Barfly

Plot synopsis:
Henry Chinaski (Mickey Rourke) is a destitute alcoholic who lives in a rundown apartment and works menial jobs when he can find them. An intelligent man and keenly aware of his circumstance, he finds solace in expressing his feelings and perceptions of the world through writing poetry and short stories which he submits to magazines and papers for a few extra dollars.
At night, he frequents a local establishment where he drinks, hangs out with other down and out alcoholics, and eventually gets into altercations with other patrons along with the tough guy bartender he hates, named Eddie (Frank Stallone). One night, Henry comes into the bar very drunk; he begins to drink uncontrollably out of other customers' glasses and Eddie promptly throws him out into the street telling him to never come back. Humiliated, the next day Henry wakes up determined to focus on beating Eddie.
During routine evening stops at the local bar, Henry constantly challenges Eddie, in a quest to prove to himself and others that he could beat the sober and tough talking bartender, who represents everything Henry despises, including shallowness and self-promotion. His regular fights with Eddie in the back alley behind the bar attract other bar goers who cheer for their favorite and place wagers on the fight. The bar owner, who has a soft spot for Henry and has faith in him, puts a wager on him to beat Eddie. This time Henry wins the fight, the Bar owner wins his bet which he then gives to Henry so that he can buy a couple drinks for the night. He then tells Henry that although he likes him, he is no longer welcome at the bar because of his disruptive activities, the fights with Eddie, and the harassment of the other bar-goers.
Henry then staggers on to another establishment down the street, where he continues his imbibement. There, he meets Wanda (Faye Dunaway), a fellow alcoholic and a kept woman, who, lonely in her own right, invites Henry to drink with her, with booze she buys on her lover's account at the liquor store. She invites Henry to her shabby apartment to drink whiskey, and he quickly takes up residence with her. They share a bed and drink to excess, on the tab of Wanda's older lover. The next day they set out to get jobs to finance the booze soaked life together. Henry then takes Wanda back to his usual establishment to show the owner and everyone there that he has changed, is settling down, and only there for celebratory drinks before he departs for a job interview.
However, things become very acrimonious between Henry and Eddie when Henry discovers that Wanda not only knows Eddie, has slept with him previously. Nevertheless, Henry stays with Wanda and continues to drink his nights away with her by his side, writing his poems and stories during the day, and submitting his work to magazines and book publishers.
In the meantime, Henry is tracked down by a wealthy female book publisher, Tully Sorenson, who has been impressed with his writing and is interested in publishing some of his work. She finds him through a private investigator she has hired, who breaks into Henry's apartment one afternoon and takes pictures of some of Henry's writing to verify to Tully the promise of Henry's work. Knowing Henry is destitute, Tully pays him an "advance" of five hundred dollars and takes him back to her home where, after pouring some drinks for the two of them, the two sleep together.
At first, Henry is impressed with the promise of wealth and security, including an endless supply of booze that working for Tully could provide. However, he begins to realize that he is uncomfortable being involved with Tully, romantically or professionally, because of class differences, telling her that she is "trapped in a cage with golden bars". Henry determines he must leave, that returning to his life of destitution and alcoholism is the only truth he knows.
After leaving Tully's house, Henry returns to his usual bar and to Wanda. Tully heads out to see if she can change his mind, and finds him at the bar where a drunken, jealous Wanda proceeds to beat her up. When Henry doesn't intercede, Tully realizes that Henry does not care about her and doesn't want her help. So she leaves the bar and gives up on publishing his work, realizing that her pursuit of him was futile.
The film ends with Henry buying drinks for all of his "friends" at the bar. Eddie suspects Henry has no money and is itching for a fight, so he tells Henry that he owes him forty dollars for the drinks. To Eddie's surprise, Henry pays with some of the advance he received from Tully and sarcastically leaves a tip for Eddie, saying, "Buy a drink on me." Eddie calls Henry out and they go out behind the bar for another fight. As Henry and the other barflies follow Eddie out the door, the camera pans out to the front of the bar to the sound of punches and the crowd cheering the two men on.

Tags: violence

Review:
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.
Perhaps Mickey Rourkes' final great performance, BARFLY sees him as prolific writer/poet Henry Chinaski who rejects conformity in every day society and believes it to be frustratingly fake.
