The FRiday Night Movie - Charly (1968)

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[DemforBush]

A little sci-fi tonight. Cliff Robertson stars as Charley Gordon, a good-natured but mentally impaired individual whose efforts to improve himself always seem to go nowhere and often leave him the butt of some very cruel jokes. Offered the chance to be part of an medical experiment that promises to dramatically increase his intelligence, Charly hopes to find salvation from his woes and a better life. Nothing is ever quite so simple, though...

Based on the novel "Flowers For Algernon."

[DemforBush]

This one is all about Cliff Robertson's (Oscar-winning) performance. He's brilliant in the role of Charly, both slow-witted and otherwise. 7/10.

[DemforBush]

Ping!

[dp0622]

Believe I saw this. It ends with...just kidding :)

[BipolarBob]

Great movie. I’ve seen it several times and always love it.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

One of my all-time favorites.

[DemforBush]

I enjoy it quite a bit, too. Robertson is just great in the role. Weird to see Dick Van Patten as one of the scientist/doctors, though.

Love your tagline, btw. :)

[berdie]

One of my favorite movies...but it always makes me cry.

[tumblindice]

‘The Joe Biden Story’

[aynrandfreak]

I read “Flowers for Algernon” in school, so I was looking forward to this movie, but right when he was at the apex of his intelligence, it jumps into a 60’s psychedelic scene that seemed out of place and made me not want to watch it any further (I’m not uptight, but it just seemed thrown in there for no reason)

[IAMNO1]

Thank you for thinking of us FReepers and posting these great old movie links. About to watch this one. Looks good.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Based on the novel "Flowers For Algernon."

I believe it was a short story first. And that's the form I like the story best in.

[DemforBush]

Hey now, I said he was good natured. That eliminates Biden right from the start. :-)

[DemforBush]

You know, I thought exactly the same thing about the “groovy head trip” scene. It was the film’s weakest point, IMHO. Not only was it visually jarring, it glossed over a lot of Charly’s emotional development in order (I’m assuming) to keep the movie from running too long.

[DemforBush]

You are correct, sir!

[DemforBush]

It really is a heartbreaker at times. I feel so bad for Charly when he’s hanging out with his “friends.”

[boop]

"I believe it was a short story first. And that's the form I like the story best in."

I'm surprised they could make a short story that would be so deep and eloquent as the novel.

I really liked the movie, but the novel is so outstanding for the little details.

I felt so sorry for Charly when he discovers that his "friends" were just laughing at him the whole time, because he was dumb and gullible.

[Moonmad27]

Loved that movie when I was a kid. The music is also great. Watching it years later, it truly is a film of its time, with late 1960’s trendy camera effects.

[Gaffer]

Good movie. I think they did a female version of this called “Molly” or something with Elizabeth Shue, IIRC

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I'm surprised they could make a short story that would be so deep and eloquent as the novel.

Give the short story a try, if you haven't read it - of course it doesn't have the depth of detail that the novel does, but quite honestly I don't think that was needed. The short story is flawless. As we know, short stories have to be tightly focused and very well written to make an impact, and this one definitely did. One of the best science fiction short stories I've read.