Page One: ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ (1975)

Screenplay by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman, based on the novel by Ken Kesey

The movie version of the opening scenes:

Interesting to see how the movie dropped the first scene in the script. An attempt to reverse engineer the logic: While the script begins with something of a bang — McMurphy in the middle of some sort of behavioral meltdown — my guess is the film’s director Milos Forman opted for a ‘soft’ open for two reasons:

• He wanted to give the audience a chance to acclimate themselves the environment of a mental hospital. Hence, the ‘day in the life’ morning routine of its residents and staff.
• He thought it was a better idea to present the Protagonist (McMurphy) as more of a ‘normal’ person. That reinforces the dramatic irony that he doesn’t really belong in the asylum. Indeed, the less ‘crazy’ McMurphy acts, the greater the tragedy of his end point.

That’s my take. Perhaps someone has found an official explanation or a different take on the subject. If so, please share in comments.

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.

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