History YMMV / OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest

** Danny De Vito and Christopher Lloyd pretty much swapped their personalities from this film (childlike CloudCuckoolander and angry {{Jerkass}} respectively) for their roles in ''Series/{{Taxi}}''.

** Danny De Vito and Christopher Lloyd pretty much swapped their personalities from this film for their roles in ''Series/{{Taxi}}''.

* HilariousInHindsight: Big Nurse Ratched's name has taken on a funny quality now that "ratchet" has become teen slang used to describe anything with the quality of the ghetto about it.

** The African-American orderlies are treated a bit indelicately, and [=McMurphy=] even drops an N-Bomb. In the book, the orderlies are overtly rapists.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Of all the supporting cast that get focus, no one has an explicitly given mental illness that puts them there, putting it all up to speculation. Chief seems to have some form of schizophrenia with his visions of the mists.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Ratched is just a nurse trying to do her job as well as she knows how; [=McMurphy=], a racist and statutory rapist, insists on causing mayhem on her ward.

*** Harding may not be gay but just a feminine man who was constantly berated and put down most of his life for his effeminate nature. In adulthood his self-esteem was nonexistent and he married an attractive but horribly abusive woman to feel and be perceived as more masculine, ironically making him less secure and more submissive. With Homosexuality being thought as a mental illness, sexuality being labeled as black or white and Masculinity be the status quo in the 1960 and the term Metrosexual not in American lexicon till mid 1990 it is very possible. One possible interpretation of it is that it's a symbol of how we have been so socially condition to act and behave in certain manners that we will go through abuse, life risking situations and even death to fit in others people designated roles for us.

* CompleteMonster: While initially appearing as a caring figure, [[BattleaxeNurse Nurse Ratched]] is anything but. She would remorselessly and cruelly manipulate anyone to keep her control over the virtually harmless mental patients all while [[VillainWithGoodPublicity maintaining her motherly image to her superiors and the outsiders to the mental institution]]. She then [[MoralEventHorizon goes over the line]] when she convinces Billy that she'll tell his mother all about his "bad behavior," knowing full well what effect that would have on his mental health; he commits suicide. Nurse Ratched was also one of the employees who gave [=McMurphy=], the film's protagonist, a lobotomy; [[MercyKill he was later put out of his misery by Bromden]]. Ratched was so monstrously evil, Louise Fletcher (the actress who played her) herself was reported as being uncomfortable with watching the film because of her character's presence in it.

* MoralEventHorizon: Nurse Ratched might just be a mean and misguided nurse trying to do her job, right up until the point where she [[spoiler:threatens to tell Billy's mother about his "bad behavior", knowing full well the trauma that would cause him, which leads to his suicide.]]
** In the book, she has been on the wrong end of the moral event horizon for many years, as she is seen to submit her charges to torture for crossing her (the scene with the germophobe after the fishing trip, the forced anal administration of medication to a patient merely because he questioned what the pills were for), the electroshock 'therapy', and she has also lobotomized patients as punishment for behavior she dislikes. Nurse Ratched is utterly ''[[CompleteMonster monstrous]]'' in the book.

* CompleteMonster: While initially appearing as a caring figure, [[BattleaxeNurse Nurse Ratched]] is anything but. She would remorselessly and cruelly manipulate anyone to keep her control over the virtually harmless mental patients all while [[VillainWithGoodPublicity maintaining her motherly image to her superiors and the outsiders to the mental institution]]. She then [[MoralEventHorizon goes over the line]] when she convinces Billy that she'll tell his mother all about his "bad behavior," knowing full well what effect that would have on his mental health; he commits suicide. Nurse Ratched was also one of the employees who gave [=McMurphy=], the film's protagonist, a lobotomy; [[MercyKill he was later put out of his misery by Bromden]]. Ratched was so monstrously evil, Louise Fletcher (the actress who played her)herself was reported as being uncomfortable with watching the film because of her character's presence in it.

* CompleteMonster: While initially appearing as a caring figure, [[BattleaxeNurse Nurse Ratched]] is anything but. She would remorselessly and cruelly manipulate anyone to keep her control over the virtually harmless mental patients all while [[VillainWithGoodPublicity maintaining her motherly image to her superiors and the outsiders to the mental institution]]. She then [[MoralEventHorizon goes over the line]] when she convinces Billy that she'll tell his mother all about his "bad behavior," knowing full well what effect that would have on his mental health; he commits suicide. Nurse Ratched was also one of the employees who gave [=McMurphy=], the film's protagonist, a lobotomy; [[MercyKill he was later put out of his misery by Bromden]]. Ratched was so monstrously evil, her actress herself had reported being uncomfortable with watching the film because of her character's presence in it.

