One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Full Movie Reviews

Full Movie Reviews

Logan Bangerter
Logan Bangerter
Movie Star

Rating of
3/4

A weird movie indeed

Logan Bangerter - wrote on 10/11/2015

Considered one of the best movies ever made, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a different kind of film. Centered around a man that was sent to a mental asylum, Jack Nicholson provides this oscar-winning performance that was well deserved. Although not just him, but all of the patients around him as well as Louise Fletcher played convincing and enthralling roles. Each of the characters are not only interesting, but there is some decent humor to this movie. However, I only felt this way for the first half. Once the second half comes around, it turned from interesting to weird. While McMurphy tries to bring some life and excitement to the place throughout the movie, there was a point where not only did they do this for too long, but it lead to absolutely nowhere until the very end …

Gabe
Gabe
Producer

Rating of
3/4

Call me crazy for not loving this film...

Gabe - wrote on 12/28/2012

Now, I'll admit, it's been a long while since of I've read Ken Kesey's book, but I remember thinking that it was just OK. And, I have to say the same for the film, it just moves really slow. The last half-hour picks up the pace, but, it still doesn't make up for the first 100 minutes. And, there was no talk about the "machine." I'm not saying that it was needed, but it was a huge part of the book.

Now, for the awards, because I feel that this movie has to be examined from an Academy Awards standpoint because it is one of only three films to win the "big five" Oscars along with It Happened One Night (1934) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

First off, let's analyze Best Picture, I've seen 4 of the 5, I have not seen Barry Lyndon, but I don't necessarily have a problem with this …

Daniel Corleone
Daniel Corleone
Movie God

Rating of
3.5/4

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest review

Daniel Corleone - wrote on 09/13/2011

The year 1963 in Oregon, Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) was transferred to a mental institution because of having fights, statutory rape and laziness. The cold blooded Nurse Mildred Ratched (Louise Fletcher) heads the institution that performs daily therapy sessions and medications for the patients. McMurphy befriends Charlie Cheswick (Sydney Lassick), a man who has childlike qualities in terms of needing security and temper; Martini (Danny DeVito), who is delusional; Dale Harding (William Redfield), an intellect who overanalyzes too much and thinks his wife is cheating on him; Taber (Christopher Lloyd), a cantankerous and profane individual who enjoys picking on Harding; Billy Bibbit (Brad Dourif) who stutters and has fears about letting his mother down, and "Chief" Bromden …

mdtinney
mdtinney
Movie God

Rating of
4/4

Jack Nicholson at his best!

mdtinney - wrote on 09/17/2009

Is it any wonder that this film won Jack Nicholson his first Oscar? What a performance, I couldn't rave about it enough. The main thing I loved about this movie was how it was actually filmed in a mental institution, with actual mental patients. I thought this really reflected on the actors' performances, and gave it that extra element of realism. Nicholson's McMurphy is quite possibly one of the most interesting characters I've ever watched in a film. He has wit, charisma and no doubt charm but you can also sense real emotion there. He's not afraid to speak his mind and you can almost sense his desperation to be liked by his fellow patients. He's somewhat a force of nature and he likes to think he's being influential to the others. Louise Fletcher was a fantastic contrast to Jack, …

Freddie
Freddie
Producer

Rating of
4/4

Awesome Flick

Freddie - wrote on 09/11/2009

This is one of the best films that I have seen. This really goes without saying but Jack is incredible. His talent is just ridiculous. This is the kind of movie that just pulls you in. I really had no idea what I was in for when I sat down to watch this. It really surprised me in so many way. I figured Nicholson was going to play one of his psychotic characters that ransacks life. However, his character McMurphy really had purpose and was very inspiring--not many people can uplift an entire floor of mental patients. The "evil" nurse did not turn out to be as evil as I thought she would be. I mean, sure, she was a bit of an obnoxious biotch, and she did do some messed up things. But on the same token, McMurphy DID cause a fight to break out in her "therapy sessions" and, well, he DID try …

Mr. B.K. Tinney
Mr. B.K. Tinney
Movie God

Rating of
4/4

Nicholson's McMurphy in at #22........

