One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Subject to the silliest of internet theories

There are a lot of movie theories but the silliest of all is this nonsense that is all over the internet claiming that the Chief killed the unresponsive McMurphy because he thought McMurphy was ignoring him.

These idiots claim the Chief did not notice the scars on McMurphy's head and simply thought the unresponsive McMurphy was ignoring him - so the Chief kills him in a fit of rage. Ridiculous.

The Chief killed McMurphy as an act of kindness. Chief was releasing McMurphy - a once spirited man now reduced to a vegetable thanks to the control freak, Nurse Wretched.

This classic movie still holds up after all these years and is a compelling story of blossoming friendships in a...

The spirit of freedom vs. the spirit of legal-ism

Set in the early 60s, the story involves R.P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) and his arrival at a mental institution in Salem, Oregon (where the film was shot). He plays the "mental illness" card to get out of prison time, thinking it'll be a piece of cake, but he's wrong, very wrong. Everything appears well at the hospital and Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) seems to be a benevolent overseer of McMurphy's ward, but there are sinister things going on beneath the surface.

"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) is a film you'll appreciate more as you mature. I saw it when I was younger and, while I thought it was good, I didn't 'get' a lot of the insights the film conveys.

The movi...

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest tells the story of a criminal, Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), who pleads insanity in the attempt to get a more lenient sentence. Sent to a mental hospital, he livens up the otherwise monotonous lives of the patients, much to the ire of the strict head nurse, Mildred Ratched (Louise Fletcher).

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest clean swept the Oscars in 1976, taking home the five biggest prizes as only the second film to do so since It Happened One Night.

In reality, it is an extremely frustrating film. Pitched as a "man against the system", McMurphy is clearly written to be chaotic and bring some colour to the otherwise black and white world of the hospital. Meanwhile, Ratched is the oppress...