#7 One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Starring Jack Nicholson, Cuckoo's Nest is a jarring look inside a 1960's mental institution. Nicholson's McMurphy is a petty thug who pretends ( I think) to be a little nutty to serve out the rest of his sentence in a mental hospital. When he is evaluators can't decide if he should stay in the hospital or return to the work farm, it is nemesis Nurse Ratched, played brilliantly by Louise Fletcher, who decides that he should be committed to the hospital.

This film, is just an poignant and important today as it was 35 years ago. The same truths shown in this film can be applied to the current state of the PIC, or Prison Industrial Complex. I won't get all preachy, but it has a powerful message about how we treat those who often don't have the ability to stand up for themselves.

One of the reason's I chose this movie is because years ago I remembered being fascinated that Michael Douglas won an Oscar this film as producer when it one Best Motion Picture. Knowing Douglas' involvement in the film, I thought it interesting that this was also one of the early breaks for long time Douglas pal Danny DeVito, who plays Martini. I also enjoyed the fact that one of the patients was Christopher Lloyd, who also played an escaped mental patient in the Michael Keaton film Dream Team.

This is probably not a date night movie, although a couple of the nurses were kinda cute and you get a really young Brad Douriff and Jack Nicholson before he got old. This is one of those movies you should watch in some sort of sociology class in college and wonder why you never saw it before. Actually, I'm wondering why I haven't seen it before now. Oh, probably because it came out in 1975 it's not one of those movies TBS plays when they aren't playing The Fifth Element 34 times a week.

I probably won't see it again anytime soon, and it's too bad the language is what it is, or I'd say it'd would be a must see for my students. So the bottom line is...yeah, watch it sometime. Just don't eat a box of Mike and Ike's while watching it, there is enough in the movie to make your stomach queesy without the additional help. Now to find the Alka-Seltzers.