The unintended cultural impact of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

[“A Remake of Cool Hand Luke? A Review of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest]

By Jerry PDX
Thursday, May 8, 2025 at 2:54:00 PM EDT

The unintended cultural impact of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Liked both movies, but concur that Cool Hand Luke (1967) was superior.

However, Cuckoo’s Nest had an unintended cultural impact that still reverberates today.

The federal government used to give money to each state to fund institutions like the one portrayed in the movie, but Reagan in his deregulation mania changed the rules in how the money could be used. Instead of requiring they be used for asylums, Reagan said they could use the money for whatever they pleased. Predictably, politicians couldn’t resist starting to use the money for other purposes. While the movie was released in 1975 and Reagan elected in 1981, the imagery of an abusive institution was still fresh in people’s minds when state governments began to shift funding away from institutions and closing them down, supplying politicos with a built-in justification. The result was an influx of people with mental problems onto the streets.

It’s one of the reasons for the increase in homelessness, though some people might argue that they don’t want their tax money being spent on mental institutions, which is a spendy way to house people who would otherwise be homeless.