One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

In 1962 Ken Kesey published the novel he would be most associated with, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a counter culture drama that depicted the psychological war waged between a man and a nurse in a psychiatric hospital. This novel would serve as a critique of the processes in such institutions as well as a deep look into the processes of the human mind. It struck a chord with readers, one of whom was Kirk Douglas who was in the midst of making westerns. Kirk read the novel, saw potential in this story and bought up the rights to it, turning it into a successful Broadway play with the intention of making it into a movie in the future with himself in the main role of Randle Patrick “R.P.” McMurphy. Despite the success of the play, securing funding to make the film proved to be difficult and it ended up on the backburner for many years, well past the point where Kirk would be able to play the role anymore. By the 1970’s he handed the reigns over to his son, Michael Douglas, who took over the project and finally made it happen in 1975. 

Before that, though, Kirk had his eyes on a director for the project. Miloš Foreman was a Czechoslovakian film director, screenwriter and actor whose work in his native land had caught the eye of Douglas. He first met the director in Prague and, impressed with his film work, offered to send him a copy of the book as a way to entice him to come to America and make the picture. The book was intercepted in customs and confiscated, never making it to the director who assumed that Kirk Douglas never got around to sending it. Douglas assumed in turn that Foreman had ghosted him and never bothered to follow up with him. Dale Wasserman, scriptwriter for the stage play, sold his portion of the rights to Kirk Douglas, then threw a monkey wrench in the proceedings for years with a series of lawsuits. Miloš  Foreman eventually came to America and, on his own, discovered the book and got excited about the possibilities of directing a film adaptation to it. It seemed destined that Foreman would end up behind the camera for this picture. 

Miloš looked at the project as a bit of an allegory of his own life living underneath communist rule. To him the Communist Party was Nurse Ratched and McMurphy was the people fighting against the system that was so oppressive to their basic freedoms. His life experiences in Czechoslovakia underneath the watchful eye of the Soviet Union made him ideal to helm such a film. One of the first decisions made was who would portray the charismatic but problematic McMurphy. Kirk Douglas was too old by this point but was still interested in the part. When he was recast it put a strain on his relationship with his son for many years despite Michael insisting he wasn’t involved in that decision. Jack Nicholson was an unusual choice at this time as he had been relegated to mostly low budget Roger Corman B-pictures and generic characters in studio films. He had tried to buy up the rights to the book himself back in the 60’s when Kirk Douglas outbid him for them. Jack turned out to be an inspired choice that would set the actor on a new course and define the rest of his career. 

For the pivotal role of Nurse Ratched, Louise Fletcher was cast. At this time she was planning on playing the role in Nashville that eventually ended up going to Lily Tomlin. Lily was originally considered for Nurse Ratched, too, but eventually the two actresses were swapped out and Fletcher took over a role that would not only define how she was looked at as an actor but also land her an Academy Award. She has had many iconic characters in the decades since but it is this film that she will forever be known for. 

Production was put on hold for half a year to accommodate Jack Nicholson’s schedule which turned out to be a blessing as it allowed more time to secure just the right actors to play the rest of the inmates at the psychiatric institution. Danny DeVito would return as Martini, reprising his performance on the stage. Christopher Lloyd was introduced to the world in the role of Max. Vincent Schiavelli had worked with Miloš before in the 1971 comedy film Taking Off. Future horror icon Brad Dourif was also introduced here in the pivotal role of Billy Bibbit, a character who sets off the events in the final act when he is badgered to the point of suicide by Nurse Ratched. Other notables included William Redfield as Dale Harding, Sydney Lassick as Charlie Cheswick, and Will Sampson as the giant “Chief” Bromden. Sampson was discovered when a car salesman who knew the production was looking for a very large “Indian” spotted him one day buying a car. He contacted the production and the rest was history. 

The novel followed Chief Bromden, who narrated the story. This was changed when it was written for the screen, an alteration that was necessary for the purposes of a visual medium. When this information was conveyed to Ken Kesey he protested the change and boycotted the film. Reportedly he refused to have anything to do with the movie and never saw it. He hated that the focus was shifted away from the Chief and onto McMurphy but such a change was necessary to make the story cinematic and appeal to audiences. The only way to make the books point of view happen would to rely heavily on voice-over narration, something that is almost always detrimental to a film. It also would have shifted the audiences focus away from the star of the film and the one being paid the most to be there, Jack Nicholson. Quite simply, it wasn’t going to happen and the film is all the better for it. Kesey couldn’t accept that and wouldn’t have anything to do with it. When the film went to the Oscars in 1976 he and a group of friends booed every award it won in part for his disdain for the film and in part because no one, until the director, bothered to mention him in their acceptance speeches. 

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest swept the big five awards that year. It took Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, and Best Screenplay. Nicholson almost skipped the awards ceremony altogether assuming he would once again lose. He can be seen in the audience wearing sunglasses and looking like he didn’t care. Instead, he won. He would later continue to wear the sunglasses whenever he was attending the Oscars, perhaps as a bit of good luck. The film was very well received by audiences and critics alike and has managed to stay popular for nearly fifty years. It’s message about fighting against the system, something seen as a relic of the hippie movement of the 60’s and 70’s, is still very topical today as people are getting more and more frustrated with what they see as ineffectual leadership. At the time, the film opened people’s eyes up to the realities of mental health organizations and how patients were being treated. To some, the realities were horrific and haunting.

It is not necessary to have read the novel before going into this film but doing so will help color in some of the back story and characters. Nurse Ratched, for instance, comes across as a purely evil woman who delights in her perceived superiority. McMurphy likes to point out that she likes a rigged game. But in her mind she is in the right and is trying to help her patients and McMurphy is a disruptive influence. He has entered the hospital, faking insanity to avoid the hard work required from his prison sentence, and she is there to try and rein him in. His own actions lead to the death of one of the inmates as well as his own final fate. Much of this is lost in the film but is made perfectly clear on the page. Nurse Ratched’s words to Billy Bibbit are really the only time where she truly crosses the line and the results speak for themselves. She is known as the villain of the film but in reality she is mostly just a strict authority figure that butts heads with the wildly free spirited McMurphy. The television series Ratched, a prequel to this movie, further pushes this narrative that she is an evil presence, a villain in the picture. 

There is so much that can be dissected when watching this film that there just isn’t enough time to get into it all. It looks at things like authoritarianism, the prison system, the differences between voluntary and involuntary committals, and the ability to speak up for oneself. McMurphy shows the others that there is no shame in trying for something, even if you fail. His failure will come full circle when the Chief uses his massive strength to accomplish the very thing McMurphy couldn’t do. But it was never really about success or failure. It was about trying. This is a tremendous movie based on an even greater book. The two go hand in hand and complement each other. The only disadvantage to reading the book after seeing the movie is being unable to picture McMurphy as anyone other than Jack Nicholson. Still, the same can be said about any book to movie adaptation. Read the book, then watch the movie. That is the best way to go about experiencing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz (won)

Best Director: Miloš Foreman (won)

Best Actor: Jack Nicholson (won)

Best Actress: Louise Fletcher (won)

Best Supporting Actor: Brad Dourif

Best Screenplay - Adapted From Other Material: Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman (won)

Best Cinematography: Haskell Wexler and Bill Butler

Best Film Editing: Richard Chew, Lynzee Klingman, and Sheldon Kahn

Best Original Score: Jack Nitzsche

____________________________________________________

Release Date: November 19, 1975

Running Time: 135 Minutes

Rated R

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, and William Redfield

Directed By: Miloš Foreman