Barfly
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 20 Years Later: Not nearly as good as I remember.
  • I fell in love with it...
  • Best Movie Ever... For Bukowski Fans
  • We're all "Barflys" at some point in life.
  • When you're a drunk you're a drunk
Barfly
Starring: Mickey Rourke , Faye Dunaway , Alice Krige , Jack Nance , and J.C. Quinn
Director: Barbet Schroeder
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

GeneralGeneral | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video
Artists & WritersArtists & Writers | By Theme | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video
Albert, WilAlbert, Wil | ( A ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Dunaway, FayeDunaway, Faye | ( D ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Krige, AliceKrige, Alice | ( K ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Nance, JackNance, Jack | ( N ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Rourke, MickeyRourke, Mickey | ( R ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Stallone, FrankStallone, Frank | ( S ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Unger, JoeUnger, Joe | ( U ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Vince, Pruitt TaylorVince, Pruitt Taylor | ( V ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Schroeder, BarbetSchroeder, Barbet | ( S ) | Directors | Stores | DVD | Video
DramaDrama | Warner Home Video | Studio Specials | Stores | DVD | Video
All TitlesAll Titles | Warner Home Video | Studio Specials | Stores | DVD | Video
DramaDrama | DVDs Under $20 | Warner Home Video | Studio Specials | Stores | DVD | Video
Barbet SchroederBarbet Schroeder | By Director | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
( B )( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:
  1. The Charles Bukowski Tapes The Charles Bukowski Tapes
  2. Charles Bukowski - Bukowski at Bellevue Charles Bukowski - Bukowski at Bellevue
  3. Bukowski - Born Into This Bukowski - Born Into This
  4. Factotum Factotum
  5. Johnny Handsome Johnny Handsome

ASIN: B0000696I5
Release Date: 2002-09-03

Amazon.com

The script for this movie was written by outrageous poet-author-alcoholic Charles Bukowski. But director Barbet Schroeder makes it into an oddly amusing story of a pugnacious drunk writer (Mickey Rourke) based on Bukowski himself. Rourke spends almost all of his time at the bar, struggling with sobriety (he's against it) and, occasionally, having fistfights with the bartender (Frank Stallone). He meets another souse, a formerly attractive woman (Faye Dunaway), and gets involved with her, which means they drink copious amounts of liquor and try to have sex. Not much happens beyond that, yet this film is strangely entertaining, for all of its bottom-of-the-barrel humanity. Maybe that's the secret: "Oh, the humanity...." --Marshall Fine

Description

Downtrodden writer Henry (Mickey Rourke) and distressed goddess Wanda (Faye Dunaway) aren't exactly husband and wife: they're wedded to their bar stools. But they like each other's company - and 'Barfly' captures their giddy, din-soaked attempts to make a go of life on the skids.

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars 20 Years Later: Not nearly as good as I remember........2007-08-01

Barfly (Barbet Schroeder, 1987)

When I was a young poet, like most people who became young poets in the seventies and eighties, one of my idols was Charles Bukowski. So when Barfly came out, I rushed to see it, and was awed. I've carried the nostalgia for it around for twenty years, and finally decided to see it again. Somewhat to my surprise, I found I'd been looking at it through rather rose-colored glasses all this time.

Watching it now, the biggest problem with the movie is Mickey Rourke, whose hipster-wannabe portrayal of Bukowski's alter ego Henry Chinaski draws far more from Arthur Fonzarelli than the Beats (not that Bukowski ever identified with the Beats). When he's on his game, Rourke is a fantastic actor, but here he overacts the role to death, creating a thoroughly unbelievable character.

While critics of the film during its original release were quick to point out that it mirrors Bukowski's writings ("depressing and pointless", my mother's favorite radio talk show host called it), and I took that at face value twenty years ago, I'm not so sure it's the case now. While the atmosphere is certainly close enough for jazz, and all the little quirks that make Bukowski's life filmable pop up, the major contradictions of which those quirks were symptomatic don't put in much of an appearance. People in the film address the central concept that Buk was, in fact, a whole lot smarter than everyone around him, but Rourke's portrayal never brings that to light. A lot of people ask why he chooses to live as a bum, but neither Rourke nor Schroeder is quick to offer an answer. To be fair, Buk might not have had one, but his writings and interviews from the period during which he wrote the screenplay would suggest otherwise. I think the film was meant as an answer, and it simply didn't come through.

As usual where nostalgia is concerned, the product doesn't match the memory of the product. **

5 out of 5 stars I fell in love with it..........2007-04-26

Very few movies have that certain something that just makes them so endearing that a viewer can just keep coming back and watching the movie maybe 100 some odd times and never tire of it. For me, Barfly is one of those few.
I was a big fan of Bukowski's writings long before I saw this movie, and while Bukowski himself may not have liked this film, I would remind those that agree with him that Bukowski didn't like any movies, so naturally he's going to be inclined to hate one that he wrote most of all.
Don't listen to the drones that will tell you this movie is bad because it romanticises alcoholism... they're just pansies. Just as Bukowski said himself, "anything can be an art," I will say that romance can exist in anything as well.

5 out of 5 stars Best Movie Ever... For Bukowski Fans.......2007-03-28

This is my favorite movie of all time.

