One Flew Over The Cucko Nest

Came on BBC 2 last night, and remembering it being on the IMDB 250 list and thought I'd give it a go and I was not disappointed. It was one of the greatest films I have ever saw in my life.

Great film but not one that I would put high on my list to watch again!

Very moving in parts (as well as very funny strangely), its a must see for anyone who wants to see great actors acting great!

7/10 for me (and it only loses points due to its rewatchability factor)

what did you think of the ending? I thought it was so sad to him so lifeless.

its on iplayer at the moment if anyone wants to see it!

10/10 film btw

I gave it an 8/10

It is so difficult for any film adaptations from novels. Again despite Nicholson being immense in it, again so much is missing from the story. I did it backwards by where I watched the film before the novel and when you read the novel, it is similar to Shutter Island where they fail to grasp the identity of the characters. I think if film makers are to make films based on mental health in a story setting, look no further than A Clockwork Orange who captured the 'nature' of conflicting mentality and the very illness and the mood they lack a rawness.

I am with Adam. I couldn't watch again in the same year. I would find my opinion everchanging if I did.

A clockwork orange is abit much for moste- i really wouldnt recommend the film to most casual film viewers

I have never read one flew over the cukkos nest therefore its much harder to pick at.

I dont think the either films should be looked at to deeply in reagards to mental health- more about the frailties of systems and society and how you cant pigeonhole people!

mystiroakey wrote:A clockwork orange is abit much for moste- i really wouldnt recommend the film to most casual film viewers

I have never read one flew over the cukkos nest therefore its much harder to pick at.

I dont think the either films should be looked at to deeply in reagards to mental health- more about the frailties of systems and society and how you cant pigeonhole people!

That is a rather naive perspective. Take Philladelphia. Was that not about Aids and the discrimination that still existed and failure to recognise it as a disability?

The whole point Nicholson's character was about cheating the system to fit in with a mental hospital. You can see the struggle of him fitting in and the perception he had. Same with Shutter Island it's a case of dealing the surroundings and the extreme measures that were used.

Watch a Beautiful Mind. That encapsulates the whole struggle of mental disorders and the impact they have. Clockwork Orange showed that sometimes patients are beyond help and that chaos will breed chaos in such an environment.

If films are to tap into such surroundings, it needs an understanding. Take Awakenings. Again another brilliant film that captures the culture of illness.

not sure i understand what point you are trying to make legend.

I have seen all the above fims and a beautifull mind is a film about mental illness, the other two mentioned films main point are about society and pigeon holing, and that certain systems fail people.

It's not a film about mental health - it's a film about freedom.

Kirk Douglas initially starred in the stage version of the novel and then retained the rights to the movie version, hoping that he could star as McMurphy (he too would have been brilliant). But he couldn't get it produced and gave the rights to Michael who eventually managed to have it produced, but by then Kirk was considered too old.

I say all this because it is a repetitive theme in Kirk Douglas's films - the yearning for freedom - either from the self (Van Gough in Lust for Life, Champion) or from an overbearing controlling systems of thought or deed - political, institutional or conventions of fashion and perceptions of sanity ( Spartacus, Paths of Glory)

And his most beautiful and to mind greatest movie - I think it is Douglas's own personal favourite too - has many strong echoes with One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest. It's called Lonely Are The Brave - and whenever I see the Chief looking out the barred window at his mountains, I see Jack Burns chasing for his mountains on his horse Whiskey. Don't look for too detailed a kitchen-sink commentary on mental illness in One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest, just look for the simple impassioned cry for freedom.
10/10

Freedom?

It was a movie to inspire change!

To change a culture.

If you want Freedom watch Braveheart or Shawshank Redemption.

I'd have to say you have a pretty elementary understanding of freedom, legend, if you could write that reply.

When you are trapped under the guise of having a 'mental illness', have you an illness or is your mind perfect for you? Are the constraints of institutionalised insanity another name for slavery?

Those are the questions posed, not how best to treat insanity. The latter requires a panel of experts on Newsnight chatting to Jeremy Paxman, and the former is abstract philosophy that has no ready answers - but the film asks the question nonetheless.

Cinema, (and certainly the cinema that produces a film like Cuckoo's Nest) isn't social activism (you can get all that by joining a political talk-shop party), cinema is art. Art deals in concepts not legislation

Fly,

I would say you are generically using Freedom to appeal to a unilateral meaning. I think if anything your abusing it's meaning to justify such a response.

Being a mental illness sufferer fly I think I am in a position to actually say that if your filming a film in a mental institute that you are going to overlook the nuts and bolts of such an institute? Do you think that a spaceship may have made the ending better? Or maybe a Matrix style theme may have elevated it's status.

