One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

6 July 2019

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) at the time of this writing is #16 of the top 250 on IMDb, and was the highest ranked film I hadn't seen. Starring Jack Nicholson as an involuntary patient to the ward, this shows the highs and lows R.P. McMurphy endures during his stay.

Some interesting things are that there are a lot of familiar faces in it: Danny Devito and Vincent Schiavelli early in their careers; Christopher Lloyd in his first film. Scatman Crothers was in this as well as The Shining (a few years later). Also behind the scenes, the film was Michael Douglas' first produced film (and first Oscar).

The film won 5 academy awards: Nicholson got best actor, the nurse played by Louise Fletcher got best actress, and the film won best picture: it was the first to sweep the major categories since It Happened One Night (1934). It wouldn't happen again until The Silence of the Lambs (1991, 9/10).

This was a great time period for Nicholson, with other great films from this time: The Last Detail (1973), Chinatown (1974, 10/10), The Shining (1980, 8/10). Between this and Chinatown though, I felt that this was a film about the camaraderie and bond between the patients, whereas Chinatown was more involved for the actor. Nicholson's performance was still great in it, don't get me wrong, but everyone involved in the film propelled this to the top of the charts. Between the heartfelt moments, great story and great acting, it should probably be even higher ranked than where it is. 10/10