Barfly

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:

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. **

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.

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.

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.

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...

Average customer rating:

Barweed

Manufacturer: CustomFlix
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

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.

Average customer rating:

Barfly
Director: Barbet Schoeder
Manufacturer: Silver Media Group
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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

Product Description

Greek release of Barfly in Universal format. Greek subtitles can be turned off.

Average customer rating:

Wake up! The Bellrays have a foot in yo' a$$

At the Barfly
Starring: The BellRays
Manufacturer: Punkervision
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Have a Little Faith

ASIN: B000B6CO20
Release Date: 2005-10-25

Product Description

BELLRAYS @ THE BARFLY (BELLRAYS)

Customer Reviews:

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.

Average customer rating:

Barfly

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

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

DVD:

DVD

DVD