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Averi Beck

Mrs.Rutan

Ap Literature and Composition

5 May 2017

The Good, The Bad, And The Cuckoo

Every good bookworm would recognize the classic title of Cuckoo's Nest. It is a story that

revolves around the forging comradery of patients within a mental ward, and their attempt to take some of

the authoritarian control away from their more-than-intimidating head nurse. This quest is lead by the

arguably heroic McMurphy who brings this band of mental ward patients together. But now, film gurus

alike will remember the name, as the director Milos Forman has brought this famous work to life.

From the second McMurphy steps foot onto the screen, any aficionado of this films

book-predecessor could notice the uncanny unresemblance that Jack Nicholson has for the originally

envisioned McMurphy. Where is the red curly hair? How about the tall lean frame? Not here. But what

Nickleson lacks in physical resemblance, he makes up for in performance. He captures the chaotic

personality of McMurphy well, along with his genuine acceptance and friendship shared with each of the

other patients. Nicholson's McMurphy is the perfect balance of an outgoing leader mixed with a little

twist of crazy.

Now, you cant have a re-telling of Cuckoos Nest without everyones favorite underdog -- Chief

Bromden. Unlike McMurphy, Chiefs physical appearance matched the book's description beautifully.

His large stature, mixed with his isolating body language, made him a perfect fit for a character who is

larger than most, but feels smaller than all. Although the actor who portrays Chief hit a homerun with his

performance, the overall character that he was stuck portraying was much smaller than Ken Kesey

originally intended; Cuckoos Nest was written from the perspective of an observant Chief -- an outsider

looking in. The film version however, was portrayed on the silver screen from the perspective of
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McMurphy -- a mental patient in the ward who might be crazy but not that kind of crazy. Chiefs role

in the movie was disappointing, to say the least, and not even the actors stellar characterization of the

wallflower could rescue it.

Although the characters and role balances werent on point, the setting was 100% perfection.

What would an old mental ward be without dingy walls and yellow/white patient uniforms? The answer is

nothing. In the aspect of set design, this film plays a perfect homage to Keseys original vision -- at least

the vision that he seems to convey through his book. A sterile environment that has been tarnished

through the Big Nurse's control. Finally there is an aspect to this film that I can give an A+!

When it comes to plot structure, this film leaves me conflicted. Although the plot conveys the

same message of the book -- mental patients are people just like everyone else -- it goes about presenting

it in a different order. While some may argue that the order of events is trivial, as long as they end up in

the same place, others (myself included) would state the opposite. There are certain actions and events

written by Kesey that are symbolic, along with when in the story they occurred. For example, the

watching of the baseball game was meant to occur later in the story than it did in film. It is meant to

represent the first banding together of the patients to fight back against the big nurse. that is something

that doesn't happen overnight. It takes some work. The quick escalation of the plot was upsetting, to say

the least.

However, one of the most frustrating inconsistencies occurred on the fishing trip; Chief did not

attend. Stop the presses. In the book, if Chief wouldnt have gone on the trip, the reader would not have

been able to hear about the trip, because our narrator would have been absent. Now, in the film, it was

decided that even though Chief was one of the most integral characters on the trip in the first place, that

he could sit that one out. Disappointing.

As someone who has read the book version of this film, I feel as though it fell short in living up to

its larger than life expectations. But we have to remember that they were just that -- larger than life. It
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seems commonplace to say that the book was better than the movie, and in this case, the shoe fits. I would

recommend to anyone who is bent on watching this film to avoid the book at all costs. Because then, you

will be sorely disappointed.