On November 19, 2025, it will be exactly half a century since the premiere of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest“, a classic of world cinema that brought actor Jack Nicholson an “Oscar“ and national popularity. To this day, no list of “The Greatest Movies of All Time“, “Movies You Must See Before You Die“ or “Movies That Will Change Your Mind Forever“ is complete without mentioning this film.
How was this masterpiece created, what is it dedicated to, and what role did the Soviet communists play in its creation?
1963 Randall McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old girl, ends up in a mental hospital in an attempt to avoid a sentence of forced labor. He still doesn't understand what he's gotten himself into - while his sentence on the prison farm has a fixed end date, they'll keep him in the psychiatric ward as long as they want. Life surrounded by mentally ill people (most of whom are there voluntarily) could be quite bearable if it weren't for Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), who has established complete control over the patients. Ratched sees the boisterous Randall, who either wins all the neighbors' cigarettes in a card game or arranges a fishing trip without permission, as a threat to the established order - and their power.
When Ken Kesey's debut novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest“ was published, American society was undergoing enormous upheavals. The early 1960s were the peak of the fight against segregation, the prerequisites for a sexual revolution are already visible, and psychedelics are becoming more and more common in the lives of nonconformists, something that the young writer himself, according to him, thoroughly enjoyed thanks to his participation in CIA experiments. The ideas of challenging the system, breaking old foundations and old hierarchies only deepen the atmosphere of rebellion and change - so dense that even the most hardened hippies can touch it.
In this turbulent countercultural environment, the book about the unequal battle between man and the institution acquires cult status almost instantly.
Only a year later, Kirk Douglas, at that time an unshakable pillar of Hollywood, bought the rights to adapt the novel for Broadway and the big screen. The star managed to play the main role in the play, but the film was delayed. Douglas wanted the film to be directed by the Prague-based director Milos Forman, with whom he had met during a tour of Eastern Europe. In the mid-1960s, the young director from the Eastern Bloc achieved international fame with his debut film “Black Peter“ and received an “Oscar“ nomination for “Love of a Blonde“. The actor sent Forman a copy of Kissi's novel, but it apparently got stuck at the border. Later, the figure of the Czechoslovak “New Wave“ fell victim to communist censorship and was forced to emigrate from his homeland with the onset of the Prague Spring.
Original title: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest“. Release date: November 19, 1975. Country: USA. Running time: 135 minutes. Director: Milos Forman. Cast: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Will Sampson, Brad Dourif, William Redfield, Danny DeVito.
Almost a decade had passed. Douglas, in his fifties, was no longer suited to the role of the brash, rebellious joker. His son, Michael, the future star of Wall Street films, persuaded him to give up the film rights to “Basic Instinct“. After several directorial changes, Douglas Jr. and other producers offered the film to Forman again - supposedly without his father's approval, but solely for their own reasons. The émigré director later explained that he was chosen because he agreed to a relatively low fee.
The lead role eventually went to Jack Nicholson, who admitted to Forman that he had once tried to acquire the rights to the novel, “but that old man Douglas outsmarted him“. By the time filming began, he himself Nicholson had already become a counterculture icon thanks to his roles in “Free Rider“ and “Five Easy Pieces“. However, it was in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest“ that audiences first discovered Nicholson's full range as an actor. His rebel McMurphy is a downright disgusting character, mentally unstable, but capable of evoking sympathy. This, of course, would not have occurred without the film's counterbalance in the person of Fletcher's antagonist.
Nurse Ratchet remains one of the most iconic antagonists in cinema history to this day.
The soft, subtle severity of the character, whose claws are sunk deep into the heads of every patient in the ward, is terrifying in itself, but One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has always been more than a critique of psychiatric institutions and the tyrants who enjoy complete impunity within them. Nurse Ratched is a fundamentally authoritarian figure - for the Beats of the 1960s she is a reflection of conservative American society; for Milos Forman she becomes a mirror of the Communist Party.
Both the novel and the film adaptation herald the advent of an era of rebellion, a time of changing values. Both works express a desire to resist authoritarian systems and the status quo, while at the same time recognizing the tragic futility of such a struggle. McMurphy is doomed, but thanks to his example, others begin to wonder what freedom is, what its price is, and how it can be imperceptibly taken away from us.
The image of a clownish fighter against the system will later become a permanent element in pop culture.
Chuck Palahniuk will brazenly plagiarize the structure of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest“ for his “Fight Club“. Brad Pitt will later play the new cinematic McMurphy at the beginning of the millennium, but the echo of this image will reappear in countless incarnations.
However, Forman's film itself entered the annals of history after its premiere, becoming the winner of an “Oscar“. The film won all five major awards, from “Best Picture“ and “Best Actor/Actress“ to “Best Screenplay“ and “Director of the Year“. At the time, it was the second such event at the “Oscars“ awards – the first such triumph, 40 years earlier, was “It Happened One Night“ starring Clark Gable. The next time “The Silence of the Lambs“ won all five major awards in 1991, and nothing like it has happened at the “Oscars“ awards since then.
Source: lenta.ru