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Charly (1968 film)

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Charly
1968 theatrical release poster
Directed byRalph Nelson
Screenplay byStirling Silliphant
Based onFlowers for Algernon
by Daniel Keyes
Produced byRalph Nelson
StarringCliff Robertson
Claire Bloom
Leon Janney
Lilia Skala
Dick Van Patten
CinematographyArthur J. Ornitz
Edited byFredric Steinkamp
Music byRavi Shankar
Production
companies
ABC Pictures
Robertson and Associates
Selmur Productions
Distributed byCinerama Releasing Corporation
Release dates
Running time
106 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2,225,000[3]
Box office$8,500,000 (rentals)[3]

Charly (marketed and stylized as CHAЯLY) is a 1968 American science fiction drama film directed and produced by Ralph Nelson and written by Stirling Silliphant. It is based on Flowers for Algernon, a science-fiction short story (1958) and subsequent novel (1966) by Daniel Keyes.

The film stars Cliff Robertson as Charly Gordon, an intellectually disabled adult who is selected by two doctors to undergo a surgical procedure that triples his IQ as it had done for a laboratory mouse that underwent the same procedure. The film also stars Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala, Leon Janney, Dick Van Patten and Barney Martin. Robertson had played the same role in a 1961 television adaptation titled "The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon," an episode of the anthology series The United States Steel Hour.

The film received positive reviews and was a success at the box office and later in home media sales. Robertson won Best Actor at the Academy Awards.[4]

Plot

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Charly Gordon is an intellectually disabled man who lives in Boston. He has a desire to learn and has attended night school for two years, taking a class taught by Alice Kinnian. He learns to read and write, though his spelling and penmanship are poor and he is unable to spell his own name. He works as a janitor at a bakery, where his coworkers amuse themselves by taking advantage of his disability, and he enjoys playing with children at a playground.

Alice takes Charly to researchers Dr. Richard Nemur and Dr. Anna Straus, who have been investigating methods for increasing intelligence. Having successfully tested a surgical procedure on a lab mouse named Algernon, they are looking for a human test subject. They put Charly through a battery of aptitude tests and have him try to solve a series of paper mazes while Algernon runs through models of them. Charly consistently loses to Algernon, but is selected for the surgery.

After surgery, Charly loses to Algernon again and is frustrated at not immediately becoming smarter. After some time passes, he finally beats Algernon and his intelligence begins to increase. His coworkers tell him to operate a complex machine, hoping that he will break it so they can have the day off, but he successfully operates it. Embarrassed and frightened by his new intelligence, they persuade the bakery owners to fire Charly. Alice continues teaching him, but his intelligence continues to increase and eventually surpasses hers. Lacking emotional maturity, Charly becomes infatuated with Alice and confesses his love for her, but she sharply rejects his advances. He flees in an act of rebellion but eventually returns to Boston, and the two start to consider marriage.

Nemur and Straus present their research at a scientific convention. After playing the film of Charly's original aptitude tests, they bring him out for a question-and-answer session. He is now the intellectual equal or superior of everyone in the audience, but he has also developed a cynical view of humanity that the attendees mistake for humor. He reveals that Algernon has lost his enhanced intelligence and died, facts that the research team kept from him, and expects to undergo a similar decline. Fleeing the convention and seeing hallucinations of his previous self everywhere, Charly stops to help a busboy pick up a tray of dropped glasses after observing that he is intellectually disabled.

Charly overhears Alice, Nemur, and Straus discussing his situation and offers to assist in finding a way to preserve his intelligence, but their combined efforts prove fruitless. He falls into a depression and asks Alice never to visit him again. Some time later, Alice sees Charly playing with children on the playground, having fully regressed to his original level of disability.

Cast

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Production history

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Development

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Photo from the 1961 television presentation "The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon", with Mona Freeman in the role of Alice

The short story Flowers for Algernon had been the basis of "The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon", a 1961 television adaptation in which Robertson had also starred for The United States Steel Hour.[5] Robertson had starred in a number of television shows that were turned into films with other actors playing his roles, such as Days of Wine and Roses. He bought the rights to the story, hoping to star in the film version as well.[6]

Robertson originally hired William Goldman to write the screenplay on the strength of Goldman's novel No Way to Treat a Lady, paying him $30,000 out of his own pocket.[7] However, Robertson was unhappy with Goldman's work and then hired Stirling Silliphant to write a draft.[8]

Robertson received $25,000 for his role in the film.[9]

Release

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The film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on June 28, 1968.[1] It then opened at the Baronet Theatre in New York City on September 23, 1968.[1]

Box office

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The film was a hit, earning $7.25 million in theatrical rentals during its release in North America, and it earned an additional $1.25 million in theatrical rentals overseas, making it the 16th-highest-grossing film of 1968.[10] After all costs were deducted (including $1,325,000 paid to profit share), the film reported a profit of $1,390,000, making it one of the few successful films made by Selmur/ABC Pictures.[3]

