Charly (1968 film)

Charly
1968 theatrical release poster
Directed byRalph Nelson
Screenplay byStirling Silliphant
Based onFlowers for Algernon
by Daniel Keyes
Produced byRalph Nelson
StarringCliff Robertson
Claire Bloom
Leon Janney
Lilia Skala
Dick Van Patten
CinematographyArthur J. Ornitz
Edited byFredric Steinkamp
Music byRavi Shankar
Production
companies
ABC Pictures
Robertson and Associates
Selmur Productions
Distributed byCinerama Releasing Corporation
Release dates
Running time
106 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2,225,000[3]
Box office$8,500,000 (rentals)[3]

Charly (marketed and stylized as CHAЯLY) is a 1968 American science fiction drama film directed and produced by Ralph Nelson and written by Stirling Silliphant. It is based on Flowers for Algernon, a science-fiction short story (1958) and subsequent novel (1966) by Daniel Keyes.

The film stars Cliff Robertson as Charly Gordon, an intellectually disabled adult who is selected by two doctors to undergo a surgical procedure that triples his IQ as it had done for a laboratory mouse that underwent the same procedure. The film also stars Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala, Leon Janney, Dick Van Patten and Barney Martin. Robertson had played the same role in a 1961 television adaptation titled "The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon," an episode of the anthology series The United States Steel Hour.

The film received positive reviews and was a success at the box office and later in home media sales. Robertson won Best Actor at the Academy Awards.[4]

  1. ^ Charly at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. ^ "Charly (1968): Original Print Information". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  3. ^ a b "ABC's 5 Years of Film Production Profits & Losses", Variety, May 31, 1973, pg 3.
  4. ^ "1969|Oscars.org". Archived from the original on September 10, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2024.