You indicating artistry in it's laziest form is quite acceptable is somewhat ignorant of the surroundings in it. Oh I will set a film in a mental hospital, but will not touch on it in any sense. It is lazy. It is like saying let's have a Sci Fi film and not worry about breathing outside the spaceship because this is artistry.

Your waffling about what is acceptable or not is daft. The actual author worked in a mental hospital.

That kinda tells you the film did not do the novel justice!

legendkillarV2 wrote:Fly,

I would say you are generically using Freedom to appeal to a unilateral meaning. I think if anything your abusing it's meaning to justify such a response.

Being a mental illness sufferer fly I think I am in a position to actually say that if your filming a film in a mental institute that you are going to overlook the nuts and bolts of such an institute? Do you think that a spaceship may have made the ending better? Or maybe a Matrix style theme may have elevated it's status.

You indicating artistry in it's laziest form is quite acceptable is somewhat ignorant of the surroundings in it. Oh I will set a film in a mental hospital, but will not touch on it in any sense. It is lazy. It is like saying let's have a Sci Fi film and not worry about breathing outside the spaceship because this is artistry.

Your waffling about what is acceptable or not is daft. The actual author worked in a mental hospital.

That kinda tells you the film did not do the novel justice!

Legend, you go ahead and talk about the book as much as you want - preferably on a novel forum might be best. The topic here though is the movie and, as you know, more than one person decides the story telling in a movie. The movie isn't the book, as you often remind us. The movie speaks to everyone uniquely, just as the book does. There is nothing didactic about fiction and nothing didactic about film. The reader chooses. The viewer chooses.

You accept the concept of slavery again when you say the movie has its 'message' and should be critiqued on those grounds. You think it is a commentary on the nuts and bolts of mental health treatment, I think it far deeper and I think it talks to all of us, NOT just those who have mental illness or those who work with people who have. Your scope is limited and your closed reading of what the film is trying to say gives you the tunnel vision of 'knowing' you are right.

You're not right - you have a view and I repeat, your concept of 'freedom' is elementary if you think it only exists on spaceships and political posters.

Legend, you go ahead and talk about the book as much as you want - preferably on a novel forum might be best. The topic here though is the movie and, as you know, more than one person decides the story telling in a movie. The movie isn't the book, as you often remind us. The movie speaks to everyone uniquely, just as the book does. There is nothing didactic about fiction and nothing didactic about film. The reader chooses. The viewer chooses.

You accept the concept of slavery again when you say the movie has its 'message' and should be critiqued on those grounds. You think it is a commentary on the nuts and bolts of mental health treatment, I think it far deeper and I think it talks to all of us, NOT just those who have mental illness or those who work with people who have. Your scope is limited and your closed reading of what the film is trying to say gives you the tunnel vision of 'knowing' you are right.

You're not right - you have a view and I repeat, your concept of 'freedom' is elementary if you think it only exists on spaceships and political posters.

1) Where did I state I accepted Slavery?

2) Where did I say Freedom exists on Spaceships?

You can bleat all you want about Freedom means everything.

I am sure there is a 10 year old who could teach you the meaning of the word.

legendkillarV2 wrote:

1) Where did I state I accepted Slavery?

2) Where did I say Freedom exists on Spaceships?

You can bleat all you want about Freedom means everything.

I am sure there is a 10 year old who could teach you the meaning of the word.

But obviously few of them could teach you. We're not going to be agreeing on this one, so let's rest it there. Ciao Legend.

legend can i just say that if topics continue in this vein i may not post on imdb as much!!

You obviously love your films. I think in truth most of these sort of debates revolve around people arguing sematics rather than real points anyway and people are flirting around the same points. But the good thing about films like this are that most people arnt wrong but more about what the viewer takes from the film.


I love the film and am abit embarrased to admit i havent read the book. However sometimes its better to not have when watching a film, rather than comparing it to a book that will allways be full of more content and how the author intended.

mystiro

Like I said on a previous thread film adaptation is the most difficult thing in the world. Has anyone read Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption? My guess would be no. The differences between the film and short story is the timeframes. What both get across are the yearning for freedom. In relation to OFOTCN the differences between the novel and the film are massive. As Adam stated quite soundly earlier is that it is not a film you could watch again. I agree with that statement.

I think you find the latter statement you have made is rather misinformed. Again How to Kill a Mockingbird exceeded the book. Now if you have not read nor seen the film as it was the subject matter of many English classes I took and I am younger than you.

i have read and seen it.

Nothing missinformed about my point either. Its a simple point that when you have either read the story or wathced the film yet not both you dont have ideals about how it should or shouldnt be done

Absolutely love this film, a 10 from me.

I first saw it when I was in school and studying psychology, and we were learning all about ECT and it's effects on people.

It's not a film I'd watch often, but I always really enjoy it when I do. Even if the ending is so

9/10 - my favourite film & a goose-bump inspiring ending. Didn't think much of the book.