One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest [Ultimate Collector's Edition]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

With an insane asylum standing in for everyday society, Milos Forman's 1975 film adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel is a comically sharp indictment of the Establishment urge to conform. Playing crazy to avoid prison work detail, manic free spirit Randle P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) is sent to the state mental hospital for evaluation. There he encounters a motley crew of mostly voluntary inmates, including cowed mama's boy Billy (Brad Dourif) and silent Native American Chief Bromden (Will Sampson), presided over by the icy Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). Ratched and McMurphy recognize that each is the other's worst enemy: an authority figure who equates sanity with correct behavior, and a misfit who is charismatic enough to dismantle the system simply by living as he pleases. McMurphy proceeds to instigate group insurrections large and small, ranging from a restorative basketball game to an unfettered afternoon boat trip and a tragic after-hours party with hookers and booze. Nurse Ratched, however, has the machinery of power on her side to ensure that McMurphy will not defeat her. Still, McMurphy's message to live free or die is ultimately not lost on one inmate, revealing that escape is still possible even from the most oppressive conditions. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Features:
  • Completely Cukoo, a comprehensive 87-minute retrospective in its full original length
  • All-new interview with Michael Douglas
  • Commentary by director Milos Forman, producers Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz
  • Additional scenes
  • Theatrical trailer

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Won Best Actor - 1975 (Jack Nicholson)
•     Won Best Actress - 1975 (Louise Fletcher)
•     Won Best Adapted Screenplay - 1975 (Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman)
•     Won Best Director - 1975 (Milos Forman)
•     Won Best Picture - 1975 (Michael Douglas, Saul Zaentz)
•     Nominated Best Cinematography - 1975 (Bill Butler, Haskell Wexler)
•     Nominated Best Editing - 1975 (Sheldon Kahn, Richard Chew, Lynzee Klingman)
•     Nominated Best Original Score - 1975 (Jack Nitzsche)
•     Nominated Best Supporting Actor - 1975 (Brad Dourif)

• American Film Institute

•     Won 100 Greatest American Movies - 1998

• British Academy of Film and Television Arts

•     Won Best Actor - 1976 (Jack Nicholson)
•     Won Best Actress - 1976 (Louise Fletcher)
•     Won Best Director - 1976 (Milos Forman)
•     Won Best Editing - 1976 (Sheldon Kahn, Richard Chew, Lynzee Klingman)
•     Won Best Picture - 1976 (Milos Forman)
•     Won Best Supporting Actor - 1976 (Brad Dourif)

• Directors Guild of America

•     Won Best Director - 1975 (Milos Forman)

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Won Best Director - 1975 (Milos Forman)
•     Won Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama - 1975 (Jack Nicholson)
•     Won Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - 1975 (Louise Fletcher)
•     Won Best Picture - Drama - 1975
•     Won Best Screenplay - 1975 (Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman)
•     Won New Star of the Year - Male - 1975 (Brad Dourif)

• Library of Congress

•     Won U.S. National Film Registry - 1992

• Los Angeles Film Critics Association

•     Won Best Picture - 1975

• National Board of Review

•     Won Best Actor - 1975 (Jack Nicholson)
•     Nominated Best Picture - 1975

• National Society of Film Critics

•     Won Best Actor - 1975 (Jack Nicholson)

• New York Film Critics Circle

•     Won Best Actor - 1975 (Jack Nicholson)

• People's Choice Awards

•     Won Best Picture - 1977

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Jack Nicholson - Randle Patrick McMurphy
       Louise Fletcher - Nurse Mildred Ratched
       William Redfield - Harding
       Dean R. Brooks - Dr. John Spivey
       Scatman Crothers - Turkle Crothers
       Danny DeVito - Martini
       William Duell - Sefelt
       Brad Dourif - Billy Bibbit
       Christopher Lloyd - Taber
       Will Sampson - Chief Bromden
       Vincent Schiavelli - Frederickson
       Delos V. Smith - Scanlon
       Marya Small - Candy
       Louisa Moritz - Rose
       Mimi Sarkisian - Nurse Pilbow
       Nathan George - Attandant Washington
       Alonzo Brown, Jr. - Miller

• Director:

  Milos Forman

• Producer:

  Michael Douglas, Saul Zaentz

• Screenwriter:

  Lawrence Hauben

• Book Author:

  Ken Kesey

• Screenwriter:

  Bo Goldman

• Play Author:

  Dale Wasserman

• Cinematographer:

  Bill Butler, William A. Fraker, Haskell Wexler

• Composer (Music Score):

  Jack Nitzsche

• Editor:

  Richard Chew, Sheldon Kahn, Lynzee Klingman

• Production Designer:

  Paul Sylbert

• Art Director:

  Edwin O'Donovan

• Associate Producer:

  Martin Fink

• Costume Designer:

  Aggie Guerard Rodgers

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Mark Berger, Lawrence O. Jost

• Makeup:

  Fred Phillips

• First Assistant Director:

  Irby Smith

• Casting:

  Mike Fenton, Jane Feinberg

REVIEW:

• Milos Forman had proven his talent for astute social comedy in such earlier Czech films as Loves of a Blonde (1965) and The Firemen's Ball (1967), and his adept treatment of Cuckoo's Nest's metaphorically loaded conflict fulfilled the promise of an immigrant observer of American culture indicated in his first U.S. feature, Taking Off (1971). Shot on location at the Oregon State Hospital, and visually imprisoning the characters in tightly framed compositions, Haskell Wexler's and Bill Butler's cinematography underlines the psychological as well as physical confinement dogging the patients. The restrained, soft-spoken control of Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched contrasts with the thoughtful vigor of Jack Nicholson's McMurphy, further emphasizing both the need to revolt and the difficulty in doing so posed by such consistent, quiet, internalized power. For a culture battered by the chaotic rebellions of the late 1960s/early 1970s, and the serial failures of institutional authority culminating in Watergate and the fall of Saigon, Cuckoo's Nest's resigned yet hopeful portrayal of spirited non-conformity touched a nerve, turning it into one of the most popular films of 1975. The independently produced film became only the second film in history to sweep all five top Academy Awards, winning Best Picture for producers Saul Zaentz and 31-year-old Michael Douglas, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay for Lawrence Hauben's and Bo Goldman's adaptation of the Kesey novel. Shrewdly combining roustabout fervor and humor with an acknowledgement of society's different limits, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest effectively communicated the disillusionment of the waning counter-culture even as it optimistically asserted that one rebel could make a difference. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi