Barfly (1987)

Thanks for the memories!

Awesome Movie

As Good As It Gets

Admirable film.

Poet and author Charles Bukowski's autobiographical account of being a destitute drunk in modern-day Los Angeles. Henry Chinaski staggers into bars and willfully gets into fights, rubs everyone the wrong way, but eventually meets a lonely wreck of a woman--a possible kindred spirit, though one without dreams to write about--who needs a man to drink with. Bukowski had mixed feelings about Mickey Rourke's lead portrayal and, indeed, the actor gives a very flamboyant performance that takes some time adjusting to. Rourke is obviously giving director Barbet Schroeder what he wants, but there's a touch of self-amused grandstanding in Rourke's delivery that works against the licking-the-gutters scenario (it's too 'show biz'). Faye Dunaway is excellent in support, and Schroeder's eye for gritty detail is intriguing, but this character portrait seems stretched to the breaking point. Still, one of the highlights of the Cannon Film Group's legacy, although the movie was a box-office disappointment. **1/2 from ****

"Henry Chinaski" (Mickey Rourke) is a drunken bum who is a regular customer of a nightclub in Los Angeles called "The Golden Horn". He disdains one of the bartenders named "Eddie" (Frank Stallone) which results in frequent fistfights which Henry typically loses. One night, however, he manages to beat up Eddie and because of it he is ejected from the bar. Needing a new place to satisfy his alcoholism he wanders into another nightclub where he meets "Wanda Wilcox" (Faye Dunaway) who is just as alcoholic as he is. Naturally, they hit it off right away. When she tells him she dislikes people in general, he responds by saying that he doesn't dislike them so much as he simply feels better when they're not around. Anyway, rather than spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it, I will just say this isn't just a film about barroom brawls and drinking. Instead there are some philosophical points made in the midst of the squalor that even "Tully Sorenson" (Alice Krige) may not quite understand. At any rate, while I'm not a huge fan of either Mickey Rourke or Faye Dunaway, I have to admit that they both put on a good performance in this film. Above average.

Love blossoms in the gutter when a shabby skid row derelict meets an alcoholic floozy in the bars of outer LA, but don't be dismayed by all the rampant sleaze: despite the vivid atmosphere of cheap booze and wasted lives this unique and unusual film represents a minor triumph of comic nonconformity. The script was written by low-life poet Charles Bukowski and is filled with all his favorite things: winos, hookers, losers, and a "wet rat in the rain", played to perfection by Mickey Roarke, who with his flabby posture and smooth beatnik whisper gives the character more humor and humanity than Bukowski may have intended. Give Roarke credit for choosing to appear in such an unflattering role, but this is no ordinary bum. He's a philosopher drunkard who listens to Mozart and Mahler when he isn't picking a fight or puking in an alley after one drink too many, a man whose total freedom from responsibility gives him the power to be completely spontaneous. Faye Dunaway isn't allowed the same depth of character, but together they help make this one of the few films for which the word skuzzy can aptly be used as a compliment.

You know what was funny on how I saw this film? I was just sitting with my sister and her boyfriend, and I brought up Bonnie and Clyde and how I liked Faye Dunaway, without hesitation her boyfriend started laughing and said to watch this movie he pronounced "BARFly", which I still don't get how that's funny. But he said to take a look at it.Barfly is about a violent alcoholic poet who meets another female alcoholic, they have a strange love connection and start some kind of "romance", if that's the proper way to say it. But they feed off of each other and their addiction, but as usual, it turns out that they need each other more than they realize.Over all, it's not a bad movie, just I wasn't too into it. It was slow paced and had o.k. performances. But don't shy away from it, this is just one person's opinion. But Faye Dunaway, I wasn't sure if my sister's boyfriend was trying to change my opinion, but she's the only decent actor in the film.5/10