Critical reception

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Vincent Canby called the film a "self-conscious contemporary drama, the first ever to exploit mental retardation for...the bittersweet romance of it"; he called Robertson's performance "earnest" but points out that "we [the audience] are forced into the vaguely unpleasant position of being voyeurs, congratulating ourselves for not being Charly as often as we feel a distant pity for him." Canby calls Nelson's direction "neo-Expo 67", referring to the use of split screen to "show simultaneously the reactions of two people facing each other and conversing" and the use of "little postage stamp-sized inserts of images within the larger screen frame."[11] Time magazine called Charly an "odd little movie about mental retardation and the dangers of all-conquering science, done with a dash of whimsy." While "the historic sights in and around Charly's Boston setting have never been more lovingly filmed", "The impact of [Robertson's] performance...is lessened by Producer-Director Ralph Nelson's determination to prove that he learned how to be new and now at Expo '67: almost every other sequence is done in split screens, multiple images, still shots or slow motion."[12] Screenwriter Maurice Rapf[13] called Robertson's performance "extraordinary" and called "astonishing" his on-screen "transformation from one end of the intellectual spectrum to the other"; Rapf took issue with what he called the "pyrotechnics of the camera" and the "flashy opticals", calling the effects "jarringly out of place" and better suited for a "no-story mod film like The Knack."[14]

Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, writing "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."[15]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a "Rotten" score, with 55% of 20 critics giving the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.2/10.[16]

In 2009, Entertainment Weekly listed Charly among its "25 Best Movie Tearjerkers Ever."[17]

Awards and nominations

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Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
Academy Awards Best Actor Cliff Robertson Won [18]
Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear Ralph Nelson Nominated
Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture – Drama Nominated [19]
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama Cliff Robertson Nominated
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture Stirling Silliphant Won
Hugo Awards Best Dramatic Presentation Ralph Nelson, Stirling Silliphant, and Daniel Keyes Nominated [20]
Laurel Awards Top Drama Nominated
Top Male Dramatic Performance Cliff Robertson Nominated
National Board of Review Awards Top Ten Films 4th Place [21]
Best Actor Cliff Robertson Won

Proposed sequel

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In the late 1970s, following a period of extended unemployment after having alerted authorities to illegal activities committed by Columbia Pictures president David Begelman, Robertson wrote and attempted to produce Charly II, to no avail.[22]

Home media

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Charly was released on Region 1 DVD by MGM Home Entertainment on March 31, 2005.[23]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Charly at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. ^ "Charly (1968): Original Print Information". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  3. ^ a b c "ABC's 5 Years of Film Production Profits & Losses", Variety, May 31, 1973, pg 3.
  4. ^ "1969|Oscars.org". Archived from the original on September 10, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  5. ^ "Charly (1968): Notes". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  6. ^ Karen, Zraick (September 11, 2011). "Oscar-winner Cliff Robertson dies in US at 88". Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 16, 2019. Retrieved September 12, 2011.
  7. ^ Dennis Brown, Shoptalk, Newmarket Press, 1992 p 63
  8. ^ William Goldman, Adventures in the Screen Trade, 1982 p 164-176
  9. ^ Loynd, Ray (April 25, 1969). "No Flap Over Oscar Absence--Robertson". Los Angeles Times. p. i10.
  10. ^ "Top Grossing Films of 1968". Listal.com.
  11. ^ Vincent Canby (September 24, 1968). "The Screen: Cliff Robertson in Title Role of Charly". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 29, 2024. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  12. ^ "Cinema: Medical Menace". Time. October 18, 1968. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  13. ^ "Maurice Rapf". IMDb. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  14. ^ Maurice Rapf (November 1, 1968). "Is Charly Cuter Than Necessary?". Life. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  15. ^ Roger Ebert (December 31, 1968). "Charly". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on November 30, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  16. ^ "Charly". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  17. ^ "25 Best Movie Tearjerkers Ever". Entertainment Weekly. June 26, 2009. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  18. ^ "The 41st Academy Awards (1969) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. December 21, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  19. ^ "Charly". Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
  20. ^ "1969 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. July 26, 2007. Archived from the original on May 7, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  21. ^ "1968 Award Winners". National Board of Review. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
  22. ^ Michelle Green (December 5, 1983). "Hollywood's Mr. Clean Shot Down David Begelman; Now the Actor Has Pulled His Career Out of a Nose Dive". People. 20 (23). Archived from the original on March 11, 2012. Retrieved March 25, 2011. Hoping to capitalize on his 1968 Oscar-winning role in Charly, playing a mentally retarded man who becomes, briefly, a genius, he wrote and began peddling Charly II, only to have the film's backers pull out.
  23. ^ "Amazon.com". Archived from the original on March 18, 2024. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
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