I have mixed feelings about One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, starring Jack Nicholson (as the rebellious R.P. McMurphy) and Louise Fletcher (as the awful Nurse Ratched). On the one hand, it is so obviously a great movie and the ending is just about as good as good filmmaking gets. But, some of my problems remain from when I read the book. I actually hated the book, because I felt there were 300 pages of lead-up for ten great pages at the end. Though the movie did a much better job at making every part interesting, I couldn't help but feel that halfway through, it got somewhat repetitive and nothing really happened. Now, I'm not the type of person who can't watch a movie unless its extremely plot driven. However, the movie didn't really even to try to say something until closer to the end, which left no plot and no message for the first section of the movie.
That being said, the acting was phenomenal. Jack Nicholson was of course great as somewhat crazy Randall McMurphy and Louise Fletcher was just a stone cold bitch. As the movie climbed towards the climax, it continued to become more enthralling and entertaining. And then that ending. The last thirty minutes or so were absolutely fantastic.
For the first hour or so, this felt to me like the first movie I had watched that didn't seem to deserve to be on the list. However, as a whole, the movie is really great and definitely does. You just have to be able to get over the slow beginning.
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