On C List of Movie Reviews
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Charly (1968)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
11/13
11/13:
My favorite highlight of Charly is the protagonist randomly sporting a Spock-like goatee which
prompted me to say, "What the hell?"
The motorcycle scenes come in a close second. Anyway, the film is a ridiculous adaptation of the novel
Flowers for Algernon, being nothing like it. There's no depth. It's just a lot of Charly's pensiveness,
but I haven't a clue of what his thoughts are. Furthermore, there's zero analysis.
For giving a performance that's nothing special, Cliff Robertson won an Oscar because he hit the gold standard:
a white intellectually disabled person. The consequence is future wins for Dustin Hoffman and Tom Hanks for
Rain Man and Forrest Gump, respectively.
I find Cliff Robertson's portrayal of an intellectually disabled adult to be
unrealistic. When Charly speaks, he sounds too advanced given his low IQ.
The transformation of Claire Bloom's character from a serious professional with ethics to a lovey-dovey
worshipper has my head shaking. I laughed at the moment when she asked Charly to be her husband despite
knowing he would be back to his old self! What a marriage it will be if that actually goes through.
All in all, Charly is a puerile attempt at drama to make a statement about science and disability while
missing the point of the book.