5. Chief Breaks Free - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Milos Forman's near flawless adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest pits Jack Nicholson's loveable rogue R.P. McMurphy against the evil Nurse Ratched, who manipulates and irritates the patients on her wing in a mental institution without them realising, seemingly for her own sick pleasure. When McMurphy, sane but pretending to be mentally ill to escape prison and work duty, latches onto her methods, he begins a tiny revolt. Unfortunately, the system is too powerful for him, and he ends up lobotomised. The final scene in the movie, however, is incredibly satisfying in so many ways. Whilst in the institution, McMurphy befriends the Chief, who has ended up there because he has no other place to go. When the Chief discovers that his friend has been turned into a vegetable, he does the only thing he can do: smothers him with a pillow. And then, in an emotional and melancholy sequence, he rips the sink basin from the floor, hurls it through the window, and escapes into the morning light, all in tribute to McMurphy's own attempts to do so earlier in the movie.