One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

It is hard to make a good powerful movie, based on a good powerful book. But, in this case, it was achieved with great success. I would even say that it is the best movies of all times. We decided to arrange Friday family night, when every week we watch movies together with our teenager son. One week we show our movie, next week – he shows his. I hoped, my teenager son will like the film, one which made long before he was born, and I was happy that he indeed liked it, and later we could discuss it in details.

I don't like "disease" shows and this one had lots of diseased people that the audience could snicker about as well as laugh at Nicholson playing Jack. Kind of a sicko outing if you ask me.What's next, the concentration camp musical?

Good movie,Great book.I enjoy Nicholson in just about every movie I've seen him in.Who could forget "Nurse Ratchett", a character that has become an indelible icon for every twisted,sadistic,power crazed Nurse? (of which there are more than enough...I'm NOT knocking Nurses,I've worked with & dated more than a few,and the good ones are out there in numbers too,and worth more than pure GOLD....but there's no shortage of Nurse Ratchetts in the balance.)

The movie improved American psych care for all time. Powerful writing compared to today's "12 Monkeys," crap.

I've been meaning to watch this film for a while and I'm so glad I managed to watch it tonight. Jack Nicholson is just outstanding and I'm so glad he didn't make an obvious choice of playing an outright crazy lunatic, he did it in a far more suttle way. The character however that really got me was Nurse Ratched. This woman was a different kind of evil altogether. She wasn't wearing any dark clothing, she didn't have dark hair and look sinister she was just twisted, calm, manipulative and very, very controlling. Possibly the worse kind of evil. What made it worse is that her physicality gave no indication of how mean she could be. If anything it was a below the surface thing, almost like a mask. The saddest thing about this story was not so much the patients in the psychiatric hospital as this served as the backdrop, but mainly challenging and questioning authority and the price you pay most of the time if you do. There was a strong supporting cast there also with Danny DeVito,... Read more

Classic movie based on the book by Ken Kesey. Interesting fact, Kesey came up with the script after working in a mental hospital and being on psychedelics, imagine that. Jack Nicholson's performance is outstanding, but then again it's not a stretch for him to act out of control and crazy. The actress who played Nurse Ratchet was also great. The movie touches on a lot of themes. Namely - that insanity or craziness is very relative. Because one person doesn't fit the 'mold' of how society thinks they should act, they can become imbalanced, alienated. Insanity can be an obvious chemical imbalance, or merely alienation taken way too far.

Critics fav, but not mine. Nicholson is always a hoot in any role he chooses to play.

cruel "humor" - gives the audience license to laugh at mentally ill people drooling, etc.

I didn't watch it more than once

A true classic! One that should be seen by everyone at some point in their lives.

I've known quite a few Nurse Ratcheds in real life.

Filmed on the grounds of the State Mental Hospital in Oregon's state capitol,  this is a powerful adaption of Ken Kesey's best book. Jack Nicholson's best work and a role that defined his acting personna forever. Will Sampson played "The Chief". The rest of the cast was perfect as well. The scene where they take the charter fishing boat out to sea was filmed at Depoe Bay on the Oregon Coast. (Looks like it to me)  Just a little trivia as others have reviewed this film better than I could.

One of Jack's best movies.

The indian, (chief) didn't you just like him?  A great movie.

Never submit to the institution!

Most definitely, one the best films I have ever had the privilege of viewing. Jack Nicholson is superb as McMurphy, as is Louise Fletcher - making her film debut as the insensitive and cruel, Nurse Ratched. Danny De Vito, who was also making his film debut played Martini, one of the patients in the mental institution. Most of the patients are there by choice, but Nurse Ratched's obligatory dose of medicines,which she administers daily to her patients, help to make them more malleable and compliant,and as it happens, even more institutionalised. This, along with her dictitorial and sinister methods, helps her to wield even more control and power over them. McMurphy, a criminal, who has feigned madness in order to escape the rigours and hardships of prison life, quickly realises what Ratched is up to, and duly rebels against her and her system. He attempts to galvanise the others (who look upon him as the main man) with the aid of various schemes, to do likewise. This a disturbi... Read more

Very entertaining film, combines comedy and drama into one. I must be real with myself though, the language was horrendous. I know it does not matter to most people, but in excess it bothers me.

The perfect vehicle for Jack Nicholson and his most memorable performance, bar none. He simply is Randell P. McMurphy, the only one who dares to question the authority of the powers that be (mainly Louise Fletcher who plays the villainess, Nurse Ratched) in the state mental hospital where the convicted child molester McMurphy is hiding out from the manual labor jobs visited upon him in the "real" prison. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll live and die with the disturbed con-artest played by Nicholson, who, in reality, appears to be much better adjusted than the staff and volunteer patients that share his wing in the psychiatric center.

Doctor- Is there anything we can do for you? McMurphy- (holds up the naked-lady playing card) Do you have her number?

