One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - Leadership and Change
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Famous for...
- Winning the top five Oscars – best film, director (Milos
Forman), actor (Jack Nicholson), actress (Louise Fletcher) and
screenplay.
- Its attack on dictatorial authority – Milos Forman lost his parents in the Nazi
concentration camps, and his native Czechoslovakia was invaded in 1968 by Russia (then the Soviet Union).
Based on...
American Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Wall Street star,
Michael Douglas bought the film rights and co-produced the film.
Set in...
1963 in a mental hospital in Oregon, USA.
Director
Milos Forman.
Oscars
Five – the top five Oscars including best film (see above).
Key characters
Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), mental patient (pictured right).
Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), head nurse of his ward.
The story
Rebellious and exuberant, Randle McMurphy (pictured right) fakes mental illness to escape
from a prison work farm after being convicted of statutory rape (sex with a 15-year-old girl).
He arrives at an Oregon mental hospital . The other patients in his ward include:
- Chief Bromden (a huge Native American believed to be deaf and mute).
- Martini (pictured right).
- Billy Bibbit (a nervous stammerer).
The ward is run by the cruel control freak, Nurse Ratched (pictured right below), whose rules
and authority are immediately challenged by McMurphy.
Dr. John Spivey:
- suspects that McMurphy is faking mental illness to miss prison work.
- vehemently defends Nurse Ratched.
She is astounded by the ward’s vote (organized by McMurphy) to watch the baseball World Series. She refuses
to let them watch it.
With Chief’s help, McMurphy:
- escapes and hijacks the hospital bus.
- picks up his girlfriend, Candy.
- takes his ward’s patients on a fishing trip (teaching the anxious Cheswick, pictured
right, to drive the boat and showing them how to fish).
At the hospital he also gets them playing basketball, and they beat the orderlies. Dr. Spivey
thinks that McMurphy is dangerous but Nurse Ratched persuades him to keep McMurphy in the hospital rather than
returning him to prison.
McMurphy later discovers that he can be detained in hospital beyond the 68 days left of his prison term.
Nurse Ratched loses control of the ward, despite:
- stopping the patients’ gambling.
- rationing their cigarettes.
McMurphy smashes her office window to get Cheswick’s cigarettes and, in the ensuing fight with an orderly,
he is defended by Chief.
In retaliation Nurse Ratched sends McMurphy, Cheswick and Chief for electric shock treatment (pictured right).
As they wait, McMurphy gives some chewing gum to Chief who thanks him, proving he can hear and
speak after all.
McMurphy acts like a zombie on his return from the treatment but erupts into his characteristic laughter to show
he’s back to normal.
But he:
- tells Chief he plans to escape.
- bribes the night orderly to let in his girlfriend, Candy, her friend,
Rose, and some alcohol for a Christmas party.
- takes the drunken orderly’s key.
- delays his escape by arranging for Billy Bibbit to sleep with Candy.
They all fall asleep and Nurse Ratched arrives the next morning to discover a naked Billy in bed with Candy
(pictured right together).
Billy has a mother fixation, so Nurse Ratched viciously mentions his mother’s name, filling him with shame. He
commits suicide just as McMurphy is trying to escape out of the window.
He angrily strangles Nurse Ratched, leaving her gasping for air as he is punched and dragged away by the
orderlies.
That night McMurphy really is a zombie after a lobotomy operation (removing the brain’s front
lobes), ordered by Nurse Ratched.
Chief kills him out of mercy and escapes.
Lessons for leadership and change
1. Autocracy is awful
Nurse Ratched is a disastrous dictator who ignores the needs of her patients.
She refuses to let them watch the baseball, and her viciousness destroys Billy Bibbit and McMurphy.
2. Empowerment energizes
McMurphy inspires the other patients to take responsibility for their own lives by:
- freeing them from Nurse Ratched’s tyranny.
- teaching them skills like fishing and basketball.
This gives them hope and more confidence to:
- become better human beings.
After fooling everyone that he's deaf and mute, Chief is so inspired that he:
- finally escapes to a new life.
3. Humanity is holy
McMurphy is a hero because he respects every patient’s right to be treated with dignity and
kindness.
He sacrifices his own life for others and gives up his girlfriend, Candy, to help Billy.
4. Conformity and conservatism kill change
McMurphy shows the others that Nurse Ratched’s rules are destroying them and should be changed.
She is prepared to do anything (however bad) to:
- keep control of the patients.
After discovering that Billy and Cheswick are in the hospital voluntarily, McMurphy tells them they should
leave, because they are no crazier than ‘normal’ people.
5. Great leadership inspires others
McMurphy’s charisma, vitality and determination give the
others the spirit to fight Nurse Ratched.
6. Power corrupts
Nurse Ratched abuses her power.
She is Machiavellian. In other words, she is prepared to do anything (even sacrifice
Billy) to keep her power.
7. Know your enemy
McMurphy fatally underestimates Nurse Ratched. He wrongly assumes that a return to jail is the
worst that can happen to him.
8. Teamwork is terrific
McMurphy gets the patients working as a team, united in their battle against Nurse Ratched. He
teaches them the importance of:
- having fun together (e.g. fishing and playing basketball).
Key quote on health
I must be crazy to be in a loony bin like this, McMurphy.
I don't like the idea of taking something, if I don't know what it is, McMurphy.
Key quote on empowerment
You're not a goddamn looney now, boy, you're a fisherman,
McMurphy (to Martini)
Key quote on management and
bureaucracy
Rules? Piss on your f--king rules,Miss Ratched!,
Cheswick.
Key quote on sex
Next woman takes me on’s going to light up like a pinball machine and pay off in silver dollars!,
McMurphy (on the effects of electric shock treatment)
Key quote on society
They just worked on him, the way they're working on you, Chief
(to McMurphy)
Two film websites to recommend
1. filmsite.org (run by Tim Dirks).
2. aveleyman.com (run by Tony Sullivan)
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