Word: cuckoos
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Favorite movie: One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest...
Lysergic acid diethylamide was entirely legal in California until October 1966, and the mind-expanding drug made popular in these parts by ex-Prof. Timothy Leary fueled the "Hashberry" from start to finish. Publicly-advertised acid tests--group tripping experiences organized by novelist Ken ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") Kesey and his Merry Pranksters--spread the wonder drug from the province of a few enlightened intellectuals to the grasp of any who wanted to know...
...enough -- early renown in his native Czechoslovakia, exile in cultural limbo, the struggle of starting over in a new land with a new language -- the climax does not ring true. It is too improbable: a smash hit and Oscars galore for his second American film, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), more profits and honors with last year's Amadeus. Sorry, pal. Send the script to Sly Stallone...
...consider these plots. A wily misfit takes on the mind benders in an Oregon psychiatric hospital (Cuckoo's Nest). Hippies raise their voices, and a little hell, against the Viet Nam War (Hair, 1979). A black man is driven by righteousness to lead an armed revolt against white America (Ragtime, 1981). A great but graceless composer battles the musical establishment of Old Vienna (Amadeus). In Forman's American films an irascible individualist is forever butting his head against the walls of official power and getting bashed for his pains. These parables of dreams defeated hold echoes of tales from Forman...
...eight Oscars were not a record; 1959's Ben-Hur set the mark with eleven little gold-plated statues. But it was a triumphant rebound for Forman, 53, the Czechoslovak director whose five awards in 1976 for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest were followed by two commercial disappointments, Hair and Ragtime. "The Academy members are fans of people like Milos who take chances and succeed," says Director Ivan Passer, one of Forman's best friends. "They like Cinderella stories, and they like to make them come true. That was in their power this year, and they...