A researcher who picks up talented writers like Henry enters the frame and falls for him due to his prolific writing and offers him a place in 'the good life' with her- but Henry rejects this when she tells him he will 'grow into it' (Rourke- growing is for plants- I hate roots).
BARFLY manages to do something profound that so many films fail to do- in showing us that conformity isn't suited to intelligent, open minded creative individuals like Henry.
Rourke excels himself in this role, it's as good a performance but a completely different one from his role in ANGEL HEART (starring in 3 great films, including RUMBLE FISH, really doesn't do him justice- he was the best of his generation in the 80's).
There was a humor, a tenderness, a coldness, a twisted romanticism, and a bleakness, all wrapped into a greasy, overweight (Rourke pulled a "De Niro", gaining weight and not bathing months before the film's shooting) package you could almost smell from the theater seats.Faye Dunaway as the aging, sad, beautiful barfly Wanda, gives a performance that yet again reminds us why she is a cinematic legend in her own time!
Sometimes a fight has to be - sometimes it's just plain pathetic, and both examples can be found in Barfly.Bukowski has always dared to put to page whatever entered his head, and did so with a twisted lovely flourish.Barbet Schroeder, the man behind such brilliant and critically acclaimed films such as "More" (1969), his work with director as Jean-Luc Godard, his contribution to French "Nouvelle Vague" or New Wave cinema, and his more mainstream flicks such as "Single White Female", places him in a category above many directors working in North America today.With Barfly, Schroeder captures the gritty realities of lives given over to the excesses of substances and circumstances in a true-to-life way, as he did with his first film "More", a flick about heroin addiction done at a time when the subject was still considered very taboo.
This is all counter-pointed wonderfully by the use of Mozart and Beethoven under Rourke's voice-overs of Chinaski's writing.To sum it all up - as much as I dig and respect Bukowski, I have to say that even though he wasn't a fan of the flick (long after its release I may add, and he was on set as an adviser and unaccredited cast member - why didn't he say something at the time?), I look at this movie as a wee gem and as a masterpiece daring enough to capture life's underbelly with an acuteness and accuracy many wouldn't dare to put to screen.~T.Paulwww.t-paul.com.
Tender and surprisingly straight to the heart romantic-comedy that features Mickey Rourke (in one of his best roles) as Henry, a partially hump-backed middle-aged man is proud to be a part-time poet and full-time drunk who finds himself in a short-time, drawn to a fellow alcoholic, Wanda (Faye Dunaway) and a civilized publisher, Tully (Alice Krige).Director Barbet Schroeder patiencely takes the movie, which is based on the work and maybe, life of not-so-sober poet Charles Bukowski, and transforms it into a meaningful movie.
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.
Still this is the only alcoholic experience that doesn't leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth, for the film is so wasted you wish you could have wasted more time watching it.The movie is written by Charles Bukowski, one of the most original authors of the last century, a man who gave to the trashiest and lowest life of American streets the letters of an inner nobility that no one could see, except the unfortunate (or were they?) misfits who belonged to that gripping underworld.
I wish I could have said that from my readings of some Bukowski's poems or novels, but it's been my whole life since I just knew about this man, and if one thing, "Barfly" is my first immersion in the world of this poet who stinks the sweet perfume of truth and not the one that awakens some repressed suicidal tendencies through a solemn voice over.
In "Barfly", truth is delivered through Henry's nasal voice with a musicality singing that life is too serious to be taken seriously  and the genius of the script is how unpretentiously but seriously hilarious it is.You literally savor the script like a sweet, red and juicy appetizer, starting with the most significant quote, the film's tag-line: "Some people never go crazy  what truly horrible lives they must live!" Henry is not right because it's naturally better to be crazy, his sentence exceeds his own personal comprehension of craziness, the point is not to be crazy like Henry, but the way we'd love to be every once in a while.
That's what cruelly lacks in today's films, I'd rather watch a movie where a bunch of true losers are having a good time than a bunch of dangerous losers creating a sort of fascist 'fighting' group to show the world they exist.
You can't be an artist if you're not an outcast and on that level, Chinasky is more than an artist, he's a genuine genius  So, if only for Rourke's spectacular performance, for the witty script, for the so enjoyably cheerful mood and its gallery of colorful and likable characters, not to mention the beautiful shots on Dunaway's sexy legs  this movie deserves to be consumed without moderation.
