“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” December 25, 2021 (1975), DVD. Oscars for director Milos Foreman, Best Movie, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Actress (Louise Fletcher), and best adapted screenplay. My book group re-read this one and we all liked both Ken Kesey’s 1962 book and the film despite their stylistic datedness. They are of their time and also speak to the future. The film is similar to the book in many ways but is its own creature altering sequence and content in important ways; still, both work. While set in the 1960s, it’s very much ‘70s filmmaking. The book is told through “Chief” Bromden’s (Will Sampson) thoughts and feelings. While some are mentioned, the movie is a narrative view with the focus on R.P.McMurphy (Nicholson) and his battle with Big Nurse Ratched and the mental institution that is our repressive society. Excellent supporting work throughout the cast, including newcomers like Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, and Brad Dourif. Scatman Crouthers has a wonderful, smallish role as an orderly. The film is very male and Freudian. Fletcher is a nightmare figure of castrating power, control, and repression. I personally prefer the book with its development of Bromden’s interior world of racist repression and cultural annihilation, “the fog,” and “the combine,” but Nicholson, Fletcher, Sampson, et.al., make this a true ‘70s film well worth revisiting. It’s vastly superior to Forman’s version of “Ragtime” I reviewed here recently.