A petty criminal fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon finds himself as a leader to the other patients—and an enemy to the cruel, domineering nurse who runs the ward.
"In this clean, orderly, disciplined world, who needs guys like McMurphy? Everybody."
Top Billed Cast
Jack Nicholson
Randle Patrick McMurphy
Brad Dourif
Billy Bibbit
Louise Fletcher
Nurse Mildred Ratched
Danny DeVito
Martini
William Redfield
Dale Harding
Scatman Crothers
Orderly Turkle
Christopher Lloyd
Max Taber
Will Sampson
Chief Bromden
Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews
C Charles DanceVerified TMDB Critic
2017-02-17
**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 th...
W WuchakVerified TMDB Critic
2020-02-13
***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 appreciat...
W wizzardssVerified TMDB Critic
2021-02-25
_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", McM...
C CinemaSerfVerified TMDB Critic
2025-03-12
“McMurphy” (Jack Nicholson) is a veteran with an attitude who has pled insanity to escape his latest court appearance on a charge of statutory rape. He is sent to an evaluation hospital where they are to decide just what, if anything, is wrong with him. His smart-assed confidence endears him to some of his fellow inmates, especially the impressionable “Billy” (Brad Dourif) but also earns him the instant enmity of the chief nurse “Ratched” (Louise Fletcher) who is used to ruling with a psychological rod of iron augmented by pils, pills and more pills. Initially, “Mac” is simply ...
