REVIEW: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Reviewer: Mikaela Porter
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest / 1975 / 8.8
Director/Studio: Milos Forman
                           Fantasy Films
Box Office: Budget- $4,400,000 (estimated)
                    Gross- $112,000,000 (USA)
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Running Time: 133 minutes

          Upon watching One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for the first time, I was very appreciative of the acting from every one of the characters. Jack Nicholson played the character R.P. McMurphy who is admitted in a mental institution where he is to be evaluated for any mental illness since he had a very questionable past that involved gambling, assault, and suspected rape of another woman. Nicholson does a wonderful job in portraying the carefree criminal. His facial expressions and mannerisms hit the character spot on. According to the website IMDb, "Most of Jack Nicholson's scene with Dean R Brooks upon arriving at the hospital was improvised - including his slamming a stapler, asking about a fishing photo, and discussing his rape conviction; Brooks's reactions were authentic." This takes a lot of getting into character and knowing how the character would react to each situation. It makes the film a lot more real for the audience as well. I feel like it takes a special skill to improvise a scene based on only the character and the scene that is given to you as an actor. Nicholson used what he was given to further create the character to how he saw fit.

In the beginning of the film and Nicholson's improv scene.

          The mis-en-scene elements were fantastic in this movie. The production designer, Paul Sylbert, created this eerie hospital feel from using all the white used throughout the sets including the costumes and props. The mental patients all wore specific uniforms (of course they were white) and in the very beginning of the movie McMurphy was still in his outsider clothes; representing how he does not fit in here yet. Though, gradually we see him wearing the white until his final moments where he is wearing all white and becomes a patient of the hospital. The mental institution feel of being trapped was portrayed well because of the bars on the windows and all of the security precautions seen within each scene. From the book "Movies and Meaning" by Steven R. Prince, "As Sylbert's design suggests, each element in a well-designed film has a reason for being there, some contribution that it is making to the story, theme, or style of the production"(86). One of my favorite scenes is at the end where Chief is able to be liberated from the mental hospital and the scene where he escapes into the lush forest, all because McMurphy was no longer able to handle being there and the suicide of Billy Bibbit was what sent him over the edge. He became one of the patients and Chief set them both free. Chief was able to break through the security of the bars-windows.

Chief escaping from the mental hospital to flee to Canada.

Arriving at the hospital not yet conformed to the dress code.

McMurphy turned into one of the patients.

           In my opinion, This movie was outstanding. The sets were created with the storyline in mind, the props and costumes were dead on portraying mental patients, the use of colors were appropriate to each feeling that the cinematographer and production designer wanted, and the acting was superb; Nicholson and the cast were chosen wonderfully and the acting made it all flow. The overall story was wonderful thanks to Ken Kesey's novel, and was portrayed wonderfully through all of the crew members. I was very impressed with the mis-en-scene and tone of the film as a whole. ★★★★ Porter.

References:
http://climatecrock.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/lobotomy.jpg
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073486/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt
http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/c3Dz6FOE_Gk/maxresdefault.jpg
http://www.awardsdaily.com/oscarpodcast/files/2013/04/one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest-4.jpg
Prince, Stephen. "Movies and Meaning: an introduction to film". New Jersey. Pearson Education. 2013.