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.
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.
Are we supposed to believe that that a broken down, chronic alcoholic, who is disheveled, gets into fights, never bathes, never has money, and does not work, is a gifted writer who could sell a story to a publisher, who just so happens to be a beautiful rich woman, and further that this wreck of a man is able to have sex not just with one but with TWO attractive women who are willing to fight over him?
It is based on a screenplay by Charles Bukowksi, a man who was a writer, poet, and alcoholic himself, just like the main character in the film, Henry, who is played by Mickey Rourke.
It is as though the film was trying to say, 'Hey, a life of alcoholism, one - night stands, and bar - room brawls isn't a bad way of living after all!'.
I think Mr. Rourke took the title of the film literally and just thought it was a movie about a drunk, skipping the nuanced complexities of the character which Bukowski had attempted to develop.
On the third call Schroeder manages to say a little bit more, "Will you write a screenplay for $22,000.00?" This time Bukowski stays on the line.In a film that has countless problems I think this is the most outstanding.
Watching the film I wondered if Bukowski really wrote it, the film feels more like someone attempting to write a Bukowskiesque character study.Barbet Schroeder claims that Bukowski is his favorite author but his film seems to entirely miss that nail in favor of the clichéd and asinine.
These sequences play out wonderfully but scenes with similar potential are squandered by Schroeder's unambiguous attempts to make certain the audience "gets it." The scene with the Pegasus is destroyed in this fashion.Faye Dunaway and Mickey Rourke turn in inconsistent mediocre performances.
Rourke's interpretation of Bukowski is below par and superficial and Dunaway (Wanda) comes off like a stock character.The Biggest disappointment for me was Robby Müller.
Barfly is a visual failure compared to the level of work Müller is capable of delivering.I don't know if the shortcomings of this film can be credited to Bukowski's selling-out or if the blame should be placed on Schroeder.
I didn't even know who Charles Bukowski was at the time, I just thought the trailers looked good and I guess, was a fan of Mickey Rourke, whom I had just seen in 'ANGEL HEART' .
It's a short movie, under 90 minutes, and some would say it's depressing to watch....but I loved the hell out of it and would venture to say it is possibly Rourke's & Dunaway's best work.
The characters played by Rourke and Dunaway just give the impression they pass through life without noticing it, their ambitions being all but to get some more drinks at the next corner's bar, even if they can't pay it.
"I don't hate cops, I just feel better when they're not around..." Henry is a hard drinking, fighting, uncouth slob whose shrunken liver is encased in a machine powered by ethanol that is made to come to life by Mickey Rourke in this gem of a film from the late 1980s.
The gritty street scenes and back alley brawls superimposed on the gilded 'cage' of poetic and literary stardom that could be Henry's make for a great story that is somewhat biographical of the cult writer Charles Bukowski, whose life is used as a template.I recommend this as a modern day tale of our century's Poe, with drinking, debauchery, and just great quotes abundant within.DLC.
BARFLY, written by Charles Bukowski, is a semi-autobiographical account of Henry, a talented poet/writer that is content to spend all of his time drinking himself into oblivion.
Henry (Mickey Rourke in an incredible performance) hangs out in a run down bar where no one likes him and he constantly picks fights (and loses) with the night bartender, played by Frank Stallone.
This semi-biographical of author/poet/drunk Charles Bukowski gives an insight into what life is like for those who do not fit into society or who have been rejected by it.
Rourke plays Henry; part-time writer, full time drunk.Sharing in his inebriated lifestyle is Wanda essayed by Faye Dunaway.
Purveyors of such action fare as American Ninja and Delta Force.However do not let that sway you from checking out this movie, be you a fan of Mickey Rourke or Faye Dunaway, because everything rocks about this film.
My sole reason for seeing it rested on the fact that it was the first and only script written by the master himself Charles Bukowski himself.If you look closely in the scene where Henry first meets Wanda you'll see the man sitting on a bar stool having a Budweiser.
Mickey Rourke gives the performance of his career as the misanthropic author and drunk, Henry Chinaski.
Faye Dunaway is also outstanding as Wanda, the slightly loopy lady who will gravitate to pretty much any man, as long as he can supply her with a steady flow of booze.The writer Charles Bukowski wrote the screenplay, so naturally fans of his writing will like it.
