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Charly
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Wikipedia article
'Charly' (marketed and stylized as 'CHALY') is a 1968 American 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 who 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.
Plot
Charly Gordon is an intellectually disabled man who lives in Boston. He has a desire to learn and has attended night school two years. He learns to read and write. His teacher is Alice Kinnian. His spelling and penmanship are poor as he is unable to spell his own name. He works at the local bakery as a janitor. His coworkers take advantage of his disability, finding it amusing that his limitations make it so easy to trip him up. Charly enjoys playing with children at the playground, due to being childlike.
Alice takes Charly to researchers Dr. Richard Nemur and Dr. Anna Straus who experiment with increasing intelligence. After a new surgical procedure is successful with mice, they are looking for a human test subject to try the same operation. Charly is selected and is given aptitude tests. He is given a paper maze to solve and Algernon, a mouse who has had the procedure, is given the same maze. Algernon runs through this maze while Charly uses a pencil to trace his way through the diagram of the same maze. Algernon consistently solves the maze faster than Charly. Charly is selected for the experimental surgery.
After surgery, Charly loses to Algernon again and is frustrated at not immediately becoming smarter. After some time passes, he finally beats Algernon as intelligence begins to increase. At the bakery, Charly's coworkers try tricking him, asking that he operate a machine that is too complex for even them to operate. They are hoping that he will break it, but he successfully works the machine. They become embarrassed and frightened that he is now so intelligent, more intelligent than they are. The bakery fires Charly.
Alice continues teaching him, but his intelligence continues to increase and eventually surpasses her level of intelligence. Charly becomes infatuated with Alice and confesses his love for her. She rejects him, but then realizes that they can be married; he is no longer disabled.
Nemur and Straus present their research at a convention. Playing the film of Charly's original aptitude tests, Charly is brought out for questions-and-answers. At this point, Charly is a genius, with an intellect that appears to surpass every scientist in the room. Angry and aggressive at the state of society he shares his cynical view of humanity which they confuse with humor.
Algernon dies as a side effect of the procedure. The research team tries to hide it from Charly. But because both Dr. Nemur and Dr. Straus hid Algernon's condition from him, Charly is angered. His enhanced intelligence is slowly fading.
Charly overhears Alice, Dr. Nemur and Dr. Straus discussing they keep Algernon's regression a secret. At this point, he is still more intelligent than both doctors. Charly offers to help with the research; he works with Nemur and Straus in hope that his intelligence can be saved. The results indicate that nothing can be done and that the regression will be worse than his original condition. Charly falls into depression, and after losing his mental ability, isolates himself.
Alice visits Charly. At that point, his intelligence equals hers. She asks him to marry her, but Charly refuses, asking her to leave. Some time later, Alice finds Charly playing at a playground with children. His regression is complete.
Cast
* Cliff Robertson Charly Gordon
* Claire Bloom Alice Kinnian
* Lilia Skala Dr. Anna Straus
* Leon Janney Dr. Richard Nemur
* Ruth White Mrs. Apple
* Dick Van Patten Bert (as Richard Van Patten)
* Edward McNally Gimpy (as Skipper McNally)
* Barney Martin Hank
* William Dwyer Joey
* Dan Morgan Paddy
Music by
* Ravi Shankar
Production history
Development
", with Mona Freeman in the role of Alice.The short story 'Flowers for Algernon' had previously been the basis of "The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon." a 1961 television adaptation in which Robertson had also starred for CBS's 'U. S. Steel Hour'. 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.
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.Dennis Brown, 'Shoptalk', Newmarket Press, 1992 p 63 However, Robertson was unhappy with Goldman's work and then hired Stirling Silliphant to write a draft.William Goldman, 'Adventures in the Screen Trade', 1982 p 164-176
Robertson received only $25,000 for his role in the film.
Release
The film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on June 28, 1968. It then opened at the Baronet Theatre in New York City on September 23, 1968.
Box office
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. 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.
Critical reception
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." '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." Screenwriter (and Hollywood blacklist target) Maurice Rapf 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'."
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."
In 2009, 'Entertainment Weekly' listed 'Charly' among its "25 Best Movie Tearjerkers Ever."
Awards and nominations
Cliff Robertson won the Academy Award for Best Actor, but 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 that "many members agreed that Robertson's award was based more on promotion than on performance." As time went on, many saw Robertson's performance to be weaker compared to other nominees, such as Peter O'Toole in 'The Lion in Winter'.
Proposed sequel
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.
Home media
'Charly' was released on Region 1 DVD by MGM Home Entertainment on March 31, 2005.
See also
*List of American films of 1968
*'Charlie and Algernon', a musical based upon the original story, 'Flowers for Algernon'.
*'Flowers for Algernon' (film), a 2000 television film and remake starring Matthew Modine as "Charly".
References
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