One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Genre: Drama

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Brad Dourif, Sydney Lassick, Danny DeVito, William Redfield, Christopher Lloyd, Will Sampson

Define 'A true, epic, American drama movie?', Answer; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. If there ever can be an example to show how the most simplest of story lines can be made into something very interesting, then nothing can be a better example than this movie. Randle McMurphy (Nicholson) a mentally unstable criminal, apprehended for raping a minor is sent to mental institution for evaluation. He does not appear to or behave in any manner that might suggest he suffers from an illness but needs to undergo treatment nonetheless. His ward is run by the strict Nurse Ratched (Fletcher) who rules rather than runs the ward like a queen and the patients her subjects. She shows indifference towards their pain and emotion and forces them to take unpleasant medication. McMurphy, being less crazy than the rest, realises the nurse's nature and tries to take steps to make his ward members' life better. From gambling with cigarettes, taking bets on escaping, hijacking the bus for a fishing trip and watching baseball on a television that is switched off, McMurphy does it all much to the displeasure of the nurse. The movie is known worldwide for being one of the few movies to have won all major Academy Awards and rightly so. The performances were outstanding, the plot is extremely simple but executed with finesse. It shows how a rapist, branded insane, could do things that even educated and sane individuals could not; he brought them joy. The movie might seem to trudge along with no objective, but believe me its worth all the effort at the very end. This blog celebrates 500 reviews with this movie. A fitting choice I must say.

Thumbs up: Outstanding in every aspect

Thumbs down: 5 major Academy Awards; this section shouldn't exist for this movie

Rating: 8.8/10