, this is Forman's masterpiece. If you haven't read the book, read it. It you don't own this movie, buy it. There are few works in the history of American literature and film that are superior. See this movie, all you mental defectives This is one of those rare works where the movie is equal in quality to the book. Although there are differences between the book and the movie (most notably, the story in the book is told from the Chief's perspective), the movie compares well to the exceptional book by Ken Kesey.<BR>The whole cast (with maybe the possible exception of the doctor who was played by the actual doctor in that institution) is outstanding. Look for faces of the now well-known Christopher Lloyd and Danny Devito in supporting roles. But the two stand-outs are, of course, Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher. Anyone else playing those characters of patient and nurse is unthinkable.<BR>Milos Foreman is so masterful at creating atmosphere that the viewer actually feels as though he were on the ward there with the patients.<BR>The only extra on with the package is a pretty good "looking back" documentary. But the DVD transfer looks great and there is a nice Dolby Digital audio track. And you don't get this movie for the extras or the special effects; you get it because of the great story and performances. Own it. And read the book. A strong and thought-provoking film Jack Nicholson offers an Academy Award winning performance as Randle McMurphy, a man who has decided to work his way into a mental institute after spending time in prison, wich is by his reasoning a much harder place. McMurphy has a hard time adjusting to the ward, though mostly due to the hard and even megalomaniatic nurse Ratched, played by Louise Fletcher, who joined Nichols by winning the lead female role Oscar with her chilling performance. The movie introduces a wide variety of human destinies, all ending up at the mental ward. Milos Forman has done an amazing (and, by the way, Oscar winning) job in making the novel from Ken Kesey come to live with the help of an exellent (and again Oscar winning) adapted screenplay by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman. The movie avoids sentementality as it shows us the every day life of the ward, and manages to raise serious questions about how the society treats it's mentaly ill members. Every one of the several supporting roles are exellently performed and every one of the characters are deep and real, resulting into a strong and thought-provoking film that deserved the Academy Award it won as the best film of the year and a film that doesn't underestimate it's audience and gives it something to ponder upon. Buy One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Search with the Priority Search Engine on One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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