americanicons092013pod.mp3

American Icons: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

<p><strong>This is the story of America's fight against authority. </strong></p><div class="embedded-image"><img class="mcePuppyImage" src="https://media2.wnyc.org/i/620/370/l/80/1/Cuckoos_Nest_web_text.png" alt="One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Studio 360 American Icons" /></div>
<p>Ken Kesey had worked in a mental hospital, but his first novel was really a parable of what happens when you stand up to the Man --- a counterculture fable that doesn't end well. Despite his far-reaching influence, Kesey was shut out by filmmakers who turned the story into an Oscar-sweeping phenomenon.<em> <a title="buy this book at Amazon" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451163966/wnyc-s360-20/">Cuckoo's Nest</a></em> changed how many people thought about mental illness and institutions. Sherman Alexie debunks the myth of the silent Indian; we visit Oregon State Hospital, where the director played himself on screen; a psychiatrist explains how the movie gave mental hospitals a bad name, with tragic consequences; and actress Louise Fletcher takes us into the mind of one of the most fearsome movie villains, the sweet-faced Nurse Ratched. "She doesn't see her behavior as it really is. Who does? Who sees that they're really evil?"</p>
<p><em>Passages from the audiobook narrated by Ken Kesey were provided courtesy of HighBridge Audio.</em></p>
<p><strong>Bonus Track: Kurt Andersen's full interview with Louise Fletcher</strong></p>
<p>Hear Kurt's entire conversation with Fletcher, including why "no studio in town would touch this movie," and how she was cast in the role for which she won an Oscar.</p>
<p></p><div class="inline_audioplayer_wrapper inline_audioplayer_embedded_wrapper"><iframe frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="54" width="100%" src="https://www.wnyc.org/widgets/ondemand_player/wnyc/#file=https://audio.wnyc.org/americanicons/americanicons092013webbonus.mp3&amp;share=1"></iframe></div> 
<p><strong>Behind-the-sce</strong><strong>nes of the film</strong></p>
<div class="embedded-image"><img class="mcePuppyImage" src="https://media2.wnyc.org/i/800/528/c/80/1/Ratched_.jpg" alt="Nurse Ratched" />
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<div class="image-caption">Louise Fletcher plays Nurse Ratched, a "perversion of feminity" according to scholar Leslie Horst who sees the character as a warning about "the danger of women who have power." Fletcher won an Oscar</div>
<div class="image-credit">( 1975 The Saul Zaentz Company, All Rights Reserved.)</div>
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<p></p>
<div class="embedded-image"><img class="mcePuppyImage" src="https://media2.wnyc.org/i/800/542/c/80/1/Miloswithpipe.jpg" alt="Jack Nicholson and another actor play a scene while director Milos Forman watches. " />
<div class="image-metadata">
<div class="image-caption">Jack Nicholson and another actor play a scene while director Milos Forman watches.</div>
<div class="image-credit">( 1975 The Saul Zaentz Company, All Rights Reserved.)</div>
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<p></p>
<div class="embedded-image"><img class="mcePuppyImage" src="https://media2.wnyc.org/i/800/580/c/80/1/00267566.jpg" alt="Jack Nicholson as R.P. McMurphy, a new patient in the Oregon State Mental Hospital." />
<div class="image-metadata">
<div class="image-caption">Jack Nicholson as R.P. McMurphy, a new patient in the Oregon State Mental Hospital.</div>
<div class="image-credit">( 1975 The Saul Zaentz Company, All Rights Reserved.)</div>
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<p></p>
<div class="embedded-image"><img class="mcePuppyImage" src="https://media2.wnyc.org/i/800/529/c/80/1/Chief_Breakout.jpg" alt="" />
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<div class="image-caption">The novel is told through the eyes of Chief Bromden. When "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was adapted into a film, the Chief becomes a silent secondary character (portrayed here by Will Sampson).</div>
<div class="image-credit">( 1975 The Saul Zaentz Company, All Rights Reserved.)</div>
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<p></p>
<div class="embedded-image"><img class="mcePuppyImage" src="https://media2.wnyc.org/i/800/542/c/80/1/Milos_NurseRatched.jpg" alt="Louise Fletcher on the set of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with the cast and director Milos Forman (at right). " />
<div class="image-metadata">
<div class="image-caption">Louise Fletcher on the set of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with the cast and director Milos Forman (at right).</div>
<div class="image-credit">( 1975 The Saul Zaentz Company, All Rights Reserved.)</div>
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<p></p>
<div class="embedded-image"><img class="mcePuppyImage" src="https://media2.wnyc.org/i/800/529/c/80/1/Chief_Breakout.jpg" alt="" />
<div class="image-metadata">
<div class="image-caption">The novel is told through the eyes of Chief Bromden. When "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was adapted into a film, the Chief becomes a silent secondary character (portrayed here by Will Sampson).</div>
<div class="image-credit">( 1975 The Saul Zaentz Company, All Rights Reserved.)</div>
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<p></p>

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