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| Star Jack Nicholson looks askew with a broad smile up at the barbed wire fence on this classic poster for Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest |
McMurphy is convicted of assaults and statutory rape of a 15 year-old but is not insane, as he is nevertheless placed under observation at a closed mental institution, where the charismatic new resident really turns things upside down.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is written by Bo Goldman (Shoot the Moon (1982)) and Lawrence Hauben (The Outsider (1969, TV-series), actor), based on the same-titled 1962 novel by Ken Kesey (Sometimes a Great Notion (1964)) and the play adaptation by Dale Wasserman (How I Saved the Whole Damn World (2001)), and directed by Czech master filmmaker Milos Forman (Black Peter/Cerný Petr (1964)).
The film is a 1970s classic. Ironically, because Forman said that the villainous nurse Ratched represented the Communist Party of his own Soviet-plagued country for him, the film often comes off as radically liberal; as the loud, pushy new guy (McMurphy) instills the loonies with the creed that they belong out in the real world and should rebel against the repressive system. This is obviously debatable.
The film opens theatrically and with some typey presentations of the characters, who later however gain breadth, and the highly sympathetic nature of the story has led many to pronounce One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest a masterpiece.
It is a gripping drama with some stimulating performances: Jack Nicholson (Broadcast News (1987)) as McMurphy and Louise Fletcher (Johnny 316 (1998)) as the iconic, ultra-conservative villainess Ratched, of course, but most memorable is Brad Dourif (Blood Shot (2013)) as Billy Bibbit, the young patient with the mother trauma. Jack Nietzsche's (Cannery Row (1982)) nerve-exposed score is tremendous, - and the film's ending is unpredictable.
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Amadeus (1984) or, The Fool Genius and his Teacher
Watch an original trailer for the film here
Cost: 4.4 mil. $
Box office: 163.25 mil. $
= Blockbuster (returned 37.1 times its cost)
[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was released 19 November (USA) and runs 133 minutes. Kirk Douglas had bought the rights and attempted to find funding for a film after playing McMurphy in the 1963-64 Broadway stage version but failed at it. His son Michael Douglas later bought the rights, found the money, hired Forman and waited 6 months for Nicholson to be available. The actors followed patients at the Oregon State Hospital's daily routines and group therapy for a week prior to filming, and Nicholson and Fletcher even witnessed electroconvulsive therapy being administered. Shooting took place in the active Oregon State Hospital, where the hospital director helped actors find patients to 'shadow' and also encouraged incorporating patients into crew functions; only later did Douglas find out that several of these were criminally insane. Shooting took place from January - March 1975 in Oregon and California. Some actors slept in the ward at night. Fletcher was paid 10k $ (before tax) for 11 weeks of work, while Nicholson received 1 mil. $ and 15 % of the gross. The shoot changed cinematographer during production due to 'artistic differences', and the budget and schedule ballooned from 2 mil. $ to 4.4 mil. $. Co-producer Saul Zaentz borrowed against his company Fantasy Records to raise the money. The film grossed 108.9 mil. (66.7 % of the total gross) in North America, becoming the 3rd highest-grossing film of 1975 and the highest-grossing film of 1976, in which it made 56.5 mil. $ of its gross. The impressive world gross made it United Artists' highest-grossing distributed title ever. The film was nominated for 9 Oscars, winning 'the big five' as the first film since It Happened One Night (1934): Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actor and Actress. It lost Best Supporting Actor (Dourif) to George Burns for The Sunshine Boys, Cinematography (Haskell Wexler, Bill Butler) to John Alcott for Barry Lyndon, Editing to Jaws and Score to John Williams for Jaws. The film also won 6 Golden Globes, 6/10 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for a César award, won 2 David di Donatello awards, was nominated for a Grammy, won 2 National Board of Review awards and many other honors. IMDb's users have voted the film in at #18 on the site's Top 250 list, sitting between Goodfellas (1990) and Seven Samurai (1954). Forman returned with Hair (1979)). Nicholson returned in The Missouri Breaks (1976); Fletcher in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977). One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is certified fresh at 93 % with a 9.05/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
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