Picked this one up again the other day and put it in ye old iPod for viewing. Even though I always thought highly of the film, one forget all the great stars (or at least folks who would become stars) that are in this picture. And, ironic in the sense that the production went with a bunch of newcomers (except for Jack Nicholson) to keep costs down. Catch Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Scatman Cruthers, Vincent Schiavelli, and Brad Dourif in some of their earliest works.
It’s always been a challenge to decide where to put this movie – a dark comedy perhaps. There are definitely strong (but very subtle) comedic pieces here but they are often and easily overshadowed by the gravity of the subject and the travesty of the film’s conclusion. Travesty in terms of plot – not in the film’s technical execution.
And believe it or not, to his dying day Ken Kesey, author of the original book, claimed to have never seen the film. Well, if true he missed a good one.