The one movie that inspired Ron Howard’s filmmaking career: “It has everything for me”
The trajectory of Ron Howard’s career has been incredibly successful, making his mark on the film industry when he was just a child. After starring in small roles as far back as the 1950s, he began acting in more prominent parts as he got older, such as American Graffiti and The Shootist.
Moreover, Howard has enjoyed an impressive television career, starring in The Andy Griffith Show when he was a child before becoming a main cast member of Happy Days in the latter half of the 1970s. But that wouldn’t become Howard’s only lasting imprint on the Hollywood legacy.
Besides acting, Howard has also directed many acclaimed movies, ranging from Tom Hanks’ breakthrough movie, Splash, the Christmas classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and the award-winning movies A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13. It appears that Howard is an incredibly skilled man, well-versed in the various facets of filmmaking.
The actor and filmmaker, who has won one ‘Best Director’ award at the Oscars, has been influenced by a wide range of movies in order to achieve such cinematic greatness. Talking to A.Frame, Howard revealed some of the movies that inspired him most, ranging from Frank Capra’s 1939 film Mr Smith Goes to Washington to William Friedkin’s classic horror The Exorcist.
The movies can all be considered some of the greatest ever made. It is also easy to see how their style has influenced the blockbuster brilliance of Howard. But they don’t rank as influential for the director as one other movie.
However, he dished out particular praise for a certain Jack Nicholson movie – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The film, directed by Miloš Forman, is widely regarded as one of the greatest movies from the 1970s, and Howard is in definite agreement. He declared that it’s “just a great fucking movie!”
Recalling going to see the movie with his wife upon its release in 1975, he said, “Cheryl and I had to jam into the very front row, sit with our necks pressed back. And we left and we literally turned around and got back in line to see the midnight show. The only other time this happened was with Star Wars.”
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is set in a mental institution and sees the oppressive Nurse Ratched clash with new patient Randle Patrick ‘R.P.’ McMurphy, who has been transferred from a prison work farm under the guise of being mentally insane.
Howard praised the movie, which was based on Ken Kesey’s novel, stating, “It has everything for me. It’s not only an unbelievable ensemble performance, but this bravura central performance from Nicholson, this rebellion made so accessible, and so winning, and so intense through him. It just crackled with energy.”
He added, “It stirred your belief in rebelling against a corrupt system. It was tragic, and yet, out of that tragedy came this sense of sacrifice, because the chief makes it out thanks to McMurphy.”
Additionally, Howard highlighted the movie as containing one of his favourite scenes in cinema history – when the patients are not allowed to watch the baseball game. He explained, “I laughed and cried in that scene. I’d like to see if I ever made a movie that came close, but I haven’t yet. I’m still trying.”
Drawing from the monumental groundwork laid down by Frederick Wiseman in Titicut Follies, Forman managed to make his film’s commentary reach wider audiences by using the compelling narrative arcs and the phenomenal acting work of his cast. As a result, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest brought Forman unprecedented fame and success since it ended up winning all five major Academy Awards.
During an interview, Forman once explained his approach to the casting process. He said: “I’d learned long before that it’s better to cast against type in the leading roles and with it in the minor roles. For reasons of economy and clarity, I prefer to give the audience a quick read of secondary characters by casting obvious physical types, but with the principal roles, it’s more engaging to uncover a different personality under the obvious type, to peel away the erroneous expectations, to be surprised by a deeper knowledge of the character.”
It remains one of the classic pieces of cinema.
