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Surprising: How LITTLE Nicholson is Seen in Some Group Scenes

posted 5 years ago by ecarle (14979)
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SPOILERS for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

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One thing I vaguely remember about seeing Cuckoo's Nest when it came out in 1975 is something that came home to me more clearly on a recent viewing: how Jack Nicholson, while physically present in most scenes, allows for the camera to stay on the other mental institution inmates for long periods of time without the camera returning to him. Or, if it DOES return to him...he's not talking. Just watching the other inmates, reacting to them, thinking about them.

This was especially apparent given that Cuckoo's Nest was, I think, the next Nicholson picture right after Chinatown(The Passenger may have come in between, but it was not widely seen, a foreign art film.)

In Chinatown, Nicholson is pretty much on screen and the center of attention start to finish. While investigating on his own, he's often silent, but he also talks a lot, and in either case, he is the main dude on screen.

In Cuckoo's Nest...not so much. I would assume that this was a decision of director Milos Forman to which Nicholson agreed. On the other hand, word is that the two men fought over some things on Cuckoo's Nest, and a director CAN cut an actor out of scenes.

But not a superstar. Which Nicholson was (newly minted) when he made Cuckoo's Nest.

So I figure, again, that Nicholson and Forman agreed to let the other inmates get a lot of screen time with brief cutaways to Nicholson watching them.

This is nowhere more apparent than in the climax of the film, where Nurse Ratched confronts everybody about their party but zeroes in on poor Billy Bibbit for the most abuse. Watch how long it takes to even GET a shot of Nicholson in that scene. Of course, when he finally "engages" it is in rage and he attacks the Nurse after Bibbit's suicide.

This is not to say that Nicholson is not the lead of the picture. Or the leader of the men. Nicholson dominates the voting scene, the "watching the World Series scene," the fishing trip scene, the basketball scene, etc.

But he sure does give up the screen a lot of time in this movie. And never moreso than when he yields the screen totally to the Chief at the end.

[–] ProductionNow (1072) 5 years ago

No disrespect (Burt), but considering Burl Reynolds was foolish enough to pass this film up, Jack made out alright. But, look at Jack's reaction on youtube when he loses for The Last Detail (nearly every other film society awarded him). Meanwhile, no other major film-society awarded Louise Fletcher.(except GG, maybe); they mostly awarded one particular actress.

And we have Jane Fonda/Anne Bancroft passing on Cuckoo's Next because it's "sexist", blah, blah.

I dislike, by the way, when they shoot from the back of an actors head while they're talking; I care more about THEIR "reaction" when speaking, then the listener. Then in other cases, they will have the shot start with the camera on the actor speaking, and transition to the listener-actor towards the end (for a smooth edit) I would be very obsessive if I was an editor/director.