One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Three films have won all five of the major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay.) Those movies are It Happened One Night, Silence of the Lambs and the subject of today's post, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Directed by Milos Forman and starring Jack Nicholson, in what would become a career defining role, it has become a modern day classic and permanent resident of many greatest all-time movies lists (#33 on AFI's Top 100).

Once again, this is a movie that I had never watched straight through beginning to end. I have to admit, while I knew about the film's terrific reputation, I've never been a huge Jack Nicholson fan. There have been movies that I liked him in but I have also thought that he tends to do a fair amount of mugging for the camera.  Alas, I have to say, I thought he was spot on in this role. While his character, R.P. McMurphy, seems like your typical Nicholson role  (an irreverent, smart mouthed trouble maker) he is able to take it to greater depths here. His Oscar was welled deserved.

This is in fact an actor's movie. All of the actors who play McMurphy's fellow psych ward patients are great. It was also fun to  see a couple of familiar faces (Danny De Vito and Christopher Lloyd) before they were familiar faces. The best performance from this group though was put in by Brad Dourif in his debut role as Bobby Bibbit. Watching his response during his confrontation with Nurse Ratched during the movie's climatic scene is heartbreaking and he doesn't miss a single note in conveying Billy's devastation.

Speaking of Nurse Ratched, this was the character that I found myself thinking about the most. Played by Louise Fletcher, the very name of this character has become synonymous with petty, anal retentive authority figures drunk on their own power and self importance. I have come across a lot of these types. They come in the form of school administrators (or even yard duty aides), office managers, security guards, youth sports coaches or even fast food shift supervisors. They are individuals who take the small bit of authority they have been entrusted with and build it in their own minds to heights never imagined by anyone else around them. They value rules over reason and processes over people. Like Nurse Ratched, they often become masters of manipulation in order to get their own way.

When McMurphy enters Ratched's world he starts out as a mere disruption that she will be able to quell. Only later does she come to see him as an actual threat to her carefully ordered fiefdom. Even when her defense of that realm has tragic results her only real response is to this is relief that victory was assured and order has been resumed.

This is a movie that I am glad I watched. I also believe that further viewings will reveal even more layers. I have to say, I'm only 3% through this trip but so far I have been enjoying the "view".

All About Eve

Last night I watched All About Eve. For the second time in my little project , I watched a classic which I had never seen before ( I’m not sounding like much of movie buff am I?).  This is the sort of movie that you don’t see much anymore in the mainstream. By that I mean it’s a grown up film that relies on sharp dialogue and layered characters to build its tension rather than violence or  sex. Don’t get me wrong, both of those elements can be very useful in telling a story but let’s be honest, often times they are a crutch that is employed to try to make a dull story stand up on its own two feet.

In the movie Eve Harrington (Ann Baxter) is a seemingly star struck, naive young woman who works her way into the life of Broadway star Margo Channing ( Bette Davis). Like the proverbial camel’s nose, she begins to wield more and more influence as she manipulates Margo’s best friend Karen (Celeste Holm), Margo’s fiancé and play director Bill (Gary Merrill) and Karen’s playwright husband Lloyd (Hugh Marlowe) in order to achieve her ambitions. All of this is observed by theater critic Addison DeWitt (George Sanders) who sees all this as an opportunity to further his own agenda.

The movie is worth watching just to see Bette Davis’ performance. Her ability to present a strong and seemingly egotistical character suddenly forced to come to terms with her weaknesses and insecurities is exceptional. She allows the audience to sympathize with her without falling into melodrama and without losing the diva at the heart of her character.

The other stand out performance (at least for me) is that of George Sanders. While he is certainly never likable he is a lot of fun to watch and Sanders carried it off with surly abandon.

Neither of these performances would have been possible without the film’s outstanding script. It contains Davis’ most famous line; “Fasten your seatbelts, its going to be a bumpy night” but that is simply one example from a movie that is full of great dialogue.

Again, as I approached this movie I read some reviews and did a little background. What I read was overwhelmingly positive. Again, I was not disappointed.