Later Kirk Douglas spent years trying to become a film adaptation of Ken Kesey's I Flew Over the Cuckoo'southward Nest off the ground, his son Michael Douglas finally managed to get the cameras rolling. By this fourth dimension, his father had grown out of the lead role of Randle McMurphy — a prisoner who's transferred to a psychiatric hospital to avert hard labor — and then the part went to Jack Nicholson instead.

Opposite Nicholson was Louise Fletcher in the role of the villainous Nurse Ratched, who rules the hospital with an iron fist and will practise any is necessary to break her patients' spirits. McMurphy is a perfect protagonist, and Ratched is a perfect villain.

10 McMurphy: He Embodies The Anti-Establishment Tone Of '70s Cinema

As the New Hollywood movement took over and studios were giving rebellious young filmmakers with a contemptuous vision a gamble to shine, '70s movie theater became defined by an anti-institution tone.

This tone can be seen in Taxi Driver, Muddy Harry, American Graffiti — all the decade's biggest hits. McMurphy'southward crusade against Nurse Ratched's rule in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest embodies the anti-establishment tone of '70s movies.

9 Ratched: Louise Fletcher Fully Commits To Her Evil

Plain, Louise Fletcher is a lovely person in existent life, just she committed so wholeheartedly to the evil of Nurse Ratched that the balance of the cast were reluctant to speak to her between takes because her ice-cold performance terrified them.

Fletcher went on to receive a much-deserved Oscar for her operation. It's tough to state an Academy Accolade as a villain, simply in this example, information technology was a no-brainer.

8 McMurphy: Jack Nicholson's Performance Is Deeply Homo

At the beginning of I Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, McMurphy is introduced equally a regular guy who pled insanity to get an easier judgement and finds himself in a much worse position than having to do hard labor under the rule of Nurse Ratched. Jack Nicholson'southward performance in the role is deeply man.

Unsurprisingly, Nicholson joined Fletcher in winning an Oscar for his work on Cuckoo's Nest. The moving picture was too awarded All-time Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

7 Ratched: She Believes She's Doing What's Best For Her Patients

When the office of Nurse Ratched came across Louise Fletcher's desk, she tried to find i thing she could admire about the character to exist able to embody her on-screen.

This proved to exist difficult, plainly, but she decided that Ratched believes she's doing what'south best for her patients. She played into this angle and so she could requite this monstrous character some shred of humanity.

half dozen McMurphy: He Uses Sense of humour To Rebel Against Potency

Similar Paul Newman in Absurd Mitt Luke, McMurphy uses humour to rebel against the sadistic authority keeping everybody down in I Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Ratched is unable to truly break McMurphy's spirit until she has him lobotomized, which causes him to finally lose his sense of sense of humour.

5 Ratched: She'southward Hauntingly Cold-Hearted

The most shocking thing about Nurse Ratched is her coldness. Where McMurphy is warm and kind and wants his fellow patients to have a good time, Ratched'due south chapters for inhumanity is staggering.

Louise Fletcher's portrayal of Ratched's coldness is and then effective that she just needs a stern expect to be every bit terrifying as knife-wielding villain Michael Myers or lightsaber-wielding villain Darth Vader.

iv McMurphy: He Sticks Up For The Little Guy

The most admirable affair about McMurphy is that he sticks upward for the little guy. All his swain patients are powerless against Nurse Ratched's dominion, so he exercises his own power on their behalf.

McMurphy initially gets himself transferred to Ratched's psychiatric facility to avoid hard labor, but he ends up becoming a vocalization for the voiceless.

3 Ratched: She'southward A Tyrant

Although nurse is her chore title, Mildred Ratched is something much more than sinister than a nurse: she'due south a tyrant. She runs her psychiatric hospital similar she'southward a dictator, ruling with an iron fist.

From her use of lobotomies equally a weapon to show a point to her many passive-aggressive insults designed to break her patients' spirits, Nurse Ratched always acts like an autocrat.

2 McMurphy: His Death Scene Is One Of The Almost Heartbreaking In Movie History

McMurphy'south death scene at the end of One Flew Over the Cuckoo'south Nest is ane of the virtually heartbreaking in film history. When Main arrives to escape with him, he finds lobotomy scars on his head — he's too belatedly. Then, he puts him out of his misery by smothering him with a pillow before throwing the hydrotherapy fountain through the window and making a run for it.

In the book Psychiatry and the Movie house, Glen O. Gabbard and Krin Gabbard boldly described McMurphy as "a Christ effigy for whom shock therapy is the crown of thorns and lobotomy the cantankerous."

1 Ratched: She's A Stand up-In For Every Corrupt Authority Figure

In the decades since Ane Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest hit theaters, Nurse Ratched has become a widely used metaphor for any corrupt authority figure. Her psychiatric ward is a stand up-in for whatsoever oppressive bureaucracy.

When the movie came along in the mid-'70s, America was still reeling from the Watergate scandal and struggling to trust the authorities. Cuckoo'southward Nest tapped into that zeitgeist brilliantly.

Adjacent: Misery: Why Paul Is A Perfect Protagonist (& Annie Is A Perfect Villain)

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