A Gripping Film of Life in an Insane Asylum! [CONTAINS SPOILERS] Meet Randall P. McMurphy! He's been arrested 5 times for assault and was sent from the work farm to an institution. The doctors were to study him for a while to determine if he really is crazy. Randall relaxes because he believes a stay in the loony bin beats a stretch in prison. He stopped relaxing when he met the head nurse: Mildred Ratched, the coldest, meanest, soft-spoken nurse in the world! Other inmates included Mr. Harding, a surly man who believes his wife is cheating on him., Mr. Taber, another surly man who's always at Harding's throat, Billy Bibble, a stuttering youth, Mr. Martini, who never played by the rules, Mr. Bancini, a tall man who was always tired, and Chief, a deaf and dumb Native American. He never made any communication with anybody. Other patients included Mr. Scanlon, Jim Sefelt, and Charlie Cheswick.Randall taught them gambling and they used cigarettes instead of money. In group, Nurse Ratched had patients speak, even when they didn't want to. Ratched's lackies included gruff and surly orderlies Warren and Washington, the world series was coming on TV and Randall wanted to see it, but in order to do that, the entire schedule would have to be changed and, according to Nurse Ratched, that would be a major complication for both the patients and the staff. Randall decreed they should vote on it, but he only got nine votes out of a majority of 19. Later that night, he made a bet with everybody that he could lift the water fountain, throw it through the window and escape. He was on. But no matter how hard Randall tried, he could not lift the water fountain. One afternoon, he tried to teach Chief how to play basketball. He even used Chief to help him get over the fence and hopped aboard a bus that would take patients to daily activities. As soon as Martini, Harding, Taber, Cheswick, Bancini, Scanlon, and Billy were on board, Randall drove off with them. He picked up a girlfriend and they all "rented" a boat and went fishing. Randall taught them how to do it and when they docked back into port, Randall was in a heap of trouble. One afternoon, Cheswick flipped out because he couldn't have his cigarettes. Randall got them for him, then a fight broke out between he and the orderlies. It was Chief to the rescue, but then he, Randall, and Cheswick were all sent to get electric shock treatment, that night, Randall bribed Orderly Turkle to let them have a party with alcohol and females. It went great until Randall involved the patients, then it all went south. Randall has Billy and his girl, Candy, get it on and when Nurse Ratched found out, she was furious! She threatened to tell Billy's mother. Billy went into the doctor's office and killed himself! Randall was fed up. He tried to strangle Nurse Ratched to death but that no good Washington stopped him. Later on, Randall returned to the ward. He was given a lobotomy so he was a vegetable! Chief decided to put Randall out of it all so he stuffed a pillow over his face, snuffing the life out of him, then he lifted the water fountain out of the ground, threw it through the window and escaped! Like I said, it's a gripping film, but it's funny too. Jack Nicholson was good. Louise Fletcher was good. Scatman Crothers was good. Everybody was good! Nicholson and Fletcher got Academy Awards®! I'm sorry to say that Scatman Crothers and Will Sampson (Chief) are no longer with us. Crothers died in 1986 and Sampson got sick and died in 1987. Crothers and Nicholson later went on to do Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, or, Stanley Kubrick Presents Stephen King's The Shining. Sampson was also in Poltergeist II: The Other Side. Also a good movie. This film marked the debuts of Brad Dourif (Chucky), Christopher Lloyd, and Danny DeVito! A movie entitled The Dream Team closely resembles this movie. Christopher Lloyd is in it too and Michael Keaton resembles Jack Nicholson! I recommend that too. So if you haven't seen it, see One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest! Read the book too! -