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 random sight of Charly 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 and is nothing like it. There's no depth. It's just a lot of Charly's pensiveness,
but I have no clue what his thoughts are. Furthermore, there's no analysis of them.
Having given a performance that's nothing special, Cliff Robertson won the Oscar because he hit the gold standard:
a white intellectually disabled person. The consequence is future Oscar 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
unrealistic, and 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. It brings in a highlight when she asked Charly to be her husband despite knowing he'll be back
to his old self! What a marriage it will be if it 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.