One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

In this podcast episode of Film Surgery, hosts Nick Wright and Sanjay Kumar review One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the 1975 film starring Jack Nicholson. The story, set in a psychiatric hospital, focuses on the character Randle P. McMurphy (Nicholson), who pretends to be mentally ill to avoid prison but clashes with the institution’s authority, especially Nurse Ratched. The hosts praise Nicholson's performance, discussing his unique portrayal of McMurphy, who doesn’t exhibit symptoms like other patients. They highlight comedic scenes, such as McMurphy’s antics with the bus and boat fishing scene, illustrating his rebellious, charismatic influence on fellow patients. The hosts admire Louise Fletcher's performance as Nurse Ratched, noting her ability to remain calm and subtly menacing, which made her a memorable antagonist.

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What is Film Surgery?

In the podcast "Film Surgery," hosts Nick Wright and Sanjay Arman Kumar II dive into movies and TV shows centered around medical dramas and healthcare settings. They bring their unique perspectives, with Nick's keen eye for storytelling and visual details and Sanjay's deep interest in medical science, dissecting everything from the most iconic hospital-based shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "House M.D." to blockbuster films like "The Doctor" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Nick Wright: 00:05

Hey, hey. Welcome to Film Surgery where we dissect deep into the amazing world of cinema. My name is Nick Wright.

Sanjay Kumar II: 00:11

And I'm Sanjay Kumar the second. I'm a neuroscience student here at the University of Oregon. Welcome to our first episode.

Nick Wright: 00:18

Alright. So today, we will be talking about One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Trail: 00:25

That don't make a bit of sense to me. Do you think there's anything wrong with your mind, really? Not a thing, doc. Excuse me, miss.

Trail: 00:35

Do you think it might be possible to turn that music down so maybe a couple of the boys could talk? Your hand is staining my window. God almighty, she's got you guys coming and going. A little change never hurt. A little variety.

Trail: 00:51

Oh, Jesus. Come on. You're not gonna say that now. You're not gonna say that now. You're gonna pull that hen house shit now when the boat that you've just voted, it was 10 to 9.

Trail: 01:03

Want that television set turned on right now. I don't think he's overly psychotic. Mom, I want something.

Trail: 01:12

I think he's dangerous. Jesus.

Trail: 01:18

I mean, you guys Jesus. I mean, you guys do nothing but complain about how you can't stand it in this place here and

Trail: 01:22

then you haven't got

Trail: 01:22

the guts just to walk out. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Sanjay Kumar II: 01:25

It's a movie from 1975, stars Jack Nicholson and takes place completely in a psychiatric hospital. We focus on just kind of the behaviors of people who are dealing with, psychological problems, psychosis. Our main protagonist is Jack Nicholson. His name is, Randall Mc Murphy, where we just primarily focus on him, his behaviors, and how he actually adjusts to this different kind of society that he's, living in.

Nick Wright: 01:54

Yeah. And it's a really interesting movie, I think, because like the way that Jack Nicholson portrays that character is different than I've ever seen. Like, he goes deep into that character and I don't know. It's really strange.

Sanjay Kumar II: 02:10

Yeah. I totally agree. He's such a phenomenal actor and especially at that time he was one of the most iconic, you know, he has such amazing performances as well like, you know, The Shining and movies like The Departed as well, and just I just really admire his acting style just like it's very similar with a lot of movies but he just brings out so much character

Nick Wright: 02:32

Yeah.

Sanjay Kumar II: 02:32

And so much kind of enthusiasm, facial expressions, all of that.

Nick Wright: 02:36

Yeah. Do you have any favorite scenes? Because I know while I was watching I I I laughed a little bit at some of them.

Sanjay Kumar II: 02:44

Yeah. A lot of the scenes are very comedic. Yeah. With him especially. Yeah.

Sanjay Kumar II: 02:48

But, I think yeah. Definitely one of my favorite scenes has before it's the beginning of the movie, they're in the doctor's office and he's just kind of

Sanjay Kumar II: 02:51

it's almost like doctor's office and he's just kind of it's almost like he's the doctor is trying to find some

Sanjay Kumar II: 02:56

justification for like why are you in this,

Sanjay Kumar II: 02:56

asylum. And a really cool fact is how that the doctor is a real doctor that they casted for the movie and took place, the actual hospital took place somewhere in Oregon. That's really

Nick Wright: 03:13

cool. Yeah.

Nick Wright: 03:14

That's awesome. I did not know that.

Sanjay Kumar II: 03:16

Yeah.

