One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Directed by Milos Forman

Starring Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield, Brad Dourif, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Will Sampson, Sydney Lassick, Vincent Schiavelli, and William Duell

One of the finest films of the 1970s, or any decade, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a heartbreaking portrayal of life for the men in a mental institution. The performances from the ensemble are terrific, especially from Nicholson, who won his first of several Oscars. The movie never implies that these men should not be institutionalized, but it instead merely suggest they be treated as human beings. All of the actors avoid making themselves into cartoon versions of mental patients, and show them as men with real problems. A highlight of a great decade of Best Pictures.

Other nominees: Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick), Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet), Jaws (Steven Spielberg), and Nashville (Robert Altman)