...because it portrayed the psychiatrists and other staff in the institution as evil. The film was set back in the 50s when treatment of the mentally ill was still primitive and punitive. But nothing will convince hard core Scilons that things have changed radically since then. They still think that lobotomies and ECT are rampant. I didn't like the movie because it demonized the mentally ill, criminally insane or not. And aside from that, it was far from being one of Martin Scorsese's best, imo.

Thought the same thing when I saw the trailer. In fact bits of what i saw reminded me of the Scientology film The Story of Book One. Ugh.

Thanks for the info.

I won't waste my time. I'll wait for it to come on cable.

They also liked or at least were willing to pretend to like BE...and the writing style of Lcon....

I didn't think it was Scientological at all.

I was disappointed because I figured out the end without even trying. About 10 minutes into the movie.

It was a good movie, but its probably very tough to direct without the clues showing up early on (clues to the end).

Or maybe it was my OT V perceptions coming back to me!!!

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Also I did not see it as anti-psych at all. Is that what this is about? Seemed pretty pro-psych to me.

In late 1975, after completing my nuke training in Idaho (Navy) I went to Groton CT. The sub I had orders for was out to sea at the time, so I had a few weeks of easy duty at the squadron HQ in port, lots of time off ... it was December anyways, people were looking forward to Christmas and two weeks of stand down ... that is, show up for your duty day and you are otherwise off, not bad in 4 section duty. So, it was in that relaxed time that I went over to the Scientology mission in New London. That was an old MOWW mission under mission holder F. Brown McKee, a true old timer Scientologist going back to the late 50's as a book 1 auditor.

That's the background, here's the story ... it was around that time that the famous Jack Nicholson classic film "One Flew Over The KooKoo's Nest" was playing in theatres. I had to see it. EVERYBODY AT THE MISSION SAW IT AND WAS TALKING ABOUT IT, about how the director was totally spot-on regarding Nurse Ratched, who definitely had all the characteristics of a REAL espee, a genuine 2 1/2 percenter. Everybody at the mission had the same reaction ... we all cheered when Randy McMurphy tried to strangle her. Of course, this was the view we all had of the psychiatric profession, it was just reinforced by that movie. We all knew we were on the right side of things, being in Scientology, after seeing that movie.

BTW, Louise Fletcher, the actress who played Nurse Ratched, received plenty of dirty looks/death threats etc. after that movie, from people who had a difficult time separating their view of her from that of her character.

Pete

Louise Fletcher also won best actress, Jack Nicholson best actor and the film won best picture and other awards. It was based on a book that was published in 1962, so more than likely it was set in the same period, i.e. the 50s that Shutter Island was. Or perhaps even before then. But lets say it was set in the Fifties. It was based on reality back then, but the Scientologists who gloated over the "Evil SPs" in the movie were not in the "reality zone." They were not in the 50s, they were still in 1975, in freeze frame mode. Their perception of psychiatry had not changed and still has not to this day.

Cuckoo's Nest was a great movie. Shutter Island was not even a good one imo, although it is still hauling in the dough at the box office. It hammers at the viewer relentlessly and makes the "espees" i. e. the psychs and other staff much worse than they really were. So not only would Scientologists viewing this movie be in fifties freeze frame mode, they would probably exult at psychiatrists portrayed as vicious criminals which would be a stretch even at that time.

They wouldn't be able to separate the cultural message of Cuckoo's Nest from a horror movie such as Shutter Island that passes as entertainment while it demonizes mentally ill people and the staff who attends them. But that's my opinion. Some of you may view it differently.

The novel, written by Ken Kesey, was based on time he spent in the 1960's at the VA hospital in Menlo Park. My father worked at that VA hospital during that time, and said he had a pretty good idea on who Nurse Ratched was based. She was apparently a pretty cruel person. Things have definitely changed quite a bit from the 50's and 60's, with the advancement of more humane and effective treatment of seriously disturbed people.