One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest film screenings

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has probably the best 'crazy Jack Nicholson' performance. Sure, he lost his cool spectacularly in A Few Good Men, played the cackling Joker to near-perfection in the 1989 Batman, and went utterly, unforgettably mad in The Shining. But his Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the perfect expression of what makes Nicholson's state of mind so captivating: Nicholson makes madness seem like the perfect response to an insane world.



One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the ideal film for Nicholson because it takes place in a mental institution. Although not mentally ill, McMurphy hopes to serve out a prison sentence there rather than doing hard labour. While incarcerated, however, he finds himself irrepressibly drawn to defy the cruel Nurse Ratched on behalf of the sweet and beleaguered patients. Based on Ken Kesey's 1960s counter-culture novel, the film is the ultimate celebration of individualism and a critique of institutional authority.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is having most of its screenings at the BFI Southbank, but there are a smattering of showings at other cinemas all over London – you should definitely be able to find a nearby cinema that's showing this fabulous movie. Book tickets here.