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Charly (1968)
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Reviews Counted: 18
Fresh: 13
Rotten:5
Average Rating: 6.3/10
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: This intriguing drama, directed tenderly by Ralph Nelson, is based on the story FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON by Daniel Keyes. The plot centers around a mentally retarded adult who instantly matures as the result of an operation on his brain. The... This intriguing drama, directed tenderly by Ralph Nelson, is based on the story FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON by Daniel Keyes. The plot centers around a mentally retarded adult who instantly matures as the result of an operation on his brain. The result is a hybrid of documentary, romance, social drama and science fiction. Cliff Robertson is unpredictably touching as Charly Gordon, the sudden grown-up, and gives a hard-earned Academy Award winning performance. Claire Bloom is simple and magnetic as Alice Kinian, his sympathetic and protective caseworker. As his teacher, Miss Kinian, takes Charly to a clinic where doctors, who have Charly compete with a mouse named Algernon, observe him. Algernon, a once retarded mouse, is usually the winner thanks to an experiment that has greatly raised his intelligence. This experiment is given to Charly, who initially isn't affected. However, he gradually becomes more and more educated, eventually becoming a genius. This change effects not only Charly but also all the people who have contributed to his metamorphosis. [More]
Starring: Cliff Robertson, Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala, Leon Janney
Starring: Cliff Robertson, Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala, Leon Janney, Dick Van Patten, Ruth White, William Dwyer, Ed McNally, Dan Morgan, Barney Martin
Director: Ralph Nelson
Director: Ralph Nelson
Screenwriter: Stirling Silliphant
Story: Daniel Keyes
Producer: Ralph Nelson
Composer: Ravi Shankar
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Reviews for Charly
The film's main problem is that director Ralph Nelson virtually ignores the philosophical elements of the story and emphasizes its most maudlin aspects, while throwing in a little sci-fi, romance, and spurious social commentary.
Cliff Robertson was rewarded with an Oscar for repeating his TV role, that of a mentally retarded man, and for paying with his own money for the screen adaptation of the popular novel, directed in a pedestrian mode by Ralph Nelson.
This moving film is the crowning achievement of Cliff Robertson's career.
I'm told by someone whose opinion I respect that the novel was very moving and very sad. The movie is not. It's science-fiction without gadgets, a horror film without thrills.
another example of a memorable book which ends up diluted by the lesser talents of screenwriters
Well-acted drama about a retarded man who is turned into a genius in a scientific experiment and then regresses to his original state again.
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