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Movies / On DVD / One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

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Reviews Counted:46

Fresh:44

Rotten:2

Average Rating:8.8/10

Consensus: The onscreen battle between Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher serves as a personal microcosm of the culture wars of the 1970s -- and testament to the director's vision that the film retains its power more than three decades later.

Runtime: 2 hrs 16 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Milos Foreman's ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, based on the novel by Ken Kesey and the play by Dale Wasserman, presents a biting and ultimately tragic satire about mental institutions and the... Milos Foreman's ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, based on the novel by Ken Kesey and the play by Dale Wasserman, presents a biting and ultimately tragic satire about mental institutions and the human spirit. A disturbing, witty, and electrifying drama, the film won the 1975 Academy Award for Best Picture. R.P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), a misbehaved con who shirks authority, finds himself in an asylum after faking insanity to get out of work detail in prison. The vivacious troublemaker soon finds himself in a worse kind of prison--one presided over by the repressed, terrifyingly quiet Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), whose set of rules and regulations are meant to suppress patients' psychotic outbursts, and their spirits. It's not long before McMurphy is reaching out to his new inmates, trying desperately to bring life to an otherwise dead atmosphere. To Ratched, however, Nicholson's free spirit is as dangerous as a schizophrenic impulse. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST is brilliantly acted by an ensemble that includes Brad Dourif, Christopher Lloyd, Vincent Schiavelli, and Danny DeVito. [More]

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield, Danny DeVito

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Will Sampson, Brad Dourif, Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco, William Duell, Nathan George, Paul Lambert, Sydney Lassick, Ted Markland, Louisa Moritz, Vincent Schiavelli, Mwako Cumbuka, Dean R. Brooks, Marya Small

Director: Milos Forman

Director: Milos Forman
Screenwriter: Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman
Story: Ken Kesey
Producer: Michael Douglas, Saul Zaentz
Composer: Jack Nitzsche

[See More Credits]

Reviews for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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The film remains as fresh, shocking, depressing and exhilarating as when it was released.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
02/19/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Set in an insane asylum, the film involves the oppression of the individual, a struggle spearheaded by an ebullient Nicholson, turning in a star performance if ever there was one.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/11/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

excellent in every way

comment Comment
07/19/04
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

As direct and simple as it is funny and moving, this is a masterpiece of dramatic naturalism.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment 1 Comment
01/01/00
Colin Kennedy
Colin Kennedy
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The genius of the film is that you never feel you're being preached at, but rather being allowed a fly-on-the-wall view of a systematic crushing of humanity.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
08/05/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

One Flew over the Cuckoo 's Nest is an earnest attempt to make a serious film. But in the end the movie backs away from both the human reality and the cloudy but potent symbolism that Ken Kesey found in the asylum.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment 8 Comments
02/20/09
Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
11/04/08
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

Jack Nicholson stars in an outstanding characterization of Ken Kesey's asylum anti-hero, McMurphy, and Milos Forman's direction of a superbly-cast film is equally meritorious.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
02/19/08
A.D. Murphy
A.D. Murphy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A terrific adaptation of Ken Kensey's 1962 novel (first done as play) that became timelier in the 1970s, positing a free-spirited anti-establishment hero (the excellent Jack Nicholson) against repressive authoritarianism, embodied by Fletcher's nurse.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
12/23/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Ken Kesey's grim satire of institutionalized authority, bracingly filmed by Milos Forman.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment 1 Comment
12/13/06
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Jack Nicholson plays McMurphy as if he were born to it, and the supporting cast provides fine, detailed performances.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
12/13/06
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader

A stirring indictment of how we determine who's sane and who's crazy.

Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | comment Comment
12/13/06
Wesley Lovell
Wesley Lovell
Oscar Guy

No review available.

comment Comment
05/23/06
Michael Ferraro
Michael Ferraro
Film Threat

A rousing, rock-the-boat feel pulses throughout the film, overpowering its weaknesses.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
11/11/05
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

Without hesitation my No. 1 favorite of all time. At once a comedy and a tragedy, hilarious and heartbreaking, few films have ever achieved such a level of excellence.

comment Comment
10/09/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

awesome classic

comment Comment
09/07/05
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

No review available.

comment Comment
02/11/05
Greg Maki
Greg Maki
Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

Brilliant Nicholson turn...and Fletcher's nurse is one of film's best villains.

comment Comment
12/28/04
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan

No review available.

comment Comment
06/04/04
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

Its aims are too simplistic about life and happiness.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
05/23/04
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
all

Latest News for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

June 22, 2007: AFI Announces Top 100 Movies of All Time ... Again
Ten years ago the AFI gave us a list of the Top 100 American Films Ever Made -- and when that was done they churned out 15 other lists every few years. And then last night they... More...

July 11, 2006: Natalie Portman Will Do Naked in Next Film
This one's for all you Portman pervs out there -- the erstwhile Queen Amidala is set to go fully nude in her upcoming pic "Goya's Ghosts," in which she plays the... More...

January 03, 2006: Vincent Schiavelli Passes at 57
Character actor Vincent Schiavelli, the long-faced veteran of over 150 film and television appearances, died of lung cancer December 26 at home in Sicily. He was 57 years old. More...

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