Search - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Not For Children Movie Release: 1975 DVD Release: 12/17/1997 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV,Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 14 mins Studio: Warner Home Video Members Wishing: 23 Genres: Comedy Drama, Tragi-comedy, Psychological Drama See Also: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest [Special Edition], One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest [Repackaged], One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest [Blu-ray] [Digi Book Packaging]

With an insane asylum standing in for everyday society, Milos Forman's 1975 film adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel is a comically sharp indictment of the Establishment urge to conform. Playing crazy to avoid prison work detail, manic free spirit Randle P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) is sent to the state mental hospital for evaluation. There he encounters a motley crew of mostly voluntary inmates, including cowed mama's boy Billy (Brad Dourif) and silent Native American Chief Bromden (Will Sampson), presided over by the icy Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). Ratched and McMurphy recognize that each is the other's worst enemy: an authority figure who equates sanity with correct behavior, and a misfit who is charismatic enough to dismantle the system simply by living as he pleases. McMurphy proceeds to instigate group insurrections large and small, ranging from a restorative basketball game to an unfettered afternoon boat trip and a tragic after-hours party with hookers and booze. Nurse Ratched, however, has the machinery of power on her side to ensure that McMurphy will not defeat her. Still, McMurphy's message to live free or die is ultimately not lost on one inmate, revealing that escape is still possible even from the most oppressive conditions. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Jack Nicholson - Randle Patrick McMurphy
Louise Fletcher - Nurse Mildred Ratched
William Redfield - Harding
Dean R. Brooks - Dr. John Spivey
Scatman Crothers - Turkle Crothers

The DVD for this classic film is strictly bare bones. The story of a con man who serves out his sentence in a mental institution was novelist Ken Kesey's wake up call to the world of psychiatric medicine, and the film delivered its message with wit, drama, and complex human emotion. The DVD, however, merely offers language options in English or French, and subtitle options in English, French or Spanish. At least the two-sided DVD gives the viewer the choice of letterbox or widescreen. The package includes a smattering of production note cards, but they relay no more information than the back of a video tape box. The transfer is poorly done, clearly from a used film print, and while the English audio is Dolby (not 5:1), the French track is mono only. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide