Three geese in a flock
One flew east, one flew west
And one flew over the cuckoo’s nest.”
(The title is derived from an American children’s folk rhyme).
The “one [that] flew east” is McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), and the “one [that] flew west” is Nurse Ratched, illustrating their opposite directions and rivalry. “And one flew over the cuckoo’s nest” describes Chief (Tall Calm Red Indian) who was able to escape the institute of mentally ill patients.
One of my all time favorite movies. Besides being one of Jack Nicholson's best histrionic displays, it was the plot and the climax, that is spellbinding & unforgettable.
Plot of One Flew
Randle Patrick McMurphy (JACK Nicholson), a criminal who has been sentenced to a fairly short prison term, decides to have himself declared insane so he’ll be transferred to a mental institution, where he expects to serve the rest of his term in (comparative) comfort and luxury.
His ward in the mental institution is run by an unyielding tyrant, Nurse Ratched (Fletcher), who has cowed the patients, most of whom are there by choice, into dejected institutionalized submission.
McMurphy becomes ensnared in a number of power games with Nurse Ratched for the hearts and minds of the patients. All the time, however, the question is just how sane any of the players in the ward actually are.
Throughout his short stay at the hospital, McMurphy forms deep friendships with two of his fellow patients: Billy Bibbit (Dourif), a suicidal, stuttering man child whom Ratched has humiliated and dominated into a quivering mess; and “Chief” Bromden (Sampson), a 6′5″ muscular Native American who has schizophrenia.
Recognized by the patients in the ward as deaf, and unable to speak, they ignore the Chief, but also respect him for his enormous size.
In the former, McMurphy sees a younger brother figure that he wants to teach to have fun, while the latter is his only real confidant, as they both understand what it is like to be treated into submission.
McMurphy initially insults Chief when he enters the ward, but attempts to use his size as an advantage, in playing basketball where his height is necessary. Later, both are suspended, along with patient Charlie Cheswick (Lassick), for being involved in a fight with the male nurses, and are sent to a detention area.
Cheswick is sent first to undergo shock therapy, while McMurphy and Chief wait on the bench.
During this time, McMurphy offers Chief a piece of gum, and Chief verbally thanks him. A surprised McMurphy realizes that Chief can speak and has actually been faking his situation at the ward the whole time. This leads McMurphy to allow Chief in on his escape plan because of his hidden wisdom.
Ending this scene, a more defiant McMurphy emerges from the detention area to an awaiting Nurse Ratched.
One night, December 10, 1963, McMurphy sneaks into the nurse’s station and calls his girlfriend to bring booze and assist in his escape. She brings a girlfriend, and both enter the ward. The patients drink, while Billy flirts with McMurphy’s girlfriend.
Nurse Ratched commands nurses to clean up the patients and conduct a head count. When they discover that one patient is missing, Nurse Ratched threatens to tell Billy’s mother and he begs her not to. When she explains that he should have thought of the consequences, he breaks down into tears and when left alone momentarily, he commits suicide.
After McMurphy sees what the ward has done to his friend, he explodes into a violent rage, strangling Nurse Ratched until she is near death. She survives, but McMurphy is taken away yet again for punishment-which is a lobotomy operation.
Tall Red Indian the Chief, unwilling to leave McMurphy behind, suffocates his vegetable-like friend with a pillow.
“I’m not goin’ without you, Mac. I wouldn’t leave you this way. You’re coming with me. He lifts a heavy marble hydrotherapy fountain and, hurling it through a barred window, escapes to Canada. So a cuckoo files over the nest.
Title interpretation given by 1975-USA Tragic-comedy/Psychological Drama
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a classic parable that has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time.
Institutionalization is not a means of escaping the rigors of a prison work farm.
Before long, in order to reduce the sexual and emotional impotence of the men at the institution, Mac (Jack Nicholson) began to challenge the dictatorial Nurse Ratched, irrevocably altering the destiny of those in the ward. The story is made up of series of skirmishes between McMurphy and Big Nurse.
McMurphy became a hero, changing the life of the inmates, but paid dearly for his individualism.
THE BOOK:
An international bestseller, Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest defined the 1960s era of ever-widening perspectives and ominous repressive forces. Full of mischief, insight, and pathos, Kesey’s powerful story of a mental ward and its inhabitants probes the meaning of madness, often turning conventional notions of sanity and insanity on their heads.
The seemingly mute (Red) Indian patient, Chief Bromden, chronicles the tale; its hero is Randle Patrick McMurphy, the boisterous, brawling, fun-loving rebel who encourages gambling, drinking, and sex in the ward, and rallies the other patients around him by challenging the dictatorial rule of Big Nurse. McMurphy’s defiance — which begins as a sport — develops into a grim struggle with the awesome power of the “Combine”, concluding with shattering, tragic results.
In its unforgettable portrait of a man teaching the value of self-reliance and laughter destroyed by forces of hatred and fear, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a classic parable that has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time.
The NOVEL (REAL) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
By Ken Kesey 1935 - 2001
This grim satire, first published in 1962, is set among the patients and workers in a mental institution. It tells the story (narrated by an inmate) of an energetic con man that seeks institutionalization as a means of escaping the rigors of a prison work farm.
Before long, in order to reduce the sexual and emotional impotence of the men at the institution, he began to challenge the dictatorial Nurse Ratched, irrevocably altering the destiny of those in the ward. The story is made up of series of skirmishes between McMurphy and Big Nurse. McMurphy became a hero, changing the life of the inmates, but paid dearly for his individualism.
Ken Kesey, born in 1935, was raised on farms in Colorado and Oregon. At the University of Oregon, he participated in wrestling and theater. He married his high school sweat heart and they had 3 children together. In 1959, when he volunteered to be a subject in experiments with hallucinogenic drugs, his life underwent a dramatic change. Near the end of the experiments, he began working the night shift in a mental ward. He started to feel that the patients were not really crazy after all, just more individualized than society was willing to accept.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest may have had more influence on society than society had on Kesey.
The book was widely read by college students just as the baby boomers began to challenge authority. It is considered a masterpiece. Until his death in 2001, Kesey resided in Oregon where he had been active in the PTA :-).
Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), a criminal who has been sentenced to a fairly short prison term, decides to have himself declared insane so he’ll be transferred to a mental institution, where he expects to serve the rest of his term in (comparative) comfort and luxury.
His ward in the mental institution is run by an unyielding tyrant, Nurse Ratched (Fletcher), who has cowed the patients—most of whom are there by choice—into dejected institutionalized submission.
McMurphy becomes ensnared in a number of power games with Nurse Ratched for the hearts and minds of the patients. All the time, however, the question is just how sane any of the players in the ward actually are.
The song “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” by heavy metal band Metallica was inspired by this movie.