His life passes through successive stages of punishment, compromise, and self-disintegration, due to numerous inner demons.In the local saloon, he was confronted by gunslinger Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, whom he accidentally covered with the contents of an overturned spitoon.[Note: She reluctantly revealed that her sister Barbara Henshler (Barbara Lawrence) was suspected of having an affair with Tony.The role of the sexually-repressed, domineering Nurse Ratched was turned down by five actresses - Anne Bancroft, Colleen Dewhurst, Geraldine Page, Ellen Burstyn, and Angela Lansbury - until Louise Fletcher accepted casting (in her debut film) only a week before filming began.