One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

The second picture in Hollywood history to sweep the top five Oscar awards hasn't lost any of its power and makes a worthy addition to the Blu-ray library of film classics. Jack Nicholson won his first Oscar for his performance as Randle P. McMurphy, a wild man of a petty crook who fakes insanity to avoid jail and lands in a mental hospital ward controlled with icy domination by Nurse Ratched (Oscar winner Louise Fletcher). His antics make him something of a counterculture rebel, not so much defying authority as deflating it, but in this ward he's something of a misfit king, leading the subjugated souls to moments of freedom. Milos Forman directs, brought on board by producer Michael Douglas (who optioned Ken Kesey's novel after seeing his own father, Kirk Douglas, in a stage adaptation), and Haskell Wexler's cinematography gives the film a documentary vividness. Brad Dourif, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Vincent Schiavelli and Will Sampson co-star.

"This is a movie about a society where I just lived 20 years of my life," described director Forman in the accompanying 47-minute film "The Making of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," a 1997 documentary that features interviews with every major living creative participant but one (Mr. Nicholson is conspicuously absent) as it reaches back to the original stage production commissioned by Kirk Douglas (who created the role of McMurphy onstage) and follows it back through the rocky road to film production. (It has not been remastered for hi-def). Also features commentary by director Forman, producers Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz, and eight deleted scenes. (All of these supplements were previously released on the special edition DVD.) Instead of the standard plastic Blu-ray case, Warner has released this in a small hardback booklet with production notes and stills. The disc tray is on the inside back cover.