Continuity mistake: You see an opening scene where McMurphy is arriving by automobile. When he gets out of the car it is a cloudy dark day. A few seconds later when he is being brought into the hospital with the guards we see them entering the front door together from down the hallway. Now you can see that it is a bright sunny day outside. (00:04:20)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Milos Forman
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco, William Redfield
Genres: Drama
After bringing Candy and one of her friends in for a late night party on the ward. Randle Patrick McMurphy plans to escape. However at the last second Billy Bibbit begs McMurphy for a date with Candy. McMurphy makes Candy sleep with Billy. While their waiting, all of the patients fall asleep and when they wake up Nurse Ratched and the black boys have discovered the mess and are going to punish everyone. Nurse Ratched finds Billy and Candy asleep in a closet and threatens Billy that he will tell his mother. Billy commits suicide by slitting his throat. McMurphy ignores his last chance to escape via an open window and attacks Nurse Ratched. He chokes her within inches of her life before she is taken away. The movie shifts to a few days later. Nurse Ratched is in a neck brace and can barely talk. This means that the patients can't be intimidated by her comments. Later that night, Chief Bromden sees Randle Patrick McMurphy being wheeled into the Ward. Knowing this is his chance to escape the Asylum like McMurphy always promised, he sneaks over to McMurphys cot and tells him hes ready to leave. Bromden notices McMurphy has a vacant stare on his face and suddenly realizes that McMurphy has been lobotomized. He gives him a long hug before stating "I'm not going to let you live like this." and smothering him to death with a pillow.Chief then heads into the tub room, picks up the Hydro-Therapy sink (he was the only one in the Ward big and strong enough to pick it up) and throws it through a window. He climbs out and runs into the night as the patients cheer for him. Chief Bromdens escape is related in the title because "one flew over the Cuckoos Nest"
More mistakes in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
McMurphy: What do you think you are, for Chrissake, crazy or somethin'? Well you're not! You're not! You're no crazier than the average asshole out walkin' around on the streets, and that's it.
Trivia: In the scene where Doctor Spivey is interviewing McMurphy, this whole scene is improvised. Spivey (Dr. Dean Brooks) is the ACTUAL doctor of the institute in real life, and was simply told to interview Jack Nicholson (McMurphy) as if he was a real patient. Nicholson had to improvise and get from the beginning of the scene to the end.
Question: I'm not from the USA so excuse the lack of knowledge, would pleading insanity really get you off a rape charge?
Answer: Insanity, legally, is defined as not knowing right from wrong. It can also be "temporary." It can only be diagnosed by a licensed psychiatrist, and it is rarely determined as such. Laws vary from state to state, but if a person was guilty of a serious crime and was found to be insane, they'd be confined to a mental hospital, either long-term, permanently, or, if they sufficiently improve, they'd be either be released after a certain amount of time or transferred to a general prison to complete their sentence or remain there indefinitely.
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Answer: 1) McMurphy didn't exactly "get off" by reason of insanity; he was still incarcerated for an indefinite amount of time, just in a psychiatric facility rather than a traditional prison. 2) He was originally sent to a normal prison for the statutory rape charge, but is then transferred to the mental hospital due to repeated acts of aggression that suggested some form of psychosis (or, as the doctor suspects, faking it to get out of hard labor). 3) No, it wouldn't. The insanity defense is a) very rare and b) very hard to prove, and it would be difficult to apply to rape, statutory or otherwise.