There are many differences between the book and movie versions of One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest. Ken Kesey used very descriptive words to put a vision of what the mental ward looked like in the reader's head. However, when I watched the movie, I realized it wasn't anything like I had expected. .
The book concentrated on Chief Bromden, the narrator and how he was mentally envisioning the fog. Kesey describes him as a psychopath who rarely ever thinks like a normal human being. Throughout the book he is portrayed as unable to handle society. Although in the movie he acted like a normal patient and the viewers who have never read the book may think he was normal. .
Another difference between the two versions is the description of the fishing trip. The book and movie described the trip in two totally different ways. In the book the trip was planned and chaperoned by the doctor, but the movie shows McMurphy and the patients breaking out of the hospital, stealing a bus, and heading for the ocean, and leaving the Chief behind. .
The absence of George in the movie was another major difference between the two versions. In the book, the harassment George was the reason McMurphy fought the black boys. However, the movie used a different scene involving Cheswick wanting cigarettes and the nurse refusing him, with McMurphy retaliating by punching the nurse's glass window. .
The final change was the end when the book describes how some uncommitted patients left the ward. In contrast, the movie described everyone staying except for the Chief, who ran away. I feel that Kesey would be disappointed with the way the movie was put together and rearranged. Also, the movie took away from the meaning of the book by not stressing the major turning points, which formed the vision I had of the characters.
The fishing trip was a major turning point in the book One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest. McMurphy had to convince enough people to go so he could pay the boat rental fee.