Barfly

"Barfly" was a fairly successful film when it was released and garnered generally favorable reviews. Roger Ebert gave it four out of four, and along with "Angel Heart," it helped solidify 1987 as the Year of Mickey Rourke.

However, almost twenty years later it isn't talked so much about anymore, and I feel it deserves to be. Rourke gives one of his finest performances as Henry, a loner who walks hunched over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Henry works at a bar as a runner - delivering orders and such. But he's always getting into drunken brawls with the bartender, usually losing.

One day Henry's life takes a turn when he meets a downtrodden woman (Faye Dunaway) and they embark on a relationship.

"Barfly" is a great film. Rourke was vocal later on in his career about his dislike of director Barbet Schroeder, but Schroeder's direction is part of what makes this film so good.

However, the absolute best aspect of the movie is Rourke's performance. Embodying the late writer Charles Bukowski (whose work this was based upon, and who had a brief cameo in the film), Rourke is unrecognizable - like Billy Bob Thornton in "Sling Blade," his entire demeanor and physicality seems to change.

I highly recommend "Barfly" - it's funny, dark, witty, touching and downright enjoyable. One of the best films of the '80s.

What can we say about Barfly? A great picture. That's what we can say. A friend of mine recommended Barfly to me. I watched the start and it said "Some people never go crazy, what truly horrible lives they must live!" After that I was hooked, I knew this guy Bukowski wrote from the gut. I bought as many Bukowski books as possible. Pulp, Hollywood, and Women (my favourite!). I like his novels and short stories more than the poetry. But some of the poems are intense! The movie is also excellent. The two leads are great-Faye Dunaway is in high acting form here. So is Mickey Roarke who seems to have gotten under Bukowski's skin for the role......a side note he did the movie sober! This movie is directed by Barbet Schroeder who also did Reversal of Fortune. He also made the 4 hour Charles Bukowski Tapes (which I own) and it is good, but way too long! Bukowski drinks and reads poems. Back to the film-good supporting actors in this one. The beautiful Alice Krige (from Haunted Summer) is in this as well as David Lynch regular Jack Nance. Lynch was actually on set one day. Bukowski has a funny cameo a barfly in the bar where Mickey meets Faye. I heard that Dennis Hopper wanted to direct this and have Sean Penn star. Schroeder fought hard for it though. Hopper states Schroeder couldn't direct traffic! I guess he proved him wrong. Schroeder went into a production office with a power saw and threatened to cut off his pinky finger if they didn't put more funding into the film. Obviously a labour of love. So check it out if you can, the writing is top notch stuff.......Highly recommended. Thanx.

I came across this movie on HBO one night and like any great movie I was immediately hooked by it. I could tell right away that this movie had a strange artistic appeal to it. The movie is strange, funny, and weird. In one scene Henry (Mickey Rourke) collects 500$ from a rich woman he meets. He then takes it immediately to his flea bag appartment along with a bottle of liquor. He wakes up his girlfriend (Faye Dunnaway)and from out of her slumber they begin to drink. Henry manages to stab a man, get a girlfriend, have a wealthy mistress, be a bar room fighter, and o yeah, a poet. Overall this is a gritty movie about the ups and downs of a poet who insists to live in squalor and would'nt have it any other way.

I've seen this movie several times... I really enjoy it, even though it centers around the lives of two wretched drunks (played by Rourke and Dunaway) who, if you met them in real life, would probably frighten you to death.

Though both of them are wretched souls indeed, there is nevertheless enough compassion, wisdom, and charm emanating from both of them to make them actually likeable screen characters. And you can't help but do a mental "double take" on many of the lines of dialogue: Rourke's character, with a sort of "beat" hipness, really makes you think about your own life and your own values.

The only flaw I could find was that, considering the incredible amount of drinking that is depicted, I felt it would have been more realistic to show Henry and Wanda having more horrible hangovers, maybe even with frequent vomiting attacks. But then again, maybe these are two people who really know how to hold their liquor. See it, and decide for yourself!

P.S.: NOT recommended that you watch this film if you are on the wagon and trying to stay on it!!

Barfly I think is another great film that is not afraid to tell the truth! a film that does not hold back on things that need to be said in films. The film is based on a true story on an alcoholic and poet Henry Chinaski(Mickey Rourke in an unforgettable role) who does nothing all day and night except cruise bars, drink himself to death and purposely get in to fights with other barmen and customers.He soon meets another alcoholic Wanda Wilcox (Faye Dunaway at a should of been Oscar winning role)when they meet in a bar one night they soon realise how alike they are and how they are the people who the city they live in would rather forget and they soon form a special bond. The films story is totally compelling and unforgettable, the cinematography and realism and forgetting to mention Rourke and Dunaway acting their hearts out. This is a gem of a movie. 10/10.