What's In A Name?

The film's unauthorized screenplay (by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman) was restructured and adapted from author Ken Kesey's 1962 popular, best-selling novel of the same name so that it would appeal to contemporary audiences.

The film's title was derived from a familiar, tongue-twisting Mother's Goose children's folk song (or nursery rhyme) called Vintery, Mintery, Cutery, Corn. The ones that fly east and west are diametrically opposed to each other and represent the two combatants in the film. The one that flies over the "cuckoo's nest" is the Chief:

Vintery, mintery, cutery, corn,
Apple seed and apple thorn;
Wire, briar, limber lock,
Three geese in a flock.
One flew east,
And one flew west,
And one flew over the cuckoo's nest.

What's a lobotomy, anyway?

A lobotomy is the surgical severance of nerve fibers connecting the frontal lobes of the brain to the thalamus, a severe procedure commonly practiced in the 1940's on the mentally disturbed.

Without McMurphy

One can't help but wonder what the Ward would be like without McMurphy. Things would surely remain dull and mindless, offering no growth or change for any of the patients. Nurse Ratched would continue to rule supreme and everyone would be content to do things the same as they always have, even if it means cheating at card games, taking medicine they don't need, and missing out on the all- important World Series ballgame.

McMurphy, too, couldn't have survived long without Nurse Ratched. He thrives on the chance to rebel against authority, and while he might not look like the good guy, his intentions are all about making change, showing the patients that they aren't any more insane than he is. Although it cost his life, it was a very worthwhile cause.