Charly (1968)

Charly is a retarded adult male struggling to survive in the world. His frequent attempts at learning, reading, and writing prove worthless. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Ralph Nelson
Written By: Stirling Silliphant, Daniel Keyes
Starring: Cliff Robertson, Claire Bloom, Dick Van Patten, Ruth White, Lilia Skala, Leon Janney
Country: USA
Where to Stream
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Charly belongs to 14 collections
1. Psychotronic Film and Video Guides (collaborative: moderated by Gregzilla - 40 stars)
2. Academy Award - Oscar - ALL Best Picture, Directing, Acting & Screenplay Nominees (collaborative - 22 stars)
3. Based on a Book (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 21 stars)
4. Oscar: Best Actor (collaborative: moderated by kangadoodoo - 10 stars)
5. Based On Novel (collaborative: moderated by tathiel - 7 stars)
6. Best by different standards (public: sesito71 - 6 stars)
7. Disability (collaborative: moderated by djross - 4 stars)
8. Prestige Picture / Oscar Bait (collaborative: moderated by Ag0stoMesmer - 2 stars)
9. Medical experiments (collaborative: moderated by edkrak - 1 star)
10. NBR Top 10 Films (collaborative: moderated by xacviant - 1 star)
11. Mentally Challenged (collaborative: moderated by grimsooth)
12. Academy Award-winning Actors and Actresses (collaborative: moderated by gunhaver)
13. Split screen (collaborative: moderated by juandr)
14. The Leonard Maltin List (collaborative: moderated by wokelstein)
Browse the full list of collections
Date | User | Rating | |
Oct 09, 2022 | ![]() |
Zarkon | 77 44th |
Very much a film adaptation reflecting its times, with jarring moments of psychedelic editing and sociopolitical disillusionment as an overt representation of Charly's intelligence. It's a much more quietly meditative work than Keyes' original text, which was written in the first person. Unfortunately, I think a lot was lost in this translation to film, in spite of Robertson's emotive moments.
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Feb 24, 2020 | ![]() |
mike365365 | 66 53rd |
Part of the portrayal is cringe worthy, however, I did like it.
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Aug 29, 2015 | ![]() |
Nilbog | 70 55th |
Pretty excellent. I'm inspired to read the book now.
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Jul 12, 2015 | ![]() |
VengefulKBM | 40 16th |
I know this is really well-loved and well-received, but for me, this adaptation of a story I love really drops the ball. Cliff Robertson's performance, while decent, is certainly not Oscar-worthy, and the whole thing becomes a bit unfocused and skips out on the most important part of the story (Charly's decline).
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Feb 08, 2014 | ![]() |
glumpy_99 | 72 40th |
Servicable drama can't make up its mind which story threads are the most interesting - is it a sci-fi tale about the dangers of playing god? A forbidden romance? A study of whether academic intelligence matters? By never really following up on any of these intriguing ideas, the film never really becomes satisfying, despite fine work from Robertson and Bloom. At times undermined and dated by over-utilising "trendy" film-making techniques of the time (eg. split screen and psychedelic imagery).
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Apr 01, 2013 | ![]() |
Trooth | 68 46th |
Doesn't really probe the same dark areas as the novel, but I guess it's a serviceable adaptation.
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Oct 04, 2012 | DougieD | 50 15th |
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Starts out as an enjoyable drama about a mentally challenged man who finds himself turned into a genius after a scientific experiment. It all falls apart in the second half when the film turns into a tearjerker romance story as the main character falls in love and then finds himself going back to his former self. Cliff Robertson gives a great (oscar winning) performance, but it can't save the film from its bad writing.
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Jun 17, 2010 | filmdot | 75 27th |
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A fine film. Although, they left way too much out of the movie from the fantastic novel, "Flowers for Algernon." There were also very useless scenes and at times quite stupid. Cliff Robertson is fantastic here though.
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Jan 20, 2010 | ![]() |
SlrSoapbox | 30 8th |
I was forced to watch this in 2nd grade. Why they decided to show a movie with such a horrifying premise and ending to a bunch of 7-year-olds I'll never understand.
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Dec 23, 2009 | aaaaaaarrggg | 71 73rd |
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Robertson won an Oscar for his fine work here as the title character. Often needlessly arty but is well-served by the performances of Robertson and Bloom.
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Apr 30, 2009 | Evan Waters | 84 29th |
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Robertson gives a good performance and it's a mostly strong adaptation of "Flowers For Algernon", but some really dated 60s "artistic" scenes in the middle and a twee romance undermine some of its impact.
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Sep 29, 2008 | ![]() |
irvinejump | 75 72nd |
Fascinating film, with a great performance by Robertson
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May 18, 2008 | ![]() |
Stain | 80 68th |
Pretty damn decent adaptation of _Flowers for Algernon_. Cliff Robertson's excellent performance helps immeasurably
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May 14, 2008 | ![]() |
BillyShears | 60 34th |
The psychedelic shit really bring it down.
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Sep 30, 2007 | ![]() |
tonydal | 75 56th |
Interesting that they did not show his decline (unlike the story/novel).
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Sep 17, 2007 | Dustyd | 70 63rd |
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good
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Aug 14, 2007 | ![]() |
supergloo | 3 9th |
What this film taught me: intelligent people have maps of the solar system on their walls and unintelligent people wear clothes that don't fit.
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Aug 14, 2007 | Lucky | 50 32nd |
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The emotional resonance gets drowned out by some poor direction chioces. Good performances, but the TV movie from a couple years back is a better adaptation.
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Aug 14, 2007 | ![]() |
pilgermann | 60 33rd |
The psychedelic bit where he runs away is righteous.
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Jan 30, 2010 | ![]() |
DavidBlast | 70 65th |
A decent adaptation of the heart-breaking short story 'Flowers for Algernon' fails to truly bring on the hurt, when the formerly retarded Charly, realises that the effect of his I.Q. treatments, that has made him a genius, are beginning to diminish. It is, however, a story so strong that it's always going to leave you with something to think about - or perhaps not - which would be a point in itself.
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Mar 09, 2010 | Mechatigger | 71 50th |
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The superlative Academy Award-winning performance of Robertson playing a mentally retarded bakery worker is reason enough to see this one. The rest of the film is appreciably less successful.
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Average Percentile 51.44% from 197 Ratings | ![]() |