Probably one of the best films Nicholson has ever made

Good movie Jack Nicholson was great as Macmurphy was commited into a mental institution for being a troublemaker he continues to cause trouble by disrupting Nurse Ratchets section of the mental ward. Louise is good as the cold controlling nurse. There are a lot of funny scenes. and some sad ones as well. I like the part with MAc Murphy makes friends with the Chief. there were some good actors in this well done movie.

Jack's charisma shone through

Best ever of Jacks movies.....5+ all the way.

Believe it or not my mom MADE me watch this. I was like oh god but... it is probably the best film that the great Jack has ever made. If I am not mistaken this was made in the late '60s. OMG I can't believe a movie can be so funny yet serious. GREAT!!!

I found this movie to be brilliant. I was actually surprised at how good it was, because I randomly picked it up while searching for films to rent, not expecting much from it. It's definitely my favorite film of all-time.

Yes - the best ever

One of the most perfect dramas of all time.

A brillient film which is acted well and is faithful to the novel. It is more difficult however to see the true meaning that Ken Kesey conveys in the book. A good film in itself but far better if you have read the book prior to your viewing as you understanmd it in more deepth. Well worth a look!

I read the book, then watched the film. Jack Nicholson plays Patrick McMurphy, a man in the mental hospital because he was judged insane by the court system. In there, He meets evil Nurse Ratched who takes joy in tormenting the patients. The book was better because it got into more depth of McMurphy the character. The movie, however, does still follow the book faithfully for the most part. But it kinds of cleans it up. They left out scenes involving Old Rawler's gruesome suicide, The kid with hydrocephalus putting his head in the disinfectant, and how Nurse Ratched sent her aides to anally probe the patients. The movie does still show how abusive the mental asylums were back then, but the book depicts them even more.

a great rendition of a great book. Nicholson is amazing as Randall Patrick MacMurphy. It's great to see him in this role before he became the hug celebrity he is today. excellent cast and just a fun movie overall.

An all time classic emotional roller coaster!

I do agree, this movie is highly overrated. Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher did wonderful jobs, but the storyline itself lacked alot, and many of the supporting actors were really awful. The book is alot better, but that is usually the case.

Boring, overrated, and strange. This has to be one of the most overrated movies of all time. I rented this movie because I was told it was a classic and very good, but I was very disappointed. And the ending was so weird, after I watched it I though, what the hell was that? A classic? I mean, it wasn't that bad, but I definitely expected it to be better. I like Jack Nicholson, he was great in As Good as it Gets, but this movie was not very good. If you want to watch a movie about a mental institution, Girl, Interruped is better.

One of the most overrated movies of all time. Jack Nicholson is good. However, the movie drags in several places, and tends to appeal to critics. Its worth a look. The hype is just too much for it.

One of the few movies were the movie was just as good as the book

One of my all-time favorite movies. Perfect acting by a perfect cast. Wow.

The only film Ive watched more than 10 times

The story is a serious subject and there are disturbing scenes in this movie, however it also has some very funny moments! Jack Nicholson was simply genius in this role!!

Excellent story and acting by Jack and Louise.

i love this movie. jack nicholson is brilliant

GREAT GREAT GREAT!!!!

Holy Loved God! And imagine, the book is even better. i liked the book better than the catcher in the rye

Milos Forman has had an interesting directorial career. Not terribly prolific, he has tended over the years to choose the route of quality over quantity, accepting only those projects he feels personally about. Of late, he has favored biopics dealing with particularly offbeat subjects like "Hustler" magazine publisher Larry Flynt ("The People Versus Larry Flynt") and comedian Andy Kaufman ("Man On The Moon"). That he does them well enough to make something of a cultural hero out of someone like Flynt who is basically scum, or Kaufman who, to put it kindly, did not always seem as inventive or even, well...funny as "Man On The Moon" would have it speaks well of his prowess at manipulating the medium, even if it is a bit unsettling at times. In earlier days, Forman's main interest seemed to lie in bringing difficult projects to the screen. In 1979, he managed a fairly successful film adaptation of the Broadway musical "Hair", a property which had been kicked around Hollywood for ten... Read more

great acting, story line, very emotinal. I loved it

This is tied for my #1 movie with The Shawshank Redemption (1994).

incredible movie. outstanding job by jack nicholson. a definite must see. i reccomend this to the older crowd.

My 3rd favorite movie of all time. A timeless classic. -Scarface

Fantastic film. I read the book years before I had seen the film (I recently purchased it). Of course it doesn't totally follow the book, but they usually have to be slightly adapted for the large screen. Jack Nicholson has such an enormous screen prescence and always seems to be a down and out rebel. Danny Devito was really good as Martini (I didn't realise it was him because he was smiling). Christopher Lloyd was brilliant as well. The Nurse wasn't quite as I expected (after all, she was supposed to be top heavy). But other wise it was fantastic. The man who played Billy was really moving and did the stutter really well (If you want to see him in something else, watch the X-Files espisode called 'Beyond The Sea', he's the prisoner who has visions. Definately deserving of 5 stars.

in my top ten of all time

Excellent portrayal of a mental asylum and the struggles people face if they are different. Good reading, but quite depressing.