Nick Wright: 03:18

I I don't know. There was a scene where he he arrives at the at the hospital and he kind of he kind of, like, at the end of the movie, we find out that he's not actually insane and he doesn't actually deserve to be there, but in the beginning he kind of gives it away. Like when you're watching it, the way he like acts and the way he like walks around the hospital is not like anybody else who's who is there.

Sanjay Kumar II: 03:52

Yeah.

Nick Wright: 03:52

He's not like freaking out as often. He's not like doing random acts and I just I thought that was really interesting.

Sanjay Kumar II: 03:59

Yeah, exactly. I I can it's kind of like a very early foreshadowing that they do and especially there's a lot of scenes where he's like socializing and communicating with the other patients in the hospital. 1 of the actors is Danny DeVito Yeah. I believe and, and Christopher Lloyd from Back to the Future.

Nick Wright: 04:15

Oh, really?

Sanjay Kumar II: 04:15

He's one of them. Yeah. Wow. Who who plays Doc Brown and yeah. You can really just compare how like he acts more like a person who is not in a psychiatric hospital, but is really like not meant to be there almost.

Nick Wright: 04:28

Yeah.

Sanjay Kumar II: 04:28

And yeah, it's interesting once you actually find that out towards the end is when you when you realize that we might have to watch that again and find out, oh, he is different.

Nick Wright: 04:36

Yeah. And it makes me wonder like while I was watching it I was like why why did he choose to go there? Like why does he choose to be insane if he's not actually? Mhmm. And I I don't know.

Nick Wright: 04:47

It was really yeah kind of like tricked my brain a little bit.

Sanjay Kumar II: 04:51

Yeah. It's very trippy. It really brings out different questions.

Nick Wright: 04:53

Yeah. Because I I wanted to like believe that he was living there. Like he I wanted to believe he was who he said he was, but I like couldn't I didn't know what to think, honestly.

Sanjay Kumar II: 05:04

Exactly. And there was a a clip because we're talking about this. There's a clip, one of the doctors says that you're not crazy. You're not crazy. What are you doing here? And that's again a lot of the foreshadowing that we're talking about and Jack Nicholson is like doing different actions. You want me to do this? Do you want me to do this? If you want me to appear crazy. Yeah. So even like the people who are the staff who are working at the hospital are suspicious of him.

Nick Wright: 05:27

Yeah. I wonder, honestly, I wonder how how that was making the movie. Like how he decided to do those actions. Yeah. And because that would be a cool cool little like sneak peek.

Sanjay Kumar II: 05:40

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Maybe a lot of them was like improv or something like not expected.

Nick Wright: 05:45

Exactly. Another one that I just like kind of chuckled at was he there's a scene where he steals a bus when they all break out or not break out when they all get out of the hospital to go somewhere. Jack Nicholson's character, he takes the school bus that they're gonna drive and he drives it to a dock to a little pier and he then takes a boat, a fishing boat, out onto the lake and teaches them all how to fish. And there's a scene where you can see one of the One of the patients. One of the patients. Yeah. Thank you. He gets off the boat to untie the untie the boat from the dock, and they start pulling away, and he jumps and tries to grab on and is just hanging off the boat as they drive away. And I laughed so hard at that because I'm like I feel like that was not meant to be in there.

Sanjay Kumar II: 06:41

Yeah.

Nick Wright: 06:41

But if it was, props to the director because that's really funny.

Sanjay Kumar II: 06:45

Yeah. If all of that was just improv and they just kept recording that scene. Yeah.

Nick Wright: 06:49

Oh my gosh.

Sanjay Kumar II: 06:49

It'd be so funny.

Nick Wright: 06:50

That would be really funny.

Sanjay Kumar II: 06:51

I think, another thing we can point out is the acting of a nurse ratchet. Yeah. That actress, they phenomenal job.

Nick Wright: 06:57

She was incredible.

Sanjay Kumar II: 06:58

Amazing. Yeah. Because she was they they kind of a she was kind of a strict nurse right Yeah.

Nick Wright: 07:03

In the movie and Yeah. Find at the end is when we like, you truly just, like, really dislike her.

Nick Wright: 07:08

Oh my gosh. Yeah. And the way when she's talking all those patients, the way she stayed calm the entire time Yeah. Like, if I was in her place, I could never do that. Yeah.

Nick Wright: 07:19

I would be freaking out.

Sanjay Kumar II: 07:20

Very, very passive aggressive. She is where she's calm, but It's incredible. Super, like, unlikable.

Nick Wright: 07:26

It's incredible.

Sanjay Kumar II: 07:27

Well, it was an awesome movie.

Nick Wright: 07:28

It was it was really great. Yeah. Thank you guys for listening and we'll be back next week for the theory of everything.

Sanjay Kumar II: 07:35

Yes. Thank you guys so much for listening