One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. 1975 Fantasy Films (released to DVD by Warner Bros.)
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield, Brad Dourif, Will Sampson, Danny DeVito, Scatman Crothers, Christopher Lloyd
Director: Milos Forman
Buy One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (two-disc special edition) at Amazon.

A great movie that won the "Big Five" Academy Awards in 1975.

Nicholson is R.P. McMurphy, a repeat offender transferred from a prison work farm to a mental institution due to his apparently deranged behavior. This could very well be a ruse fabricated by McMurphy because he believes that he'll now serve out the rest of his sentence in relative comfort. His ward in the institution is run by Nurse Ratched (Fletcher), who has cowed the other patients (all in by their choice) into a dejected submission. It is only natural that McMurphy and Nurse Ratched would be at odds, which is a battle the nurse has no intention of losing.

McMurphy also bonds with Billy (Dourif), a suicidal, stuttering and helpless patient who Ratched has humiliated, and the enormous "Chief" Bromden (Sampson), a voluntary mute believed to be deaf by the other patients but respected for his size. It turns out the Chief is also putting on a ruse to combat the hospital establishment, instead of engaging in McMurphy's open defiance.

Highly, highly recommended.