Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301514026
Format: Color
ISBN: 6301514025
Label: Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Fox Home Entertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Publication Date: 1989-09
Publisher: Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: 1992-08-06
Running Time: 104
Studio: Fox Home Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: 1968-09-23

Adapted from Daniel Keyes's novel Flowers for Algernon, Charly must be viewed as a soap opera of and for its zeitgeist--the halcyon '60s, when "natural" was nirvana, the air hummed with the mantra "Everybody's beautiful," and all ills stemmed from institutional monoliths such as Science, Government, Education, Religion. Accordingly, Charly (Cliff Robertson) is a 30-year-old retardate whose doofus sweetness makes him superior to most able-minded folk, whether they're the bigoted dolts he sweeps floors for or the ambitious scientists who see him as the human equivalent of Algernon, a mouse they've surgically (but impermanently) smartened up. Naturally, post-op Charly, sporting a genius IQ, "sees things as they are." Trotted out as the neurosurgeons' poster boy, he stands up to the "learned" audience--shot as faceless, inhuman interrogators. He's every '60s flower child, berating his "elders" for blighting their brave new world.

The one gift Charly gets out of becoming Brainiac is sex. In a lengthy montage resembling a retro TV commercial, he and his special-ed teacher (Claire Bloom, madonna with eternal Mona Lisa smile) romp through an Edenic outdoors, their embraces hallowed by sunlight glinting through leaves, moonlight glinting on water, and sappy Ravi Shankar music. (Stylistic clichés also include embarrassing outbreaks of split screens and multiple small screens within the frame, notably when rebellious Charly turns biker.) Robertson's performance is well-meaning but hokey. Still, in the penultimate moments when Charly begins to slide back into retardation, the actor achieves a genuine tragic gravity, and he became a surprise Oscar winner for his pains. --Kathleen Murphy

Customer Rating:
Summary: Charly
Comment: This was purchased to go with the book "Flowers for Algernon" for an 8th grade novel. I love to use contrast and compare with video and books. The students liked the movie-but thought they dressed strangely. Check the date for production.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Testimony to Hope, and to Human Cruelty
Comment: Charly, a mentally-handicapped man played by an actor in an Oscar-winning role, does his best to learn to write a few words. He takes a job as a janitor. But he is the butt of cruel jokes. His co-workers put yeast into his pail, and then laugh as he is surprised by the large glob. Later, they send him to a street corner in Boston to stand and wait for snow, and to report to them when it happens. The policeman asks him what he is doing standing there, and, after he tells them, they laugh.

There is hope, however. An operation can change him. He goes through with it. No longer is he docile as he was before. I will not spoil the ending by divulging further details.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Charly
Comment: The movie did an excellent job in portraying the intense emotions of the characters, and the gradual increase and quick decrease in Charly's intelligence.

Although the movie was created in the 60s, it has a rather modern feel. I showed this video to my 8th graders after they had read a portion of the book in their anthology. These kids were engrossed in the movie adaptation. Afterwards, they were able to discuss a compare/contrast of the written vs video of the story, character development, ethics of human experimentation, value of human life no matter the intelligence, etc.

I highly suggest this movie. BTW: Cliff Robertson won an Oscar for his portrayal of Charly.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Great Movie
Comment: This is a wonderful story about a man with a low IQ who is turned into a genius and back again. Poignant and true to the original story.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Charly
Comment: Excellent movie!!! Very good adaptation from book to movie. Cliff Robertson's role of Charly was convincing and very real. Very moving story. Well done.

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