RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
96 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:46

Fresh:44

Rotten:2

Average Rating:8.8/10

Consensus: The onscreen battle between Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher serves as a personal microcosm of the culture wars of the 1970s -- and testament to the director's vision that the film retains its power more than three decades later.

Runtime: 2 hrs 16 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Milos Foreman's ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, based on the novel by Ken Kesey and the play by Dale Wasserman, presents a biting and ultimately tragic satire about mental institutions and the... Milos Foreman's ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, based on the novel by Ken Kesey and the play by Dale Wasserman, presents a biting and ultimately tragic satire about mental institutions and the human spirit. A disturbing, witty, and electrifying drama, the film won the 1975 Academy Award for Best Picture. R.P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), a misbehaved con who shirks authority, finds himself in an asylum after faking insanity to get out of work detail in prison. The vivacious troublemaker soon finds himself in a worse kind of prison--one presided over by the repressed, terrifyingly quiet Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), whose set of rules and regulations are meant to suppress patients' psychotic outbursts, and their spirits. It's not long before McMurphy is reaching out to his new inmates, trying desperately to bring life to an otherwise dead atmosphere. To Ratched, however, Nicholson's free spirit is as dangerous as a schizophrenic impulse. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST is brilliantly acted by an ensemble that includes Brad Dourif, Christopher Lloyd, Vincent Schiavelli, and Danny DeVito. [More]

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield, Danny DeVito

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Will Sampson, Brad Dourif, Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco, William Duell, Nathan George, Paul Lambert, Sydney Lassick, Ted Markland, Louisa Moritz, Vincent Schiavelli, Mwako Cumbuka, Dean R. Brooks, Marya Small

Director: Milos Forman

Director: Milos Forman
Screenwriter: Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman
Story: Ken Kesey
Producer: Michael Douglas, Saul Zaentz
Composer: Jack Nitzsche

[See More Credits]

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Jan 8, 2008

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

The genius of the film is that you never feel you're being preached at, but rather being allowed a fly-on-the-wall view of a systematic crushing of humanity.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
08/05/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

One Flew over the Cuckoo 's Nest is an earnest attempt to make a serious film. But in the end the movie backs away from both the human reality and the cloudy but potent symbolism that Ken Kesey found in the asylum.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment 7 Comments
02/20/09
Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
11/04/08
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Jack Nicholson stars in an outstanding characterization of Ken Kesey's asylum anti-hero, McMurphy, and Milos Forman's direction of a superbly-cast film is equally meritorious.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
02/19/08
A.D. Murphy
A.D. Murphy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film remains as fresh, shocking, depressing and exhilarating as when it was released.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
02/19/08
Channel 4 Film

A terrific adaptation of Ken Kensey's 1962 novel (first done as play) that became timelier in the 1970s, positing a free-spirited anti-establishment hero (the excellent Jack Nicholson) against repressive authoritarianism, embodied by Fletcher's nurse.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
12/23/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Ken Kesey's grim satire of institutionalized authority, bracingly filmed by Milos Forman.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment 1 Comment
12/13/06
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Jack Nicholson plays McMurphy as if he were born to it, and the supporting cast provides fine, detailed performances.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
12/13/06
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A stirring indictment of how we determine who's sane and who's crazy.

Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | comment Comment
12/13/06
Wesley Lovell
Wesley Lovell
Oscar Guy

No review available.

comment Comment
05/23/06
Michael Ferraro
Michael Ferraro
Film Threat

Set in an insane asylum, the film involves the oppression of the individual, a struggle spearheaded by an ebullient Nicholson, turning in a star performance if ever there was one.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/11/06
Time Out

A rousing, rock-the-boat feel pulses throughout the film, overpowering its weaknesses.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
11/11/05
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

Without hesitation my No. 1 favorite of all time. At once a comedy and a tragedy, hilarious and heartbreaking, few films have ever achieved such a level of excellence.

comment Comment
10/09/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

awesome classic

comment Comment
09/07/05
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

No review available.

comment Comment
02/11/05
Greg Maki
Greg Maki
Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

Brilliant Nicholson turn...and Fletcher's nurse is one of film's best villains.

comment Comment
12/28/04
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan

excellent in every way

comment Comment
07/19/04
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

No review available.

comment Comment
06/04/04
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

Its aims are too simplistic about life and happiness.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
05/23/04
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Among the greatest films of all time.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
12/30/03
Dragan Antulov
Dragan Antulov
rec.arts.movies.reviews
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
all

Latest News for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

June 22, 2007: AFI Announces Top 100 Movies of All Time ... Again
Ten years ago the AFI gave us a list of the Top 100 American Films Ever Made -- and when that was done they churned out 15 other lists every few years. And then last night they... More...

July 11, 2006: Natalie Portman Will Do Naked in Next Film
This one's for all you Portman pervs out there -- the erstwhile Queen Amidala is set to go fully nude in her upcoming pic "Goya's Ghosts," in which she plays the... More...

January 03, 2006: Vincent Schiavelli Passes at 57
Character actor Vincent Schiavelli, the long-faced veteran of over 150 film and television appearances, died of lung cancer December 26 at home in Sicily. He was 57 years old. More...

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
15% 15% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

Total Recall

Total Recall

John Travolta's top reviewed movies

Disney Countdown

Disney Countdown

Look back on Disney's best animated movies!

RT's Gift Guide

RT's Gift Guide

Give the best movies, gear, and more!

What's Coming Out

What's Coming Out

Find movies for the holiday weekend!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • First Look (Sort Of) at New Nightmare's Freddy Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
13
  • First Look at Shrek Forever After Source: USA Today
34
  • Woody Harrelson Will Battle Zombies in 3-D Source: Moviehole
16
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
34
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
116
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
  • 6 Reasons 'Twilight' Is Doomed Source: The Wrap
64
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
176
  • Critics Consensus: New Moon Wanes
130
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
76
  • Total Recall: Star-Crossed Lovers
75
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
58
  • Critics Consensus: Flee From Ninja Assassin
37
  • Friday Harvest: New Moon, Avatar, and more!
32
  • WB offers DVD to Blu-ray Trade-In Program
26
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Angels & Demons, Funny People, and Superman
18
  • Five Favorite Films With Zombieland Director Ruben Fleischer
17
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
13
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
9
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
19
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
6
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
20
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at Rotten Tomatoes
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at IGN

Fresh Links

Featured
Wes Anderson on Fox
Wes Anderson on Fox External Link

The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Animated Oscar?
Animated Oscar? External Link

Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.

TIME's Holiday Movie Preview
TIME's Holiday Movie Preview External Link

Richard Corliss previews the season's best offerings and hottest tickets.

Scenic Routes
Scenic Routes External Link

The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo airs his beefs with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.