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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Oscar™ Best Picture - Winning Movies

1975

Milos Forman

Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Brad Dourif, William Redfield ...

8.3

111,598

Drama A misbehaved con named McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), who shirks authority, finds himself in an asylum after faking insanity to get out of work detail in prison. The troublemaker soon finds himself in a place that's worse than prison when he meets 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 ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Kathleen Carroll New York Daily News	"Nicholson explodes on the screen in a performance so flawless in timing and character perception that it should send half the stars in Hollywood back to acting school"	POS
United States	Vincent Canby The New York Times	"A comedy that can't quite support its (...) conclusion, which is too schematic to be honestly moving, but it is acted with such a sense of life that one responds to its demonstration of humanity if not to its programmed metaphors."	NEU
United States	Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times	"A film so good in so many of its parts that there's a temptation to forgive it when it goes wrong (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of four)"	POS
United States	A.D. Murphy Variety	"[It] is brilliant cinema theatre. Jack Nicholson stars in an outstanding characterization of Ken Kesey’s asylum anti-hero, McMurphy, and Milos Forman’s direction of a superbly-cast film is equally meritorious."	POS
United Kingdom	Colin Kennedy Empire	"The most radical film to emerge from mainstream Hollywood (...) Certified brilliance (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Wendy Ide The Guardian	"Jack Nicholson is the driving force (...) How delicately he is supported by the rest of the cast (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Tom Hutchinson Radio Times	"One of the classic movies of the 1970s, thanks in no small measure to the talents of director Milos Forman (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"Jack Nicholson plays McMurphy as if he were born to it, and the supporting cast provides fine, detailed performances (...) But there is little of Forman's real personality in the film"	NEU
United States	Chris Nashawaty Entertainment Weekly	"Nicholson’s live-wire performance turns what could have been a standard movie malcontent into a martyr"	POS
United States	Arthur Knight The Hollywood Reporter	"Forman's casting is inspired, his sense of milieu is assured, and he could probably wring Academy Award performances from a stone"	POS
United States	Glenn Heath Jr. Slant	"The film remains a stunning collective of method acting and 1970s social critique (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	James Berardinelli ReelViews	"Although the picture has not aged as well as some of its contemporaries, its themes remain germane, the story has lost none of its punch, and the performances retain their freshness (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
Ireland	Tara Brady Irish Times	"The sexual politics have dated but the themes of Miloš Forman’s classic remain potent and urgent (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS

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