I may have read “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, once a long time ago in high school, but I had to give it a re-read, to see how different it is than the movie. Yes, both the movie and the book are very different. I find the book way better than the movie, of course. The movie version only took a few scenes from the book, but the rest of the film, they made it their own movie, pretty clearly. The movie left so much out and changed so much around.

A few examples below with a spoiler warning:

 

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– The only scenes that the movie took from the book, were McMurphy’s request to vote to watch the World Series. Billy Bibbit’s death was pretty much the same. Chief killing McMurphy by smothering him with the pillow to escape the ward was the same.

– The patients do go on that deep sea fishing trip in the boat, but it’s a little different than the movie version.

– In the book, the character Cheswick kills himself by drowning himself in the pool, but in the movie version, the character lives.

– McMurphy’s character is a little different than the movie version. In the book, McMurphy was described as a muscular red head. Jack Nicholson’s version is a little different, although the dialogue is pretty similar.

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“Cuckoo’s Nest” is one of my favorite movies ever made, but I have a feeling that a remake of the film is on the way so it can be more adapted from the book. Wouldn’t surprise me if Hollywood is planning a remake of this film. It is a great book though, I couldn’t put it down.

Kev