Bukowski wrote the screenplay which draws from various short stories and novel chapters that he had written about his younger days as a disillusioned and unemployed drunk who dabbled in poetry.

Bukowski wrote a book about the making of this film, titled Hollywood. And that's a good read, if you like the movie. In the book, Bukowski talks about how Sean Penn originally wanted the lead and demanded that Dennis Hopper direct. Hard to imagine how different the film would have been...

Those who don't enjoy Bukowski - and/or those who don't read in general - might not find much to enjoy in this film.

But for the rest of us, this is great stuff.



5 out of 5 stars We're all "Barflys" at some point in life........2007-02-19

Classic Mickey Roarke and more exhausting than Leaving Las Vegas, however I never tire of watching this movie. I've never ventured into the seediest bars in LA, but I would have bought Mickey Roarke a few cocktails.

2 out of 5 stars When you're a drunk you're a drunk.......2006-12-26

Being a sloopy,falling down drunk ain't pretty...There isn't any romance to it at all..Most of the This-is-what-I-do-every-day-of-my-life-drunks that I have ever encountered are NOT wannabe poets..No..they are failed human beings,alcohol addicts with about as much poetry in them as an iguana..they don't brush thier teeth,they seldom change thier underwear,they smell stale,old,gin-soaked,cigarette stinky...sometimes they go for days with vomit on thier shirtfronts..The men seldom-if ever-land gals who look even remotely like Faye Dunaway..more often than not female drunks are missing teeth,have tattoos in all the wrong places,have bar-fight scars,and are nasty,mean spirited bottom feeders.."Barfly",on the other hand,almost makes being a drunk palatable,which,of course is a pity..Go ask the folks who attend AA meetings if being a mickey Rourke-like drunk is realistic..Sure,he has the scrungy look down pat,but he has this same look in a lot of his films..He looked as scrungy in"Angel Heart",and that flick had nothing whatsoever to do with drinking..Go ask the AA meeting folks if being a failed poet makes one a drunk...for that matter go ask the AA meeting folks what sort of poetry most drunks come up with..Usually it begins with the line;
"There was a young lady from Nantucket"...and goes downhill from there...In"Barfly"the mickey Rourke drunk gets to bed Faye Dunaway,and exchange fisticuffs with Frank Stallone(Sly Stone's less talented brother),but mostly he gets to drink,slobber,and feel sorry for himself,which is about the only really accurate aspect of this film...
Barweed
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Barweed

    Manufacturer: CustomFlix
    ProductGroup: DVD
    Binding: DVD

    GeneralGeneral | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video
    DVDs Under $14.99DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video
    ( B )( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
    Similar Items:
    1. The Charles Bukowski Tapes The Charles Bukowski Tapes
    2. Bukowski - Born Into This Bukowski - Born Into This

    ASIN: B000BGS8RK
    Release Date: 2006-07-13

    Product Description

    Charles Bukowski hits the streets of Albany, New York with a mythical hobo named Francis in this 11 minute short. They drink and smoke, visit a graveyard, go to a cartoon museum and generally have some clean ol' fun before passing out in a pool of vomit and great intentions! Barweed was made in one day for seven dollars (in 1987) and has been lovingly remastered for this special DVD release.
    Barfly
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Barfly
      Director: Barbet Schoeder
      Manufacturer: Silver Media Group
      ProductGroup: DVD
      Binding: DVD

      GeneralGeneral | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video
      ASIN: B000SJR21I

      Product Description

      Greek release of Barfly in Universal format. Greek subtitles can be turned off.
      At the Barfly
      Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
      • Wake up! The Bellrays have a foot in yo' a$$
      At the Barfly
      Starring: The BellRays
      Manufacturer: Punkervision
      ProductGroup: DVD
      Binding: DVD

      GeneralGeneral | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
      Indie RockIndie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
      GeneralGeneral | Rock | Styles | Music
      GeneralGeneral | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video
      GeneralGeneral | Pop | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video
      GeneralGeneral | Rock & Roll | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video
      DVDs Under $9.99DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video
      ( A )( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
      Similar Items:
      1. Have a Little Faith Have a Little Faith

      ASIN: B000B6CO20
      Release Date: 2005-10-25

      Product Description

      BELLRAYS @ THE BARFLY (BELLRAYS)

      Customer Reviews:

      5 out of 5 stars Wake up! The Bellrays have a foot in yo' a$$.......2005-10-26

      I like music by people who mean what they are doing and the Bellrays really mean it! This dvd isn't anything fancy...just four people playing great, heartfelt punk-soul music to a London rock club who definitely appreciated it. Highly recommended whether you have seen them or not.
      Barfly
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        Barfly

        Manufacturer: Silver Media Group S.A.
        ProductGroup: DVD
        Binding: DVD

        GeneralGeneral | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video
        ASIN: B000F5MV4S

        DVD:

        1. Bastard out of Carolina
        2. Battle of Britain
        3. Best Picture Collection - Musicals (An American in Paris/Gigi/My Fair Lady)
        4. Black Orpheus - Criterion Collection
        5. Blown Away
        6. Blue Velvet (Special Edition)
        7. Breaking the Waves
        8. Bulletproof Monk
        9. C.S. Lewis: Through the Shadowlands
        10. Dangerous Liaisons

        DVD

        DVD