One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Overview

Winner of all five top Oscars, this adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel features brilliant performances by Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/04/2011
UPC:	0883929152605
Original Release:	1975
Rating:	R
Source:	Warner Home Video
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:13:00

Special Features

Closed Caption; Commentary by diretor Milos Forman and producers Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz; Additional scenes; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jack Nicholson	Randle McMurphy
Louise Fletcher	Nurse Ratched
William Redfield	Harding
Will Sampson	Chief Bromden
Danny DeVito	Martini
Christopher Lloyd	Taber
Brad Dourif	Billy Bibbit
Michael Berryman	Ellis
Peter Brocco	Col. Matterson
Dean R. Brooks	Dr. John Spivey
Alonzo Brown	Miller
Scatman Crothers	Turkle
Mwako Cumbuka	Warren
William Duell	Jim Sefelt
Josip Elic	Bancini
Lan Fendors	Nurse Itsu
Alonzo Brown, Jr.	Miller
Nathan George	Washington
Ken Kenny	Beans Garfield
Mel Lambert	Harbor Master,Actor
Sydney Lassick	Charlie Cheswick,Charlie Cheswick
Kay Lee	Night Supervisor
Dwight Marfield	Ellsworth
Ted Markland	Hap Arlich
Louisa Moritz	Rose
Phil Roth	Woolsey
Mimi Sarkisian	Nurse Pilbow
Vincent Schiavelli	Frederickson
Marya Small	Candy
Delos V. Smith	Scanlon
Tim Welch	Ruckley
Tom McCall	News Commentator
Jack Nitzsche	Composer

Technical Credits

Bo Goldman

Lawrence Hauben

Milos Forman	Director
Bo Goldman	Screenwriter
Lawrence Hauben	Screenwriter
Michael Douglas	Producer
Saul Zaentz	Producer
Mark Berger	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Milos Forman had proven his talent for astute social comedy in such earlier Czech films as Loves of a Blonde (1965) and The Firemen's Ball (1967), and his adept treatment of Cuckoo's Nest's metaphorically loaded conflict fulfilled the promise of an immigrant observer of American culture indicated in his first U.S. feature, Taking Off (1971). Shot on location at the Oregon State Hospital, and visually imprisoning the characters in tightly framed compositions, Haskell Wexler's and Bill Butler's cinematography underlines the psychological as well as physical confinement dogging the patients. The restrained, soft-spoken control of Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched contrasts with the thoughtful vigor of Jack Nicholson's McMurphy, further emphasizing both the need to revolt and the difficulty in doing so posed by such consistent, quiet, internalized power. For a culture battered by the chaotic rebellions of the late 1960s/early 1970s, and the serial failures of institutional authority culminating in Watergate and the fall of Saigon, Cuckoo's Nest's resigned yet hopeful portrayal of spirited non-conformity touched a nerve, turning it into one of the most popular films of 1975. The independently produced film became only the second film in history to sweep all five top Academy Awards, winning Best Picture for producers Saul Zaentz and 31-year-old Michael Douglas, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay for Lawrence Hauben's and Bo Goldman's adaptation of the Kesey novel. Shrewdly combining roustabout fervor and humor with an acknowledgement of society's different limits, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest effectively communicated the disillusionment of the waning counter-culture even as it optimistically asserted that one rebel could make a difference.