One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

In this clean, orderly, disciplined world, who needs guys like McMurphy? Everybody.

A petty criminal fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon finds himself as a leader to the other patients—and an enemy to the cruel, domineering nurse who runs the ward.

Drama mentally disabled friendship based on novel or book nurse lunatic asylum affectation insane asylum oregon, usa hospital medication female villain shock treatment

Log it

Sign in to log this.

Character

Classical in form, earnest, intimate and meticulous.

classical in formformally daring
earnestironic
intimateepic
rawmeticulous
unpretentiousprestige

Who loves it, who doesn't

133 profiled raters. Loved most by The Provocateurs; disliked most by The Comfort Seekers.

Where do you stand?

Answer first; then see how everyone, and your circle, split.

“Is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest better than Amadeus?”
Sign in to answer.
Be the first to answer.
“Is the book better?”
Sign in to answer.
Be the first to answer.
“Is Jack Nicholson the best thing in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?”
Sign in to answer.
Be the first to answer.

Ask the title

A yes-or-no question, answered from what people wrote here, on TMDB and on Wikipedia. Never made up.

YesNoUnclear

Across media

If you loved this film, the television, the book, the album, the game.

Reviews

No reviews yet.

Reviews on TMDB

Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.

CinemaSerfon TMDB · Mar 20258/10
“McMurphy” (Jack Nicholson) is a veteran with an attitude who has pled insanity to escape his latest court appearance on a charge of statutory rape. He is sent to an evaluation hospital where they are to decide just what, if anything, is wrong with him. His smart-assed confidence endears him to some of his fellow inmates, especially the impressionable “Billy” (Brad Dourif) but also earns him the instant enmity of the chief nurse “Ratched” (Louise Fletcher) who is used to ruling with a psychological rod of iron augmented by pils, pills and more pills. Initially, “Mac” is simply concerned with his own predicament, but as he witnesses the regime that treats these people with indifference, disdain and little affection, he starts to become a little more invested in their future’s. When he manages to orchestrate a wheeze to get the men out on the water for some fishing, then the battle lines are truly drawn - but who is going to emerge victorious? Nicholson is great here as his character evolves before our eyes from a cocky and arrogant one but it is Fletcher who really steals the show and that’s with remarkably little dialogue just a powerful degree of sheer on-screen malevolence. Ken K
Read the whole review on TMDB
wizzardsson TMDB · Feb 20218/10
_One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest_ tells the story of a criminal, Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), who pleads insanity in the attempt to get a more lenient sentence. Sent to a mental hospital, he livens up the otherwise monotonous lives of the patients, much to the ire of the strict head nurse, Mildred Ratched (Louise Fletcher). _One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest_ clean swept the Oscars in 1976, taking home the five biggest prizes as only the second film to do so since It Happened One Night. In reality, it is an extremely frustrating film. Pitched as a "man against the system", McMurphy is clearly written to be chaotic and bring some colour to the otherwise black and white world of the hospital. Meanwhile, Ratched is the oppressive villain sticking regimentally to routine despite the suffering of the patients. In actuality, the opposite appears true. While McMurphy is disruptive, he often comes across as a bully, coercing the patients against their will. Even as he gains some of their trust, he continues to manipulate until he has a majority behind him. Ratched on the other hand is the voice of reason. While the medical practices are undeniably oppressive by modern standards,
Read the whole review on TMDB
Wuchakon TMDB · Feb 20209/10
***The spirit of freedom vs. the spirit of legal-ism*** Set in the early 60s, the story involves R.P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) and his arrival at a mental institution in Salem, Oregon (where the film was shot). He plays the "mental illness" card to get out of prison time, thinking it'll be a piece of cake, but he's wrong, very wrong. Everything appears well at the hospital and Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) seems to be a benevolent overseer of McMurphy's ward, but there are sinister things going on beneath the surface. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) is a film you'll appreciate more as you mature. I saw it when I was younger and, while I thought it was good, I didn't 'get' a lot of the insights the film conveys. The movie criticizes the way institutions deal with mental illnesses. Their "therapy" is futile and only makes the patients dependent on the institution itself, thereby creating its need for existence (often at the taxpayer's expense). McMurphy is a threat to the establishment and therefore must be "dealt with." A lot of people criticize the film by suggesting that Nurse Ratched "isn't that bad" or that "she was only trying to do her job", etc. I had the same rea
Read the whole review on TMDB