The Movie Forums Top 100 of All-Time Refresh: Countdown

It was the Marty McFly thing was confusing him I think.

It was the Marty McFly thing was confusing him I think.

Ugh, if The Dark Knight hitting Top 10 makes me roll my eyes, Interstellar making the list at all is bound to make em roll back down my throat and fall down my ass

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Like CR, during a previous rewatch via a Hall of Fame, I found myself pondering a new perspective regarding the titles that had been placed on Nurse Ratched and of McMurphy, back in the day, when this came out.
Nurse Ratched, from what I remember back then, had been labeled as The Best Villain of her time; and at that time, that is exactly as I saw her. And by reasoning, IF she is the villain, then McMurphy, the anti-establishment, fly-in-the-ointment MUST of been the hero.

But, are they?

When Nurse Ratched enters, I watched the orderlies and the nurses beneath her. Everyone was civil and courteous. There was no dread or worry like you would see when a "villain" first enters a movie.
Though I did see a kind of henchmen mentality as the three orderlies stood behind her the morning after the party as she calmly gave them their orders and there was a slight glimmer of pleasure as they went about them.
In the end, she is Head of Staff and her job is to keep everything and everyone at an even keel. Thereby keeping the patients calm and the chance for any kind of "incident" to remain at a minimum. A role that comes to mind of those primordial icons of Creation/Law.
And she excelled at it. Things were calm. Everyone followed decorum, and the rules, and everything ran smoothly.

And then, McMurphy arrives.



Now the sh1t gets crazy. Chaos seeps in and everything and everyone starts to get out of hand. And it spirals until the wheels truly do come off.
McMurphy even places a bet early on that he will cause so much upheaval that Nurse Ratched won't know up or down.
Talk about the Devil popping up and raising all kinds of hell.

A truly intriguing perspective in a new light on an old favorite.

Something else I paid more attention to, was the Chief, or rather, his own inner decision to begin to open up and take a chance on talking and moving about.
It's a fantastic and incredibly subtle build up that I've rarely paid close attention to. Since I was always caught up in the other patients and their interactions as well as the craft of the actors portraying them. All of which are just incredible to witness. Especially with McMurphy inciting them as he does.


And, in the end, when speaking of iconic scenes you can NOT skip over the Chief: "Mmm, Juicy Fruit,", the basketball scene where, after the first dunk of the basketball we see him striding off the court, and, of course, that very ending, which still causes me to catch my breath as it unfolds.

Some are struck dumb
Unwilling to shout
Who might cringe if you ask them
If they want to hang out

But others are social
Precipitating a gang
Who keep their eyes open
For slang while they sang

Some are struck dumb
Unwilling to shout
Who might cringe if you ask them
If they want to hang out

But others are social
Precipitating a gang
Who keep their eyes open
For slang while they sang

Yup, A Clockwork Orange, the other bit's giving me a Breakfast Club vibes

Some are struck dumb
Unwilling to shout
Who might cringe if you ask them
If they want to hang out

But others are social
Precipitating a gang
Who keep their eyes open
For slang while they sang

Ferris Bueller's Day Off and A Clockwork Orange?

1st part - Ferris Bueller
2nd part - Grease or A Clockwork Orange

Yup, A Clockwork Orange, the other bit's giving me a Breakfast Club vibes

No way Grease will get top 40.