Charly (1968 film)

Lore & Background

The film originated from Robertson's desire to reprise his role from the 1961 television adaptation 'The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon,' an episode of The United States Steel Hour. Robertson bought the rights to the story and initially hired William Goldman to write the screenplay, paying him $30,000 out of his own pocket. Dissatisfied with Goldman's work, Robertson then hired Stirling Silliphant to write a draft. Robertson received $25,000 for his role in the film.

The plot follows Charly Gordon, an intellectually disabled man in Boston who attends night school and works as a janitor at a bakery. After undergoing experimental brain surgery, his intelligence rapidly increases, surpassing that of his teacher Alice Kinnian and the researchers. However, he learns that the lab mouse Algernon has lost its enhanced intelligence and died, and he expects to undergo a similar decline. The film ends with Charly fully regressed to his original level of disability, playing with children on a playground.

The film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on June 28, 1968, and opened at the Baronet Theatre in New York City on September 23, 1968. It earned $7.25 million in theatrical rentals in North America and $1.25 million overseas, making it the 16th-highest-grossing film of 1968.

Reader's Guide

Charly is significant as a rare mainstream film of the 1960s that directly addresses intellectual disability and the ethical implications of scientific enhancement. Cliff Robertson's performance, which won him the Academy Award for Best Actor, was widely praised for its transformation from a disabled man to a genius and back. The film's use of split-screen and multiple-image techniques, inspired by Expo 67, drew mixed reactions: some critics found them innovative, while others considered them distracting. The film's legacy includes its inclusion on Entertainment Weekly's list of '25 Best Movie Tearjerkers Ever' in 2009. A proposed sequel, Charly II, was written by Robertson in the late 1970s but was never produced. The film remains a notable adaptation of Daniel Keyes's story, later inspiring a musical and a 2000 television film.

Did You Know?

• Cliff Robertson had previously played the same role in a 1961 television adaptation titled 'The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon.'
• Robertson bought the rights to the story and paid William Goldman $30,000 out of his own pocket to write the screenplay, but was unhappy with the result.
• The film earned $8.5 million in theatrical rentals and was the 16th-highest-grossing film of 1968.
• In 2009, Entertainment Weekly listed Charly among its '25 Best Movie Tearjerkers Ever.'