There are some truly hilarious moments, lots of drinking, pondering of universal truths, and wonderful shots of a seedy Los Angeles.The beauty of "Barfly", is like the beauty in much of Bukowski's writing.
Faye Dunaway plays the Barfly...an alcoholic lady who hangs out in dive bars to get free drinks from men who she'll be "friendly" with...and Henry (Rourke) is one of these men...
Playing a restless, shambling gutter-snipe named Henry Chinaski, he careens through the film consuming any booze he can get his hands on, barely maintaining already dysfunctional relationships and haunting his derelict apartment, as well as that of a fellow rummy he meets in the form of excellent Faye Dunaway, looking equal parts haggard and angelic until we're not sure what we're looking at.
Let me start by explaining the plot.The main character, Hank, is an alcoholic writer, and spends all of his days drinking at the bar, getting into fights, lounging around at home, or writing.
Mickey Rourke has never given a finer performance than as Henry, a "Bukowski-esque" writer/barfly struggling to survive along with the other dregs of society.
Directed by Barbet Schroeder, Barfly did not find a large audience but critics and the lucky few to see this film in the theater became instant fans, knowing they have just viewed a small masterpiece.However the real thrill is Dunaway appearing at a time when her Hollywood star was suffering still from "Mommie Dearest".
She tries to give him an new look for him but he has to choose, what is right for him or stay being one person rotting away with a sleazy misadventure after next.Directed by Barbet Schroeder (Before and After, Murder by Numbers, Single White Female) made a hip, flip and often gruesomely semi-autobiographical film written by the late Charles Bukowski.
Chinasky goes around doing unexpected things, keeping himself moderately drunk constantly.I like the film and it gives me the same kind of smile as Bukowskis books give me.
He's got something to prove to the overgrown barkeep (none other than FRANK Stallone), and plenty of no-brainer adventures with his current hitch, played by the luminous Faye Dunaway.It's this kind of story that I like the best:  wayward genius must choose between living by his emotions and whims, or taking responsibility and getting on with his life.
About the actors: this was NOT Mickey Rourke's 'finest hour' (as his chameleon-like acting can grate at times), but I have to admit he was pretty darn close with the slow drawl, the introspective ways, and the power in which a BUM (and he loved to be called this, not the politically correc t HOMELESS invented by the liberal bleeding hearts) could command a bar, a room, a woman, anything he tried to touch in his life.
If you know nothing about the writer and the lead character of the movie, Charles Bukowski you may like the performance of the actor and praise him.
So it is not a surprise of Charles Bukowski's condemnation of Mickey Rourke's portrayal of him (Chinaski) in the movie..
This is one of those rare films that really captures "The down and out!" But, really you're down and out IF you ARE down and out!....Barfly shows the reality of some lives...Wake up..Drink...Drink all day...Drink all night...Drink right before you sleep...and start all over again the next day...I know people that are like each of the characters in this movie...I LOVE THIS FILM!!!
Why can't I find it for sale anywhere..I ended up buying a Greek subtitled version off of ebay because I always wanted to see it again.You really don't notice the subtitles after a few minutes.This Movie shows a realistic looking world of rummies and barfights and mickey rourke does an amazing job of making a defiant alchoholic poet come to life.I highly recommend this if you haven't seen it before.It doesn't make alcoholism romantic but it does make you think about your values from a different point of view..
Mickey Rourke is great as pathetic drunk Henry Chinaski, spending his entire life in the bars and getting into fights whenever possible.
All i can say about this classic film is that its a crying shame not more people have seen it.Mickey Rourke is outstanding as alcholic poet Henry Chinaski in this comedy drama based on the life of controversial poet Charles Bukowski.The film has just the right mixture of black comedy and drama with Rourke producing his best work.
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.
As they wallow in their drunkenness, Henry is pursued by a detective and a women news writer who wants to publish one of his stories.Almost feeling like a film told in a dreamlike state, Barfly is a character study that revels in irony and self-loathing.
Heck, just watching this movie made me feel drunk.The reason it works I suspect is that Mickey Rourke's character Henrylikes his life just the way it is.
Mickey Rourke plays Henry Chinaski, an alcoholic who bounces from one menial job to the next.
Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway are fantastic in roles of Bukowski's alter-ego Henry Chinaski and his lover Wanda, two people with a soul, but soaked in alcohol.