One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Jack Nicholson plays Randle Patrick McMurphy, a petty criminal who fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon finds himself as a leader to the other patients—and an enemy to the cruel, domineering Nurse Mildred Ratched. The film is set in the early 60s at a mental institution in Salem, Oregon, and explores themes of freedom vs. legalism through McMurphy's battle with Nurse Ratched, who maintains control through fear.