Barfly (film)

Barfly is a 1987 American comedy drama film directed by Barbet Schroeder and starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. The film is a semi-autobiography of poet/author Charles Bukowski during the time he spent drinking heavily in Los Angeles. The screenplay by Bukowski was commissioned by the French film director Schroeder, and it was published (with illustrations by the author) in 1984, when film production was still pending.^[1]

The Kino Flo light, now a ubiquitous tool in the film industry, was specially created by Robby Müller's electrical crew for a scene in this film, which would have been difficult to light using the conventional lampheads available at the time.

The film was "presented by" Francis Ford Coppola, and features a silent cameo appearance by Bukowski himself. It was entered into the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.^[2]

Plot

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.

At night, he frequents a local establishment where he drinks, hangs out with other down and out alcoholics, and gets into altercations with patrons along with a 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. 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 Eddie, 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 faith in Henry, bets on him. This time, however, Henry wins and thus the Bar owner wins his bet which he gives to Henry so that he can buy a couple drinks for the night, as he is no longer welcome at his regular bar.

Henry then staggers on to another establishment. 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 live the booze soaked life together, Henry takes Wanda to his usual establishment for celebratory drinks before he departs for an interview.

Things become very acrimonious between Henry and Eddie when Henry discovers that Wanda has slept with Eddie. Nevertheless, Henry stays with Wanda and continues to drink his nights away with her by his side, writing 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 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.

Cast

• Mickey Rourke as Henry Chinaski
• Faye Dunaway as Wanda Wilcox
• Alice Krige as Tully Sorenson
• Jack Nance as Detective
• J.C. Quinn as Jim
• Frank Stallone as Eddie
• Sandy Martin as Janice
• Roberta Bassin as Lilly
• Gloria LeRoy as Grandma Moses
• Joe Unger as Ben
• Harry Cohn as Rick
• Pruitt Taylor Vince as Joe
• Fritz Feld as Bum
• Charles Bukowski as Oldtimer
• Albert Henderson as Louie

Production

• There is a scene where the camera tilts up over Faye Dunaway's legs.^[3] This glamour shot was done at her insistence and was not in the original screenplay.^[4]
• Charles Bukowski later novelized his experiences surrounding the film in the book Hollywood.
• Charles Bukowski wanted Sean Penn to star as protagonist Henry Chinaski, but Penn insisted that Dennis Hopper direct the film. Bukowski had written the screenplay for Barbet Schroeder, who had filmed him for French TV years before, and would not surrender it to Hopper, whom he despised as a gold-chain-wearing Hollywood phony. Bukowski and Penn remained friends for the rest of Bukowski's life.
• Bukowski had mixed reactions about the lead performance by Mickey Rourke. In an interview in the documentary film Born Into This, Bukowski says, "[Rourke] didn't get it right. . . He had it all kind of exaggerated, untrue. A little bit show-off about him. So, no, it was kind of mis-done". Although in a letter written apropos the film, titled "A Letter from a Fan", the writer states "[...]Part of my luck was the actor who played Henry Chinaski. Mickey Rourke stayed with the dialogue to the word and the sound intended. What surprised me was that he added another dimension to the character, in spirit. Mickey appeared to really love his role, and yet without exaggeration he added his own flavor, his zest, his madness, his gamble to Henry Chinaski without destroying the intent or the meaning of the character. To add spirit to spirit can be dangerous but not in the hands of a damned good actor. Without distorting, he added, and I was very pleased with the love and understanding he lent to the role of the BARFLY".^[5]
• The apartment building where Wanda's apartment is located was an actual building where Charles Bukowski and his lover Jane Baker Cooley, the real-life counterparts to Henry and Wanda, had lived. No one knew this until Bukowski, who was watching the filming, remembered.

Reception

Barfly received positive reviews from critics, as it holds a 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 18 reviews.

Awards and honors

• Nominee Best Actress-Drama - Golden Globes (Faye Dunaway)
• Nominee Palme d'Or - Cannes Film Festival
• Nominee Best Cinematography - Independent Spirit Awards (Robby Müller)
• Nominee Best Actor - Independent Spirit Awards (Mickey Rourke)

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – Nominated^[6]

Popular culture connections

Barfly is referenced in the 2009 movie Precious.

Several Barfly quotes are referenced in the NOFX song, "Green Corn" (including the title itself), from their 1991 album Ribbed.

Other movies based on the life or writings of Bukowski include Bukowski: Born into This (2003 documentary), Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981), Crazy Love (1987), and Factotum (2005). Actor James Franco is said to be working, as of 2011, on a movie version of Ham on Rye.^[7]

The film was mentioned in a Season 5 episode of the television series, Entourage. One of the show's characters, Johnny Drama (who plays an actor in the show), claims that he did three days as an extra on the movie.

References

External links

• Barfly at the Internet Movie Database
• Barfly at Rotten Tomatoes
• Barfly at Box Office Mojo
• Barfly at the TCM Movie Database
• Barfly at AllMovie
• On Set article by Roger Ebert
• Charles Bukowski's Barfly: The Dignity and Depravity of Emotion by Jay Dougherty
• Barfly Quotes