Now, here’s a classic. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest won Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Director for 1975. Most people probably remember it as the mental institution movie with Nurse Ratched, but revisiting the film shows a lot more subtlety.
We remember McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) standing up to Ratched (Louise Fletcher), but it’s deeper than that. She sets him up to fail, voting on schedule changes when only half the inmates are even coherent. McMurphy seems to be offering the inmates some much-needed real-world experience, but it’s actually harmful to some of them. Some of the inmates are being mistreated like him but others genuinely do need help and he’s interfering.
McMurphy chose the hospital over pirons, but it wasn’t explained to him that the hospital stay is indefinite. He likely would have toughed it out in jail for 64 days. ‘
Most of the film is in that hospital, and its sterile, institutional white walls permeate the 4K, with ‘70s grain still visible. It gets outside in the basketball court, where you can feel the winter. There’s a little green patch, but the trees are bare, dead leaves are on the ground and everyone is wearing coats. When they break out for a boat trip, the sun really warms the tone of the film in that sequence, only to return to the oppressive, sterile white.
You wouldn’t think Cuckoo’s Nest would have big sound effects, but they’ve updated some of the background sounds for surround systems. A helicopter flies over, and the river ambiance – seagulls, wind, etc. – comes through behind you.
Two new bonus features include Zoom conversations between Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Brad Dourif and producer Michael Douglas. They share over 20 minutes of memories. Completely Cuckoo is an 86 minute documentary from 1997.
Deleted scenes are 10 minutes of new dramatic gold. They are really good scenes, understandably cut for time, but contribute to the themes of the film and feature equally stellar performances.