Coordinates | 41°52′55″N87°37′40″N |
---|---|
name | Charly |
director | Ralph Nelson |
producer | Ralph Nelson |
screenplay | Stirling Silliphant |
based on | Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes |
starring | Cliff RobertsonClaire BloomLeon JanneyLilia SkalaDick Van Patten |
music | Ravi Shankar |
cinematography | Arthur Ornitz |
editing | Fredric Steinkamp |
studio | ABC Motion PicturesRobertson and AssociatesSelmur Productions |
distributor | Cinerama |
released | |
runtime | 106 minutes |
country | |
language | English |
budget | }} |
Charly is a 1968 American film directed by Ralph Nelson. The drama stars Cliff Robertson (in an Academy Award-winning performance), Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala, Leon Janney and Dick Van Patten and tells the story of a mentally challenged bakery worker who is the subject of an experiment to increase human intelligence. The movie was adapted by Stirling Silliphant from the novel Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.
Alice takes Charlie to the "Nemur-Straus" clinic run by Dr. Richard Nemur and Dr. Anna Straus. Nemur and Straus have been increasing the intelligence of laboratory mice with a new surgical procedure and are looking for a human test subject. As part of a series of tests to ascertain Charlie's suitability for the procedure, he is made to race Algernon, one of the laboratory mice. Algernon physically runs through a maze while Charlie uses a pencil to trace his way through a diagram of the same maze. Charlie is disappointed that he consistently loses the races. Nevertheless, he is given the experimental surgery.
After the surgery, Charlie is initially angered that he is not immediately smarter than he was before and still loses in races against Algernon. Eventually, however, he beats Algernon in a race and then his intelligence starts increasing rapidly. Alice continues to teach him, but he soon surpasses her. Charlie's co-workers also try to tease him by making him work on a machine that they know he won't be able to work. When Charlie shows he can work the machine, his co-workers don't like that he is smart now and can not be teased anymore. They petition Charlie and he loses his job at the bakery. Charlie also starts staring at Alice's bottom and breasts as well as drawing and painting abstract nude figures of her. He also questions whether Alice loves her fiancé. One night, Charlie follows Alice back to her apartment and sexually assaults her, pulling her to the floor and kissing her forcefully until she breaks free by slapping him.
The film then uses a montage sequence to show Charlie with a mustache and goatee riding a motorcycle, kissing a series of different women, smoking and dancing. At the end of the sequence, Charlie has returned home and Alice comes to visit him, both having learned during their time apart that they want to be together. A further montage sequence shows Charlie and Alice running through woods and kissing under trees accompanied by a voice-over of the two of them talking about marriage.
Straus and Nemur present their research to a panel of scientists, including a question and answer session with Charlie. Charlie is aggressive during the session and then reveals that Algernon has just died, causing Charlie to believe that his own increased intelligence is only temporary. After suffering visions of his intelligence fading and of the Charlie from before the operation following him, Charlie decides to work with Nemur and Straus to see if he can be saved. Charlie discovers that there is nothing that can be done to prevent his own intelligence from fading. Alice visits Charlie and asks him to marry her, but he refuses and tells her to leave.
Alice watches Charlie playing with children in a playground, having reverted to his former self.
Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, saying "The relationship between Charly (Cliff Robertson) and the girl (Claire Bloom) is handled delicately and well. She cares for him, but inadequately understands the problems he's facing. These become more serious when he passes normal IQ and moves into the genius category; his emotional development falls behind. It is this story, involving a personal crisis, which makes Charly a warm and rewarding film." By contrast, Ebert pointed out "the whole scientific hocus-pocus, which causes his crisis, is irrelevant and weakens the movie by distracting us."
Decades later, Entertainment Weekly listed Charly among its "25 Best Movie Tearjerkers Ever."
At the 41st Academy Awards, Robertson won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, under some controversy: less than two weeks after the ceremony, Time magazine mentioned the Academy's generalized concerns over "excessive and vulgar solicitation of votes" and said "many members agreed that Robertson's award was based more on promotion than on performance." The film was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, losing to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Category:1968 films Category:Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award winning performance Category:Films directed by Ralph Nelson Category:Films based on science fiction novels Category:Films set in Massachusetts Category:American films Category:English-language films Category:1960s drama films
de:Charly (Film) es:Charly (película) fr:Charly (film, 1968) it:I due mondi di Charly pt:Charly (filme) fi:Charly sv:CharlyThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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