One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Starring: Jack Nicholson; Louise Fletcher & William Redfield Director: Milos Forman

DVD Features:

Audio:

Audio:

• Dolby Digital Stereo - English  
• Dolby Digital Mono - English

Additional Release Material:

• Interactive Menus
• Scene Access

Text/Photo Galleries:

• Production Notes

Major Awards:

Academy Awards - Best Picture (1975)

Academy Awards - Best Actress (1975)

Academy Awards - Best Actor (1975)

Academy Awards - Best Director (1975)

Description by OLDIES.com:

A nice rest in a state mental hospital beats a stretch in the pen, right? Randle P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), a free-spirited con with lightning in his veins and glib on his tongue, fakes insanity and moves in with what he calls the "nuts." Immediately, his contagious sense of disorder runs up against numbing routine. No way should guys pickled on sedatives shuffle around in bathrobes when the World Series is on. This means war! On one side is McMurphy. On the other is soft-spoken Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), among the most coldly monstrous villains in film history. At stake is the fate of every patient on the ward.

Based on Ken Kesey's acclaimed bestseller, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest swept all five major 1975 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Actor (Nicholson), Actress (Fletcher), Director (Forman) and Adapted Screenplay. Raucous, searing and with a superb cast that includes Brad Dourif, Danny Devito and Christopher Lloyd in his film debut, this one soars.

Product Description:

Milos Foreman's ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, based on the novel by Ken Kesey and the play by Dale Wasserman, presents a biting and ultimately tragic satire about mental institutions and the human spirit. A disturbing, witty, and electrifying drama, the film won the 1975 Academy Award for Best Picture. R.P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), a misbehaved con who shirks authority, finds himself in an asylum after faking insanity to get out of work detail in prison. The vivacious troublemaker soon finds himself in a worse kind of prison--one presided over by the repressed, terrifyingly quiet Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), whose set of rules and regulations are meant to suppress patients' psychotic outbursts, and their spirits. It's not long before McMurphy is reaching out to his new inmates, trying desperately to bring life to an otherwise dead atmosphere. To Ratched, however, Nicholson's free spirit is as dangerous as a schizophrenic impulse. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST is brilliantly acted by an ensemble that includes Brad Dourif, Christopher Lloyd, Vincent Schiavelli, and Danny DeVito.

Plot Keywords:

Character Study | Classic | Drama | Essential Cinema | Mental Illness | Prison / Prisoners | Psychodrama | Recommended | Social Issues | Theatrical Release

Production Notes:

• Theatrical Release: November 20, 1975. Filmed on location at the Oregon State Mental Hospital in Salem, Oregon. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST is number 20 on the American Film Institute's list of America's 100 Greatest Movies. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1993. On November 3, 1963, the stage adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel was brought to Broadway, starring Kirk Douglas as McMurphy. (Gene Wilder also appeared in the show.) The film marked the debut of actor Brad Dourif. Estimated budget: $4.4 million. The production was aided by the labor of inmates of the institution where they were filming. Danny De Vito and Christopher Lloyd, who played two of the patients, later worked closely together on the television show TAXI, which also featured guest appearances by Vincent Schiavelli, another inmate in CUCKOO'S NEST. All three actors also appeared in Forman's MAN ON THE MOON. Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando, and Burt Reynolds were all considered for the role that ultimately went to Jack Nicholson. Kirk Douglas, producer Michael Douglas's father, had played McMurphy onstage and was interested in the part for the film; Douglas told Newsday in January 2001, "I think my dad was disappointed that I hadn't given him the role." Anne Bancroft, Colleen Dewhurst, Ellen Burstyn, Angela Lansbury, and Geraldine Page were all offered the role that ultimately went to Louise Fletcher. The film played in theaters in Sweden for 11 consecutive years.

Cast and Crew: