One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: 1975

If you're looking for an uplifting film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is not a good option at all. Going into this film, I didn't really know much about the premise, and I'm not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. If I wasn't doing this blog, I don't know if I would have finished watching this one.

The film isn't bad; actually, it's quite understandable why it won Best Picture. The acting is absolutely outstanding, but it's not Jack Nicholson who carries this. He seems more or less like the jerk he plays in As Good As It Gets and any other role where he's required to be arrogant and defiant. While the plot follows Nicholson's character McMurphy, it's the supporting characters who captivated me. Danny DeVito plays Martini, a man who suffers from some mental illness that makes him seem like a small child. In this scene, Martini is playing Monopoly with another patient and wants to put a hotel on Boardwalk even though he's not playing by the rules:

DeVito is so convincing, as are the other actors who play the residents of this hospital. I found myself way more interested in their stories than McMurphy. Part of that was due to McMurphy being so despicable, but another part of that was due to how the actors convinced me that these men were real and were suffering.

I won't recommend this film to people unless they are looking for a film with impressive acting and a grim although realistic portrayal of a mental hospital of the 1970s. While the acting is phenomenal, the story is depressing, and the staff of the hospital is cruel and holier than thou as they "treat" the patients in a setting that seems more like a prison than a treatment center. 

Rocky: 1976

I had to go out of order again, but this time it was not intentional like I did for The Godfather movies. My local library's copy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was checked out, again, so I skipped that for now (while I wait for my hold) and decided to watch Rocky. The timing was rather fitting as I watched the film last night and attended a body combat class this morning. I must admit, as I was throwing punches this morning, I was imagining myself in the gym prepping like Rocky. My class, though, was only an hour long and had more mixed martial arts than just boxing. And I'm definitely not anywhere near ready to take on Apollo Creed.

Even though Rocky is a famous film (not as much for winning Best Picture but more as cultural event and influence), I had only ever seen clips of the film. I knew the basic premise, underdog boxer who defies the odds against world famous boxer, and of course I knew he yelled the name "Adrian!" But that was really it. I didn't expect to see a film with a more developed story.

Rocky works for Gazzo, who was familiar to me but I had to check IMDB to see why (he's the guy who interviews Travis in the opening scene of Taxi Driver). Gazzo seems to be a mobster or something else that involves illegal activity, and Rocky is in charge of making sure Gazzo is paid by those who owe him. Naturally, Rocky uses any means necessary to do so, but he turns out to be kinder than Gazzo wants. In one scene, Gazzo criticizes Rocky for not following orders:

This scene made Rocky likable. He's portrayed as being logical, pointing out that the guy can't work and thus can't earn money with broken thumbs. Yet I think the real reason is his humanity. Although he fights in the boxing ring, Rocky is gentle in the real world. It's made even more apparent by his love for his pet turtles and later his love for Adrian.

Some of the movie is very 1970s in the way Rocky takes care of his body even though he's an athlete. He smokes a lot, and after a fight, when he comes home, he has beer for dinner. When he begins his serious training, we see a shift in his routines, so perhaps this isn't as 1970s as I think, but to me it seems like athletes today are better about their health. Of course, I don't have that much experience with that, so I could be wrong.

I enjoyed Rocky for what it is: an inspirational story about overcoming the odds and meeting goals. The story has some holes (I don't get why Gazzo gives Rocky money and then he kind of disappears or why Rocky just lets Paulie treat Adrian the way he does), but maybe those are resolved in Rocky 2 (which didn't win Best Picture and I have no interest in watching...but if you watch it, let me know how it is).

The Sting: 1973

The Sting is a movie that I needed to finish before I had a strong opinion about it, and that opinion ended up being that it's a fantastic movie. Set in the 1930s and following con-man Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) as he joins Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman) to pull off the "big con", at several points I thought the story would go one direction but it veered off and surprised me at the end.

What I really didn't realize about The Sting is how comical it is, and that's probably due to how most of the Best Picture winners I've watched for this blog are serious with only some comic relief here and there. Some barely have even that. So it was kind of a relief when about half way through The Sting I realized that the movie was more funny than serious, but I didn't fully realize that until the very end. I won't spoil the ending for you; just trust me, you should watch it.

Redford is so famous that at first I had trouble seeing him as anyone than Robert Redford, but eventually I saw him more as Johnny Hooker. I don't think that speaks poorly of his acting; I just think that sometimes celebrities grow so huge in popularity (or notoriety in other cases) that is difficult for us as the audience to suspend belief and think of this person as someone else. I found it easier to believe Newman as Gondorff, so perhaps, just perhaps, he was the better actor in this movie. Or maybe I just haven't seen enough of his other movies. I have more familiarity with Newman as being the star on the bottle of ranch in my refrigerator than being a film star.

I know I'm not saying much about what the movie is about, but you'll thank me later for that. Put this one your list of films to watch, and watch it when you want a smart movie that will leave you cheerful.