SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.
TREAD CAREFULLY. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
THIS MOTION PICTURE IS OFFICIALLY AN AFFILIATE OF THE FILMMAKING PARAGONS.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a performance-oriented motion picture based on the popular classic novel of the same name. It provides an inside, in-depth look of the day-to-day routine in a 1963 mental institution at Oregon.
The acting performances are A class! This is true for the entire cast, not only Jack Nicholson, although his work here is easily one of the brightest jewels on his crown! All of the actors appeared, behaved and acted accurately within the given meter, as if they truly belonged in this asylum!
Miloš Forman's direction is the craftsmanship of an expert! All you have to do is bask in his readymade still and steady storytelling that owes huge credits to the serene camerawork and minimal score! Not to forget, he had tremendous help from screenwriters Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben, as they've written amazing scene after scene, sequence after sequence! McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) teaching Chief (Will Sampson) to dunk a basketball, his first conversation with Dr. Spivey (Dean Brooks) and the many counselling sessions that come after, him bringing the inmates out for fishing, getting majority votes to watch the World Series only to pretend there's a match going on and every confrontation of his with Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) are fantastic! Electroconvulsive therapy and lobotomy on our dear protagonist is terrifying and extremely pitiful to watch!
This is one of those films that balances the thematic argument from both sides. You know why the patients are supposed to follow the routine and at the same time, not to. After McMurphy's arrival, you'll notice the changes he brought alongside him into this institute. Patients start questioning the nurses, demanding requests, expressing themselves freely and realizing there's more to life than idling in a four-walled, clinical and sterile chamber. Chief being able to actually talk and Billy (Brad Dourif) liking Candy (Marya Small) are some of the sweetest moments in the plot. The climax is batshit crazy, beware! With Orderly Turkle (Scatman Crothers) submitting himself to the drinks-and-chicks party and Nurse Ratched catching all of the patients red-handed, it's tragic that McMurphy didn't manage to escape as per plan. It warms our hearts though, to see Chief finally lift the foreshadowed hydrotherapy foundation and makes his way far, far away from this wretched place.