|
Rated: R
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, et al.
Director: Milos Forman 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 emphasized 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 --------------
It's difficult for one to speak of this film without gushing superlatives,
but "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" has to be considered among the
greatest ever American pictures. Not a hair is out of place in this
fantastic adaptation of Ken Kesey's popular novel, and it's no accident
that the movie won every major Academy Award for 1976. (Only two other
films have swept the five major Oscars -- Best Picture, Best Director,
Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay -- "It Happened One Night" and
"The Silence of the Lambs.") If you like dramas that examine human
frailties and peculiarities, this movie is a must see. It will involve you
with laughter, anger, dismay, angst, and elation. No cinematic work is
perfect, but "Cuckoo's Nest" comes pretty darned close.
Jack Nicholson is in his defining role as "Jack McMurphy"; his persona is
not only ideal for the part, but his acting is absolutely splendid.
Nicholson is supported by a wonderful cast that includes the painfully
unforgettable performance of Louise Fletcher as "Nurse Ratched." Several
then unknown actors -- Christopher Lloyd and Danny DeVito among them --
round out the troupe beautifully. The redoubtable director Milos Forman
guides his band of exceptional actors through an excellent screenplay and
into cinematic immortality. While this DVD's picture
quality leaves much to be desired, it's somehow fitting for this film.
Strangely, the documentary-like quality of the movie make the prevalent
grain and foreign matter appear as though they belong! This is the only
film I've yet seen that doesn't seem to lose much for want of a good
print. Still, objectively speaking, Warner showed no respect to this
classic by allowing such a poor copy on DVD -- and providing a mediocre
transfer to boot. (No surprise, they did a TERRIBLE job with "The Stanley
Kubrick Collection"; so bad that they're redoing it.) Recorded sound is
merely acceptable. The "special features" may once have been something,
but they aren't any longer. DVD collectors expect more nowadays, not just
a few pages of text. In the end, however, this item remains a "buy"; it's
relatively cheap, and it's the only available DVD version of this great
movie.
 |
