Jack Nicholson's Water Fountain Scene

Jack Nicholson, the man with the one-million dollar smile, incarnated the rebellious outsider who challenges his environment like no one else. One of Jack Nicholson’s best roles was the role of McMurphy in Milos Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).

A key scene of the movie was when McMurphy boasted that he could escape the mental hospital by lifting a water fountain and hurling it through the window. The other patients didn’t want to believe in his strength, so McMurphy stirred them to bet money that he would succeed. He failed but his words after described the quintessence of every true rebel: ‘But I tried, didn't I? Goddammit! At least I did that’.

The water fountain challenge became a metaphor for McMurphy's never-resting spirit of freedom—nothing is ever impossible.

Have you ever tried to throw a fountain out of a window?