One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Corrected entry: Billy is found lying in a pool of blood. However, it's impossible that only seconds after he slit his throat the flow of blood has stopped completely. (01:56:10)

NancyFelix

Correction: If Billy cut deep enough to sever both the jugular vein and the carotid artery, and his heart rate was very high (after his emotional outburst), he could have exsanguinated in the 1 and a half minutes required. He is still gushing when Nurse Pilbow screams, as evidenced by the blood spray on her, and the blood could have just stopped by the time we see him. Also notice the spray of blood on the walls, indicating he was losing blood hard and fast.

Corrected entry: In the scene where all the patients are tossing Mr. Harding's cigarette around, it lands in Mr. Taber's curled up pant leg and burns him. In the shot right before Mr. Taber screams, you can plainly see that the cigarette is smoking from the wrong end. The tobacco end is exposed and isn't even lit, but the smoke is rising up from the filtered end. (01:17:40)

Correction: Harding's cigarette was unfiltered as were most of the men's cigarettes in the movie. This can be easily identified during the blackjack scene when characters are holding up their cigarettes.

Corrected entry: When McMurphy makes the chief raise his hand to vote in favor of watching the world series and Miss Ratched declines it again, he starts shouting that the vote is now 10 to 9. It's actually 10 to 8, as he himself had said a little earlier. (00:45:20)

NancyFelix

Correction: McMurphy is getting angry when he states its 10 to 9. It's a simple slip of the tongue.

Continuity mistake: You see an opening scene where McMurphy is arriving by automobile. When he gets out of the car it is a cloudy dark day. A few seconds later when he is being brought into the hospital with the guards we see them entering the front door together from down the hallway. Now you can see that it is a bright sunny day outside. (00:04:20)

More mistakes in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

McMurphy: What do you think you are, for Chrissake, crazy or somethin'? Well you're not! You're not! You're no crazier than the average asshole out walkin' around on the streets, and that's it.

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Trivia: Ken Kesey, the author of the novel upon which the film was based, was originally hired to work on the screenplay but was fired soon thereafter.

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Question: I'm not from the USA so excuse the lack of knowledge, would pleading insanity really get you off a rape charge?

Answer: 1) McMurphy didn't exactly "get off" by reason of insanity; he was still incarcerated for an indefinite amount of time, just in a psychiatric facility rather than a traditional prison. 2) He was originally sent to a normal prison for the statutory rape charge, but is then transferred to the mental hospital due to repeated acts of aggression that suggested some form of psychosis (or, as the doctor suspects, faking it to get out of hard labor). 3) No, it wouldn't. The insanity defense is a) very rare and b) very hard to prove, and it would be difficult to apply to rape, statutory or otherwise.

Answer: Insanity, legally, is defined as not knowing right from wrong. It can also be "temporary." It can only be diagnosed by a licensed psychiatrist, and it is rarely determined as such. Laws vary from state to state, but if a person was guilty of a serious crime and was found to be insane, they'd be confined to a mental hospital, either long-term, permanently, or, if they sufficiently improve, they'd be either be released after a certain amount of time or transferred to a general prison to complete their sentence or remain there indefinitely.

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