* CompleteMonster: While initially appearing as a caring figure, [[BattleaxeNurse Nurse Ratched]] is anything but. She would remorselessly and cruelly manipulate anyone to keep her control over the virtually harmless mental patients all while [[VillainWithGoodPublicity maintaining her motherly image to her superiors and the outsiders to the mental institution]]. She then [[MoralEventHorizon goes over the line]] when she convinces Billy that she'll tell his mother all about his "bad behavior, " knowing full well what effect that would have on his mental health; he commits suicide. Nurse Ratched was also one of the employees who gave McMurphy, the film's protagonist, a lobotomy; [[MercyKill he was later put out of his misery by Bromden]]. Ratched was so monstrously evil, her actress herself had reported being uncomfortable with watching the film because of her character's presence in it.

* CompleteMonster: While initially appearing as a caring figure, [BattleaxeNurse Nurse Ratched]] is anything but. She would remorselessly and cruelly manipulate anyone to keep her control over the virtually harmless mental patients all while [[VillainWithGoodPublicity maintaining her motherly image to her superiors and the outsiders to the mental institution]]. She then [[MoralEventHorizon goes over the line]] when she convinces Billy that she'll tell his mother all about his "bad behavior, " knowing full well what effect that would have on his mental health; he commits suicide. Nurse Ratched was also one of the employees who gave McMurphy, the film's protagonist, a lobotomy; [[MercyKill he was later put out of his misery by Bromden]]. Ratched was so monstrously evil, her actress herself had reported being uncomfortable with watching the film because of her character's presence in it.

* CompleteMonster: Nurse Ratched. See MoralEventHorizon below. She's actually so cruel that the actress that played her ''can't bear to watch the movie because of her, specifically.''

* HarsherInHindsight: [=McMurphy's=] original crime was statutory rape. A few years later, Jack Nicholson's house was where the whole RomanPolanski fiasco started.

* MoralEventHorizon: Nurse Ratched might just be a mean and misguided nurse trying to do her job, right up until the point where she [[spoiler:tells Billy's mother about his "bad behavior", knowing full well the trauma that would cause him, which leads to his suicide.]]

*** Harding may not be gay but just a feminine man who was constantly berated and put down most of his life for his effeminate nature. In adulthood his self-esteem was nonexistent and he married an attractive but horribly abusive woman to feel and be perceived as more masculine, ironically making him less secure and more submissive. With Homosexuality being thought as a mental illness, sexuality being labeled as black or white and Masculinity be the status quo in the 1960 and the term Metrosexual not in American lexicon till mid 1990 it is very possible. This troper personally believes that it is symbolism that we have been so social condition to act and behave in certain manners that we will go through abuse, life risking situations and even death to fit in others people designated roles for us.

* DeadpanSnarker: Harding. He surpasses deadpan so well that it's hard to tell that's what he's doing at first, but after the fishing trip it becomes much more clear.

** In the book, she has been on the wrong end of the moral event horizon for many years, as she is seen to submit her charges to torture for crossing her (the scene with the germophobe after the fishing trip, the forced anal administration of medication to a patient merely because he questioned what the pills were for), the electroshock 'therapy'), and she has also lobotomized patients as punishment for behavior she dislikes. Nurse Ratched is utterly ''[[CompleteMonster monstrous]]'' in the book.

** And of course, [=McMurphy=] himself, who is diagnosed in the play with a pathological need to flout authority and be the center of attention... Which seems about right.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The tribal instrumental during the final scene.

* CompleteMonster: Nurse Ratched. See MoralEventHorizon below.

* FoeYay: Nurse Ratched and [=McMurphy=]. Even their dialogue is full of innuendo (particularly on [=McMurphy's=] end).

** In the book, she has been on the wrong end of the moral event horizon for many years, as she is seen to submit her charges to torture for crossing her (the scene with the germophobe after the fishing trip, the forced anal administration of medication to a patient merely because he questioned what the pills were for), the electroshock 'therapy'), and she has also lobotomized patients as punishment for behavior she dislikes. Nurse Ratched is utterly ''[[CompleteMonster monstrous]]'' in the book.

* ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs: 'NineteenEightyFour in rehab'.
* ValuesDissonance:

* MoralEventHorizon: Nurse Ratched might just be a mean and misguided nurse trying to do her job, right up until the point where she[[spoiler: tells Billy's mother about his "bad behavior," knowing full well the trauma that would cause him, which leads to his suicide.]]

* DeadpanSnarker: Harding. He surpasses deadpan so well that it's hard to tell that's what he's doing at first, but after the fishing trip it becomes much more clear.

* HarsherInHindsight: [=McMurphy's=] original crime was statutory rape. A few years later, Jack Nicholson's house was used by his friend Roman Polanski to drug and rape a teenager.

** [=McMurphy's=] charge of statutory rape--in the time the book was written, it wasn't as serious a crime. McMurphy also alleges she told him she was eighteen, and he wasn't found guilty of it, but he does brag about it. The book and movie asks you to see him as an admirable anti-authority figure.