An intellectually disabled man undergoes an experiment that gives him the intelligence of a genius.
Director:
Ralph Nelson
From metacritic.com
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Title: Charly (1968)
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| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Cliff Robertson | ... | Charly | |
| Claire Bloom | ... | Alice | |
| Lilia Skala | ... | Dr. Straus | |
| Leon Janney | ... | Dr. 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 |
Charly is an adult male with a cognitive disability, struggling to survive in the modern world. His frequent attempts at learning, reading and writing prove difficult, and he is the subject of cruel pranks at the bakery where he does minor janitorial work. His teacher, Mrs. Kinnian, enrolls Charly in a clinical study where he is observed by a surgeon and a psychologist who have Charly "race" a mouse named Algernon, solving mazes. Algernon is usually the winner, thanks to an experiment involving brain proteins that greatly raised his intelligence. The experiment proceeds with surgery on Charly, who at first does not seem affected. However, he quickly becomes more logically advanced, soon becoming a pure genius. Emotional and intra-personal consequences are involved as Charly and his teacher become increasingly attached to one another. But when Charly gradually suspects the consequences of the experiment, he struggles with whether or not the procedure was a good idea. Written by Anonymous
A mentally challenged man named Charly (Cliff Robertson) desires to become smarter so that he wouldn't always be picked on by his so-called friends at his workplace. However, he has made no progress despite his efforts of going to school. One day he gets a chance to undergo some experimental brain surgery and his intelligence skyrockets, making him a genius. Still, he cannot stop feeling like an outsider or find happiness with Alice, the woman he loves (Claire Bloom).
The director uses many split screens and other alienating techniques to portray the fragile mental state of Charly; at points they get rather annoying and look dated. The montage near the end, depicting the progression of Charly and Alice's relationship, comes across as rather hasty, considering the scene directly preceding it. Mostly the story advances fine though, and the pondering about the surgery's effects on Charly's psyche is interesting – there should have been more of it, actually. Robertson's Oscar-winning performance in the lead role is decent, although I preferred his calm 'intelligent Charly' to his naïve 'challenged Charly'.