Oscar Night revisited. Remembering One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

This year’s Oscar themed painting celebrates the 40^th anniversary of one of the greatest Oscar night hauls ever.  One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest won five of the Academy’s major categories in March 1976.  Only two other films, It Happened One Night in 1935 and Silence of the Lambs in 1992 were able to accomplish this feat.  In addition to winning Best Picture, “Cuckoo’s Nest” scored Oscars for the following:  Best Director, Milos Forman.  Best Actor, Jack Nicholson.  Best (Adapted) Screenplay, Laurence Hauben and Bo Goldman.  Best Actress: Louise Fletcher as the unforgettable protagonist – Nurse Ratched.  

One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest was adapted from Ken Kesey’s novel by the same title. Originally published in 1962 the story involves a rebellious man who fakes insanity to avoid prison. Once admitted to the mental hospital he begins to challenge the authority of Nurse Ratched by influencing his fellow patients which were all under her stern control.  Kesey’s book has long been regarded as a study of human behavior, institutional process and basic humanitarian conscience.

Kesey grew up in Springfield Oregon and attended the University of Oregon.  In fact “Cuckoo’s Nest” was filmed on location primarily at the Oregon State Mental Hospital in Salem in early 1975.  The famous fishing boat scene was shot at Depoe Bay on the Oregon coast for you fellow Oregonians in search of meaningless trivia.  More?  Another Kesey novel Sometimes a Great Notion, also became a motion picture.  It was a logging themed story with the Oregon coast serving as the backdrop - filmed in Lincoln County.  Photos of stars Paul Newman, Henry Fonda and Richard Jaeckel (mixing with the locals) still adorn historic Mo’s Annex on the wharf in Newport.

This painting is  20”x 24” mixed medium - colored pencil and acrylic.  Images superimposed include scenes from the film, Nurse Ratched and the hospital itself.  I included the images of urns of deceased patients discovered not long after the film was released.  To those not familiar with these urns please read this link:  http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/health/2014/07/05/longer-  forgotten/12205849/   

The haunting images of the water damaged copper canisters serve as a memorial and reinforce the spirit of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.