Reaction to Film

There were some minor differences in the film from the book, however, i felt I got a much better idea of what the characters were like in the film than from reading the book. I became more interested in the film than the book, and that does not happen often! Cheswick stood out much more in the film to me. His character portrayed in the film is the kind of character that drives me absolutely crazy with his questioning and complaining.
At the same time, however, the film completely left out Cheswick's death. I always get ticked off when films do not follow the book!
I can see why Ken Kesey would not be pleased with this film. First off, the film was not narrated in Chief's point of view, like the book. So many beautiful descriptions were depicted in the book that there's no way the film would be able to pick them up. One is the description of the hospital, and Big Nurse being a work of machinery. "So she really lets herself go and her painted smile twists, stretches to an open snarl, and she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor, so big I can smell the machinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big a load"(11). Another metaphor not mentioned in the film was the fog that hides chief from the rest of the patients and Big Nurse, the fog made him invisible. The fog was a main element, and would be good to put in the film.
In the book, I understood how the title got it's name through the nursery rhyme Chief learned from his grandmother. I think that anyone who watched the movie without reading the book would probably question why the title is about a cuckoo's nest. I know I would be curious! That would have been good to mention in the movie as well.

Post #1 McMurphy vs. Big Nurse

From the moment McMurphy first entered the hospital, it was obvious that he was not like the other patients. McMurphy is definitely trouble for this environment, what with his gabling habits, and especially in the beginning because he knows nothing about Big Nurse and her routine.
Big Nurse is like cold iron. In the book, Chief describes Big Nurse in the beginning when she is entering the hospital. Chief knew it was her by the slow and quiet way she turned the key, and he resembles her bag to a toolbox. "...there's no compact or lipstick or woman stuff, she's got that bag full of a thousand parts she aims to use in her duties today-wheels and gears, cogs polished to a hard glitter, tiny pills that gleam like porcelain, needles, forceps, watchmakers pliers, rolls of copper wire..."(10). Big Nurse runs the hospital like a machine when it comes to her routine. Everyone in the hospital must follow Big Nurse's routine. If anything falls out of routine, the machine that Big Nurse built up falls apart; people get hurt and upset. Eventually the routine goes back to fully functioning.
To some patients Big Nurse's routine is very helpful. The routine can give the patients a safe feeling. They know that if they stick with the routine, then they can go on with their lives without any troubles. These patients do not have to make their own decisions, or be afraid of the unexpected. Every day is the same thing from morning to evening.
McMurphy may be trouble, but he is full of life, which is something that the other patients are severely lacking. For the patients who stay at the hospital voluntarily could afford to get a little nudge from McMurphy. He can show them what the world is like outside of the hospital. So in a way, McMurphy can help some patients more than Big Nurse can.
This will be an interesting battle! Big Nurse is tough and has had power in the hospital for years, but McMurphy is fully dedicated to shutting Big Nurse's machine down. "'Bug her till she comes apart at those neat little seams, and shows, just one time, she ain't so unbeatable as you think'"(69). I hope McMurphy can shut Big Nurse down enough to get the voluntary patients out of the hospital.