Charly (1968)

Directed by

Ralph Nelson

Genre

drama film, science fiction film, romance film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 43m

Rated

PG

Rating

6.5 of 10 from 121 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A man with an intellectual disability undergoes an experimental surgery that makes him a genius. He must grapple with the changes in his relationships and sense of self as his intelligence rapidly increases and then begins to decline.

tenderpoignantmelancholicheartbreakingthought-provokingslow-burnemotionalsad

What happens

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. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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• Flowers for Algernon (2000)
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