One Flew Over The
Cuckoo’s Nest (1975/Blu-ray/Warner Home Video)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: B+ Film: A+
There are
very few films that I have seen as many times as Milos Forman’s brilliant 1975
film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,
which not only remains as one of my all-time favorite films, but over time has
only grown more poignant and has sealed itself as a genuine classic and
masterpiece of cinema. The film, even
30+ years later, still captivates new audiences and now finds its way to the
world of High Definition via Blu-ray!
The film
begins as we are quickly introduced to R.P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson in perhaps
his finest and most memorable role) who is being checked in at a state mental
hospital after causing some disruption at the local prison, he’s just a petty
crook who can’t seem to fit into this world on either side of the bars. He is sent for some ‘testing’ to see if he
might actually be clinically insane, but it isn’t too long before McMurphy is
disrupting the routine life of his fellow patience and under the disciplinary
style of Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher in her Academy Award Winning
role). What ensues next is perhaps one
of the more interesting studies ever caught on celluloid as McMurphy makes
attempts to adjust to his new surroundings it only seems that his attempt to
fake insanity in order to stay out of doing hard time is only causing him to
crack, which in turn makes him ‘insane’.
This paradox only makes the film stronger as we see the decline of
McMurphy and yet there are several scenes that are noteworthy.
One scene
in particular that is often overlooked is when McMurphy escapes from the
courtyard, which one would think that he would high tail it for freedom, but
instead he hijacks a bus and gathers up the other patience and takes them on a
fishing trip, in which we actually see them ‘enjoying’ life. There is a great moment on the dock when they
are about to set sail and one of the dockworkers asks them what they think they
are doing. Without a blink McMurphy introduces
the gentlemen to his ‘Doctor’ friends and uses the word “Doctor” before each of
their names. The man somewhat believes
him and off they sail. It’s a scene that
is often overlooked, but McMurphy’s biggest incentive with his new friends is
the fact that, unlike the nurses, he treats them like humans, not drugged up
zombies. He realizes that while they
might have certain ‘mental’ conditions that they still enjoy life and things
like fishing. Their trip comes to an end
where the police and hospital staff are anxiously awaiting their return to grab
them up and send them back to the ward.
While
this scene is pivotal in many respects it is only countered a bit later when,
after many attempts, McMurphy begins to realize that these ‘friends’ of his actually
ARE clinically insane or actually DO have mental illnesses, unlike him. Not only that, but he then finds out that
most of them are there by their own powers and have the ability to leave at any
time. This baffles McMurphy who would do
anything to escape, yet at the same time he has had several chances to break
free and continues to stay, in particular a scene towards the end when he
decides to throw a huge party and get everyone drunk, plus he gets some lady
friends for some entertainment as well. Nicholson
plays the part so well and truly embodies the enigmatic mind of R.P. McMurphy
who remains one of the most trivial characters ever created.
To this
day the film is one of the most relentless in it’s approach and of course it’s
controversial and often-talked-about and/or debated ending, which I think
serves incredibly well and has the guts to be bold, daring, and yet intelligent
in it’s entire execution, which harkens back to Forman’s earlier films like Fireman’s Ball and one of my other
favorite films and perhaps one of his other notable works Loves of a Blonde.
Not only
would this film win 5 Major Academy Awards, but it would also give director
Milos Forman a formidable career in Hollywood after making successful films in
his native land of Czechoslovakia. It
would also catapult actors Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd and give
opportunities to the other cast members as well, if nothing else it would seal
their performance in this film as one of the greatest films ever made. Several years ago Warner issued the film in a
deluxe 2-disc special edition on DVD, this Blu-ray release is essentially the
same extras as that release, but offers superior picture and sound, which has
some positives and negatives.
As far as
the extras are concerned there is a terrific commentary track by Forman along
with producers Saul Zaentz and Michael Douglas, which is very interesting and
covers a lot of interesting ground with the film, its origins and many other
facets that will appeal to fans. This is
a great beginning, but the ‘making of’ is another terrific feature that again
will please fans, there are also some additional scenes and the theatrical
trailer included. These are all in
standard definition.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 anamorphically enhanced High Definition transfer is significantly
sharper, more refined, and looks more film-like than the previous DVD releases
of the film, however it’s also a bit soft and lacks some of the depth that
other Blu-ray releases have looked, however there are some great aspects to
this transfer too. The first is that in
direct comparison to the DVD it’s obvious that the transfer here is cleaner
with whites that are truer and not as dull and near-yellow as the case was with
the DVD and its limitations. Since the
film has a very neutral (think sterile) color palette there are few moments of
vibrant colors, which is intentional and the Blu-ray gives a sense of depth
that the DVD was never able to handle.
Skin tones are far richer and more accurate as well, which again gives
the film a greater sense of realism and helps transport the viewer in. Black levels are more pronounced, but there
are a few moments of noise and that might require a heavier restoration to
improve upon.
As far as
the sound goes the film was given a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the previous DVD
release, which was never sonically challenging and ‘got the job done’, but was
nothing great. I was hoping that some of
the muffled-ness that was evident on the DVD would have been cleaned up with a
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix, but instead we get a simply Dolby 5.1 on this Blu-ray as
well, which is NOT acceptable in my mind since the packaging boldly advertises
“High Definition Picture, High Definition Sound” on the front. Even an uncompressed PCM 5.1 would have been
sufficient, but I guess not, at least not this time around. The result is mixed as the overall audio
lacks definition and the pronounced effect that a good uncompressed sound mix
is capable of, especially with a film like this that has lots of dialogue and
moments where there needs to be discernable dialogue happening with the verbal
jousting that happens, but the Dolby Digital just can’t keep up and the Blu-ray
suffers because of that. A real shame.
Rounding
off this Blu-ray release (and making up for the poor sound) is a terrific
mini-booklet that serves as the packaging for the film that contains some great
write-ups on the film and some great photos as well, which will serve as a good
appeasement until a improved transfer arrives with better sound, but all-in-all
these are picky details and the film (because it’s so good) doesn’t fail even
with some minor performance issues.
- Nate Goss