Director Miloš Forman’s masterpiece, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, turns 50 this year. Despite this milestone, it remains a fresh and timeless piece of cinema from the New Hollywood movement.
Combining iconic performances and universal themes of individualism versus the establishment, Forman’s film is perhaps Jack Nicholson’s greatest performance. He plays Randle Patrick McMurphy, a charismatic convict feigning mental illness in order to serve his sentence at a psychiatric hospital and avoid prison labour.
Here, he becomes an unlikely leader to the ward’s patients, helping them to discover self-belief and confidence. He also attempts to steer them away from the regime of the cold and oppressive nurse, Mildred Ratched, brilliantly played by Louise Fletcher. Fletcher’s performance earned her an Oscar for best actress (along with best actor for Nicholson, and three other wins for best picture, director and adapted screenplay).
