Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Play trailer Poster for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest R In Theaters Sun Jul 13 2h 13m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
93% Tomatometer 129 Reviews 96% Popcornmeter 250,000+ Ratings
When Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) gets transferred for evaluation from a prison farm to a mental institution, he assumes it will be a less restrictive environment. But the martinet Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) runs the psychiatric ward with an iron fist, keeping her patients cowed through abuse, medication and sessions of electroconvulsive therapy. The battle of wills between the rebellious McMurphy and the inflexible Ratched soon affects all the ward's patients.
Coming Soon In Theaters Sun Jul 13 Reserve Tickets
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher are worthy adversaries in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with Miloš Forman's more grounded and morally ambiguous approach to Ken Kesey's surrealistic novel yielding a film of outsized power.

Read Critics Reviews

Cast & Crew

View All

Milos Forman

Director

Jack Nicholson

Randle Patrick McMurphy

Louise Fletcher

Nurse Mildred Ratched

Brad Dourif

Billy Bibbit

William Redfield

Harding

Michael Berryman

Ellis, tall bald patient

Critics Reviews

View All (129)
Frank Rich New York Post While Milos Forman has made a frightfully mindless film, he's made it damn well -- cloaking Kesey's irresponsible pap in trappings of immediacy and legitimacy that aren't easily stripped away. Feb 25, 2025 Full Review Jack Kroll Newsweek Most of the characters are thinned out... But Forman directs his players superbly, and Louise Fletcher as the nurse turns impassive coolness into a destructive force. Feb 25, 2025 Full Review Molly Haskell Village Voice As for Nicholson, he is nothing short of miraculous. Feb 25, 2025 Full Review Mark Jackson Epoch Times “Cuckoo's Nest” showcases the apex of Nicholson's star power in a film classic that criticizes authoritarianism. Rated: 5/5 Jul 5, 2025 Full Review Ted Mahar Oregonian Yes, it's a good movie, a very good one; no, it's not precisely Ken Kesey's novel... It's almost as if the saga of Randle P. McMurphy were a historical incident reported novelistically by Kesey and filmically by Forman, each in a distinctive style. Feb 25, 2025 Full Review Tom Milne Monthly Film Bulletin About midway through the film, two things happen, transforming a facile tract about the repressive society into an honest polemic. Feb 25, 2025 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (1000+)
Jens B Finally watched the origin story of Frank from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". But seriously, what a cast! Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/01/25 Full Review Chief B Not one boring moment!! High level film making Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/12/25 Full Review Stephen C Success in 2 hours and 13 minutes. Happy 50th anniversary to the movie based on the novel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/06/25 Full Review 21 - Priyan B A masterpiece. Rating: 10/10 Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/15/25 Full Review Kyle C As a standalone movie, it’s quite good, elevated by Jack Nicholson’s timeless interpretation and the cruel foil of Louise Fletcher (of whom I’m a huge fan; DS9, anyone?). It takes a different, much more focused approach than the book does, which works well in a film context. The camaraderie and brotherhood between “the boys” is really fun to watch and leads to the best emotional moments toward the end. But more than anything, my favorite aspect of this movie is its comedic timing. Everybody on the cast hits the nail on the head every single time and it’s hilarious. Not to say that this is just a comedy; there’s obviously a lot of depth and dark tones present throughout. But it’s very entertaining! I wish the Chief had gotten a little more depth (without the narration present in the book, it’s a lot harder to give him a backstory) and there are a handful of moments that haven’t aged super well, but overall, I really enjoyed this movie. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/06/25 Full Review Audience Member One of the greatest movie... teaches so much... made me sad Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/05/25 Full Review Read all reviews
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
View All

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) View more photos

More Like This

View All
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden 40% 54% I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Watchlist Coffy 83% 75% Coffy Watchlist A Woman Under the Influence 86% 91% A Woman Under the Influence Watchlist TRAILER for A Woman Under the Influence Taxi Driver 89% 93% Taxi Driver Watchlist TRAILER for Taxi Driver Equus 70% 77% Equus Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis When Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) gets transferred for evaluation from a prison farm to a mental institution, he assumes it will be a less restrictive environment. But the martinet Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) runs the psychiatric ward with an iron fist, keeping her patients cowed through abuse, medication and sessions of electroconvulsive therapy. The battle of wills between the rebellious McMurphy and the inflexible Ratched soon affects all the ward's patients.
Director
Milos Forman
Producer
Michael Douglas, Saul Zaentz
Screenwriter
Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman
Distributor
United Artists
Production Co
Fantasy Films
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 19, 1975, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Jul 13, 2025
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 30, 2016
Runtime
2h 13m
Sound Mix
Mono
Aspect Ratio
35mm, Flat (1.85:1)
Most Popular at Home Now