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Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the key movies of the 1970s, when exciting, groundbreaking, personal films were still being made in Hollywood, Milos Forman's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest emphasised the humanistic story at the heart of Ken Kesey's more hallucinogenic novel. Jack Nicholson was born to play the part of Randle Patrick McMurphy, the rebellious inmate of a psychiatric hospital who fights back against the authorities' cold attitudes of institutional superiority, as personified by Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). It's the classic antiestablishment tale of one man asserting his individuality in the face of a repressive, conformist system--and it works on every level. Forman populates his film with memorably eccentric faces, and gets such freshly detailed and spontaneous work from his ensemble that the picture sometimes feels like a documentary. Unlike a lot of films pitched at the "youth culture" of the 1970s, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest really hasn't dated a bit, because the qualities of human nature that Forman captures--playfulness, courage, inspiration, pride, stubbornness--are universal and timeless. The film swept the Academy Awards for 1976, winning in all the major categories (picture, director, actor, actress, screenplay) for the first time since Frank Capra's It Happened One Night in 1931. --Jim Emerson
Amazon.co.uk Review
A big Oscar winner in 1975, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest still holds up remarkably well. Ken Kesey's novel, an allegory of repression and rebellion set in a mental hospital in the early 1960s, is cannily adapted by Czech director Milos Forman into a comedy drama with a cool, unassuming, near-documentary look. Jack Nicholson has his most jacknicholsonian role as Randle P McMurphy, a livewire troublemaker who unwisely cons his way out of prison and into a mental institution without realising he has switched from serving a sentence with a release date to being committed until adjudged sane by the same people he is winding up on a daily basis. Louise Fletcher, in a career-defining turn, is Nurse Ratched, the soft-spoken sadist who represents the worst type of matronly authoritarianism and clashes with Randle all down the line.
Taking another look at the picture after all these years, it's a surprise that all the unknown actors who seemed like real mental patients have graduated to becoming prolific character actor stars: Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Vincent Schiavelli, Brad Dourif, the late Will Sampson, Sidney Lassick, Michael Berryman. Unlike many Best Picture Oscar winners, this deals with profound subject matter without seeming self-important: Forman's approach and all-round great acting make it play as a small character story as well as a Big Statement about the human condition. Full marks also for Jack Nitzsche's musical saw-based score.
On the DVD: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest comes to DVD in a two-disc special edition with a great-looking anamorphic 1.85:1 print and 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack, plus tracks in French and Italian and optional subtitles in half a dozen languages. Disc 2 has the trailer, about 13 minutes of deleted scenes (mostly from the first third of the film, and all pretty good) and a making-of retrospective documentary with interesting material from producers Michael Douglas (who inherited the rights from Kirk) and Saul Zaentz, Forman, screenwriter Bo Goldman and many cast-members (though not Nicholson). There's also a commentary track by Forman, Douglas and others which repeats a few things from the documentary but also goes into more scene-specific detail about the development and shooting. --Kim Newman
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I'm not normally moved enough by a film to post my comments on Amazon, but last night this one just blew me away. I can't believe I hadn't seen it before now. All I can say is that everything everybody before me has said is right. It's a moving, shocking, scary, often laugh-out-loud funny emotional rollercoaster with some the greatest performances I've ever seen. I was completely bowled over and it took me about 10 minutes to recover from what I'd just seen.
What an unbelievably brilliant piece of work.
45 of 47 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
It has taken me nearly 30 years to get round to watching this film, and I genuinely think I appreciate it more for being that much older. It has had accolades for everything -- plot, direction, filming, casting, acting. It deserves them all. It is nothing short of compulsive. The bad guy who has not lost his soul (much less his spirit) is pitted against the embodiment of sanctimonious righteousness who never had a soul to lose.
I wonder whether Nicholson has even yet had full recognition for the truly great actor he is (how many people have even seen The King of Marvin Gardens, for instance?) His screen presence is enormous, magnetic and menacing. He combines outsize testosteronic individuality with the ability to get inside a character, and an electric sense of threat with a real power to tug at the heart-strings. Bad he may be, but unsympathetic never. He is a very big little guy, but he is still the little guy against the system. It must be impossible, surely, to upstage that?
I wonder whether Nicholson has even yet had full recognition for the truly great actor he is (how many people have even seen The King of Marvin Gardens, for instance?) His screen presence is enormous, magnetic and menacing. He combines outsize testosteronic individuality with the ability to get inside a character, and an electric sense of threat with a real power to tug at the heart-strings. Bad he may be, but unsympathetic never. He is a very big little guy, but he is still the little guy against the system. It must be impossible, surely, to upstage that?
Incredibly, no. The ultimate star in a film that has no shortage of up-and-coming luminaries as well as Nicholson (D de Vito for one) is Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched. I am never going to forget that mask-like expressionless face and that ever-rational, implacable, ever-modulated voice mouthing those soulless, uncomprehending, the-system-is-right banalities. Above all, I am never going to forget that hair. Among the many touches of genius in this production, that hairstyle is the ultimate. I simply could not take my eyes off it. The name is effective too, and I shall continue to believe until someone proves me wrong that it was an inspired borrowing from Jane Eyre -- the dreadful and sadistic Miss Skatcherd brought up to date and given a 20th-century twist.
This film is never going to become dated as long as these polarities continue to repel each other. I saw it at all only because my son showed it to me. It is relevant to my generation, it is relevant to his, and I can't foresee when it is not going to be relevant.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
A movie for everyone. This movie isnt only entertainment value, it goes much deeper than this. It gives us a wonderful insight into society. Rejected as a play in the 1960's as being to provacative, the 1970's embraced it. Wonderful performances from all the cast, excellent music, costume lighting etc. This movie like most from the 1970's should be viewed by todays generation as I believe it to be the golden age of cinema.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Excellent Film
Saw this film when it first came out and bought it so I could watch it with my 14 year old son who thought it was an excellent film, as did myself, and he thoroughly enjoyed it.
Published 29 days ago by Ms. Susan A. Mcfarlane
Great film!
Such good value for this excellent film. Well packaged and arrived promptly.Much quicker than looking for it in DVD shops!
Published 1 month ago by Alex
Prompt delivery
Prompt delivery, neatly packaged. DVD played with no problems, good picture quality. Good film (Mac's not mad just enthusiastic and lives life to the full).
Published 3 months ago by Merlyn
fantastic film
I'm so glad I decided to by this film. Every member of the cast delivers an outstanding performance and it looks like it was very well directed. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Dan
Can't believe I've not watched it til now!
This is one of those films that I always knew I was meant to have seen, but just never got round to it. Now I wish I'd watched it years ago! Read more
Published 5 months ago by Lynne G
Great
This film certainly stands the test of time. I saw it when it came out years ago, but seeing it again, it is still just as fascinating. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Diana D
Best film ever!!!
Must see film- one of the greats!! Jack nicolson is amazing as is nurse sheeran!!! really would recommend watching this film
Published 8 months ago by lstewart
my favourite film
an excellent movie, nicholson is superb as are all the cast,..... moving,funny,sad, just brilliant if you've never seen it,make sure you do
Published 8 months ago by osh
louis is great
She was born on 22 July 1934.Both of her parents were deaf.,so she learned sign language at a young age.Won best actress Oscar for 'one flew over the cuckoo's nest'. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Arun Singh
A timeless classic - definitely worth a watch!
It's one of those films which everyone plans to see and never gets round to it, and is always on film lists for one reason or another. I decided to give it a shot, and glad I did. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Louise Roberts
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