Studio 360: American Icons: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Ken Kesey had worked in a mental hospital, but his first novel was really a parable of what happens when you stand up to the Man — a counterculture fable that doesn't end well. Despite his far-reaching influence, Kesey was shut out by filmmakers who turned the story into an Oscar-sweeping phenomenon. Cuckoo's Nest changed how many people thought about mental illness and institutions.

Sherman Alexie debunks the myth of the silent Indian; we visit Oregon State Hospital, where the director played himself on screen; a psychiatrist explains how the movie gave mental hospitals a bad name, with tragic consequences; and actress Louise Fletcher takes us into the mind of one of the most fearsome movie villains, the sweet-faced Nurse Ratched. "She doesn't see her behavior as it really is. Who does? Who sees that they’re really evil?" [Broadcast Date: January 2, 2016]