Charlie And A Half 1974

Charlie Ben-Hanania Yehuda Barkan is a con artist from a poor neighborhood, scraping by with scams and running illegal gambling operations, aided by Miko, an at-risk orphan who shares a shabby cabin with his older sister Lily, whose boyfriend is staying in the United States. Charlie falls in love with Gila Zohar, a beautiful blonde from a wealthy North Tel Aviv family, whose parents try to set her up with Robert Diamenstein Tuvia Tzafir, the nerdy son of Benjamin Diamenstein, one of Mr. Zohar’s business partners abroad. Yet Gila is repelled by the spoiled American boy, who is mainly interested in classical music and golf, and she feels a genuine connection with Charlie. The two repeatedly find ways to evade Robert and spend time alone together.

Charlie tries to hide his real occupation and tells Gila that his father is a “beverage importer.” His father, Zaki Ben Chanania Arieh Elias, is an alcoholic with a fondness for arak. Charlie is also locked in power struggles with his rival Sasson Nagarin Ze’ev Revach, who maintains a well-kept car and frequently sexually harasses Miko’s sister. Sasson struggles to conceive a child with his wife (Nurit Cohen) and turns to Flora, Charlie’s mother, a fortune teller, for advice. She reads his coffee grounds and sees a tall creature—telling Sasson he must pluck hair from it to achieve salvation for himself and his wife. Sasson has a thuggish friend named Gedaliah (Moshe Ish-Kasit). The film is interspersed with encounters between Charlie and Sasson, sometimes with Gedaliah and sometimes without, where each gains the upper hand at different times. Two of the film’s most humorous scenes take place in a restaurant, where the current victor forces his rival to eat an excessive variety of dishes together.

Gila accidentally encounters Charlie while he is running gambling games and realizes he has deceived her. She returns home upset and locks herself in her room. Charlie calls her, but she refuses to speak to him. At night, Miko arrives and convinces her that Charlie truly loves her, inviting her to come with him to Charlie’s house. The two reconcile. Gila brings her parents to meet Charlie’s parents. They pretend to cooperate but, of course, refuse to accept Charlie, the chach-chach (street-smart hustler), wondering what their daughter sees in this “wild man.”

Meanwhile, Zaki interprets Flora’s vision for Sasson: the tall creature is a giraffe. Sasson must pluck two hairs from its whiskers. Sasson does so, and his wife becomes pregnant. He comes to thank them. Lily also receives plane tickets from her boyfriend for herself and Miko to travel abroad. In the midst of the celebration, Charlie arrives and kisses Lily out of joy. Gila sees this, assumes he is cheating on her, and flees. Charlie chases her in Sasson’s car, but during the pursuit, he swerves off the road, and the car plunges into a ravine.

Miko calls Gila, explaining what happened: > He’s badly injured, they don’t know what’s wrong with him! She rushes to the hospital. She enters Charlie’s room, only to see a covered stretcher being wheeled out. “You came to see him? Too late. He’s dead,” an old man tells her. She bursts into tears and goes downstairs. As she walks down the hallway, she hears Charlie’s voice—he is sitting in bed, playing cards with his roommates, completely fine except for a bandage on his head. She breaks into hysterical laughter.

At the airport, Gila and Charlie—now married—bid farewell to Lily and Miko. Charlie kisses Lily again, and his goodbye scene with Miko is one of the film’s highlights. Lily and Miko board the plane, while Charlie and his wife head off on their honeymoon.