Mr. B.K. Tinney - wrote on 05/01/2009

One of only three (Silence of the Lambs and It Happened One Night being the other two) films to sweep the Academy Awards with the five major Oscars (Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Direction, Best Leading Actor and Actress), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is still considered one of the best cinematic dramas' ever made. Director Milos Forman used a screenplay co-written by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman and turned it into a magnificent film spear-headed by the brilliant acting performances of Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher. Nicholson, in arguably his career defining role plays Randle McMurphy, a questionable sane man stuck in a mental institution with clearly insane patients. He stirs up trouble immediately and wins the "crowd of crazies" in spite of head nurse Midred Ratched's …

CJP
CJP
Producer

Rating of
4/4

95%

CJP - wrote on 10/21/2008

Action: 3/3 + Comedy: 2/2 + Good vs Evil: 1/1 + Love/Sex: 1/1 + Special Effects: 0.5/1 + Plot: 1/1 + Music: 1/1 = 9/10 or 95%.

Take this as the evaluation of psychological and criminal ethics within morality, or realize that it is a harsh evaluation of the everyman class struggle, or both. Common events that any single person or group of people can enjoy are placed under the microscope as the "nutters" attempt to coexist with the normal. In one memorable scene a basketball game is carried out typically until the "nutters" catch on and function within their own rules, which are successful for them but not acceptable by everyday standards. In another they go fishing and return to display their catches proudly from the boat's bow as a crowd of normal people shake their heads and point …

Tia Maria
Tia Maria
Director

Rating of
1.5/4

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Tia Maria - wrote on 06/23/2008

For months, people (mostly my dad) have been telling me to watch this movie, as it is a 'classic', and 'one of the best movies of all time'. So, i watched it, and because I was exepcting it to be so good, it was a big dissapointment.
It is about a guy who, instead of going back to prison again, pleads insanity for his crime, so they put him in a mental institution. But he finds it harder in there as he imagined. He soon begins a feud with Nurse Ratchet, the head nurse in the ward. He continuelly breaks the rules, helping all the 'nutters' to have fun.
I am going to say watch it, even though I didn't enjoy it, because even though I didn't, it won the 'top 5 oscars' (for Best Picture, Best actor, Best actress, Best director and best screenplay), and probably 99% of the adult poluation …

louis118
louis118
TV Extra

Rating of
4/4

Cuckoo.

louis118 - wrote on 02/26/2008

The first thing that you notice about one flew over the cuckoo's nest is the interesting, different soundtrack that you hear slowly fade into the scene. It carries throughout with the same pattern throughout the film with minimal change, helping to echo the themes of the film itself. And boy oh boy, there's a lot to talk about the film itself. It is an extremely lucky thing that Ken Kesey didnt get his way during post-production, Kesey wanted Gene Hackman as McMurphy. A scary prospect, no one else could have portrayed the character better. Nicholson as McMurphy, his best performance, a near-perfect best performance. The rest of the casting follows along the same tracks the further you dig. Louise Fletcher, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Brad Dourif, William Redfield, Sydney Lassick and …

TheWolf
TheWolf
Movie God

Rating of
3.5/4

Get out of my way son, you're usin' my oxygen.

TheWolf - wrote on 12/27/2007

t's a film that will influence anybody deeply till the rest of their life. Every scene is so alive and so natural and you get carried away by the acting. You almost feel like you are one of the characters, or you want to be one of them at least...because they're having so much fun in their roles and they're putting so much enthusiasm at every moment. It's not like they are acting, they literally are living in that mental institution!! Jack Nicholson's best movie in my opinion and he shines throughout the movie. He plays the role with his flesh and mind and soul(with everything he got), he made every effort to help this movie stay a masterpiece forever. In other words, every time you watch the movie, it gets better and better, you start to appreciate the details of the film more.
One of …

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