One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Film Review)

1975 United Artists/Fantasy Films
Directed by: Miloš Forman; Written by: Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, and William Redfield
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 133 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10

Maybe it's just specific to my childhood, but there always seemed to be a kid who both couldn't stay out of trouble (always running their mouth), yet always seemed to be looking out for the other kids. They'd talk back to the teacher and throw rocks through the school windows, but threaten the school bully when the bully started picking on one of the weaker kids. At some point, they got on your nerves, at probably many other points they were the highlight of your day, and they barely ever made it past the 9th grade without getting relegated to trade school or...no school.
Randle McMurphy was most definitely that kid. Now he's ended up facing hard labour, and is pleading insanity to try to get off easier, by spending the rest of his sentence in a mental institution instead of prison...and just like that playground kid, McMurphy hasn't thought his idea all the way through. Prison sentences have a set time limit, but not stays in a mental institution...and it doesn't look like McMurphy's going to be leaving any time soon. So just like he would have on the playground years before, McMurphy bands all his compatriots together, in this case a ragtag group of mental patients, to rebel against whatever authority is in place. Unfortunately for McMurphy, that authority figure is the subtly domineering, unwavering Nurse Ratched.
I first watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in college, about 20 years ago, immediately after reading the book. Boy, did I love that book. Boy, did I hate this movie. That particular literature class featured a film adaptation essay mid-term, so I chose this combo, absolutely excoriating the film for dropping most of the book's most interesting elements--for goodness sake, the narrator of the book, Bromden, has all of three lines in the movie! Where's all the religious allegory? What about Nurse Ratched's backstory! So much of the movie just seems like mid 70's light comedy, "look at these nuts!" frivolity!
As I come back to this film older, and I would hope wiser and more objective, I can appreciate it on its own merits. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest doesn't quite tap deep enough to bore into that vein of eternal humanity that say, The Shawshank Redemption (which betters its source material!) penetrates, but it certainly puts some dents into it.
As McMurphy, Nicholson brings a dynamite energy and restlessness, and makes the character all his own. Despite Nicholson's larger than life energy, director, Miloš Forman, is able to keep the film focused as an ensemble piece, with the other patients always around McMurphy in the frame, doing their thing even if they're not taking center stage. Just about each patient is given, if not sufficient backstory, at least enough consistent character traits to make them interesting.
However, the greatest revelation here is Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched. She's neither barking at the patients, nor looming over them like a gargoyle. She's just always in the center of their vision, very subtly pulling down the strings of her patients wills with her tone and her responses, maybe not even maliciously neutering their confidence, but keeping them down nonetheless. Fletcher never seems to even raise her voice or even lean her body forward in a threatening manner, yet something about her is so disquieting. She's that aunt who responds to every, "I'm going to try to run a race" with "What would you do if you sprained your ankle?" Now here's McMurphy with the "Who cares if you sprain your ankle!" Eventually, something's got to give.