One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

In 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was the second of only 3 movies to win the top 5 Academy Awards Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress.  The first was It Happened One Night in 1934 and the next was The Silence of the Lambs in 1991.  So this is a very rare occurrence and shows the high acclaim that this movie had.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is about a criminal R.P. McMurphy who pretends to be insane to get out of jail and placed in a psychiatric hospital. He stirs up trouble in the hospital by starting a little gambling among the patients and smuggling in  alcohol and prostitutes.  At one point he orchestrates an escape by stealing a bus and taking the patients on a fishing trip.  All of his shenanigans brings the ire of the head nurse Ratched who uses increasing more drastic measures to control him. 

The movie is truely a great movie. I haven't seen the movie in a while and it still surpised me how good it was. Jack Nichlolson is brilliant as McMurphy and winning his first Academy Award. While Louise Fletcher seemed more of a supporting actress in the movie she was so good as the Nurse Ratched that she steals the spotlight.  The movie is full of future stars a young Danny Devito and a young Christopher Loyd are both in the movie.  The classic story based on the book of the same name is great. I love movies that make you think and this was one of those movies.  As nurse Ratched uses more extreme measures McMurphy becomes more crazy. At the end we are left wondering was McMuprhy insane at the begining or was he driven insane by his "therapy".  The movie deserved all the awards it got and is one of those movies that hasn't lost any impact over time.

Oscar Facts
The movie beat other well known and great movies like Jaws, Dog Day Afternoon and Nashville. 
For the third year in a row Jach Nicholson was nominated against Al Pacino for Best Actor and finally won. This was Nicholson 5th nomination and first win.
Over all One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was nominated for 9 awads and won 5. 
Losing out any nominations for best song is the now cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show

By the Numbers
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was ranked at 20 in 1997 and 33 in 2007 on AFI 100 Greatest Film list
Jaws was ranked 48 in 1997 and 56 in 2007