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Classic Movie Review: 'Barfly'

Bukowski and Schroder deliver an authentic 'Barfly.'

By Sean PatrickPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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Charles Bukowski’s writing transcends experience. Something about his words can penetrate all life experience. I’ve never been through the gutters that Bukowski frequented, I’ve never even had a drink of alcohol, but there is something so powerful, visceral, and evocative in Bukowski’s skid row poetry, it’s hard not to be moved or have your stomach turned or to smile and not even know why. Bukowski’s naturalism, his vivid realities, speak to human experiences in the most unique ways.

That said, Bukowski’s prose was never thought to be a natural for the big screen. And yet, here we are with Barfly turning 30 years old this weekend. Bukowski wrote the screenplay at the behest of director Barbet Schroder who promised direct the film exactly as Bukowski wrote. It took nearly a decade and the insane producers Menachem Golan and Yoram Globus to make it happen, but Schroder lived up to his promise. Barfly is fully and completely a product of Bukowski.

Mickey Rourke stars in Barfly as Henry Cisnaski, a Bukowski stand in. Henry is a drunk and a bum but he has the soul of Bukowski. Henry is a writer when the moment strikes him. In the midst of another endless bender, Henry is occasionally inspired and writes short stories that in moments of clarity he sends to publishers. One such publisher is on Henry’s trail throughout Barfly with the help of a detective but that isn’t the story of Barfly.

What story there is in this non-traditional narrative centers on Henry’s relationship with a fellow drunk named Wanda (Faye Dunaway). The two meet in a bar, naturally, and share drunken hard luck stories before she takes advantage of a friend to buy more booze for the two of them. She brings Henry to her apartment, only slightly better than his hovel and invites him to stay but with the warning that she would likely go home one night with a man who could afford booze.

Henry meanwhile finally does meet with the publisher and the two spend a day together that gives Henry a glimpse of the life his writing could give him but without the things that have inspired him. It’s another terrific series of scenes with Alice Krige playing the publisher and sparking beautifully off of Rourke’s Henry. Their interlude is weird and exciting and a little sexy but always true. Henry is genuinely dedicated to Wanda in his way but his true allegiance is to experience. What kind of experience he and the publisher have is something that the movie keeps for itself.

As I mentioned earlier, this is not a traditional narrative. There isn’t a filmic story here, it’s a series of experiences that center on Henry’s constant search for his next drink and his next spark of inspiration. Much of the film's runtime is dedicated to Henry getting into a barfight with a bartender played by Frank Stallone. Much time is dedicated to Henry’s ability to absorb punishing blows and give back a few of his own.

The outcome of these fights isn’t the point, it’s the experience. It’s about showing who is the bigger man, about proving that you're tougher. It’s also about the small amounts of cash that goes to the winner so that they can buy more booze, an irony considering that Stallone is the bartender who will inevitably get all of the money back were he to lose to Henry. But as I said, winning and losing don’t matter as much as the visceral, life affirming pain of a good solid punch in the gut.

Bukowski was dedicated to such experiences. He wanted to feel something and if that feeling was the intense pain of a slug in the gut or the softness of a woman’s touch or that first taste of a new bottle of booze, the experience is what mattered. Fighting, sex, drinking, drugs, waking up in strange places were the mixture of life that drove Bukowski and what drives Rourke’s vivid caricature of Bukowski in Barfly, an incredibly entertaining, lively, and wonderfully talky performance, arguably the best of Rourke’s career.

Rourke is matched brilliantly by Faye Dunaway who gives a different spin to her alcoholic. Wanda doesn't seem drunk so much as always just a little tipsy. She's volatile but her beauty is a perfect mask, always keeping her demons just below the surface. Her demons are demonstrated in far more destructive ways, usually involving sex as a currency for the next buzz. It's a brilliant, breathy, full-bodied performance that matches Dunaway's best work as well.

Barfly is the kind of movie that actors live for. It's filled with odd little touches for the actors to linger on. It may not satisfy audiences seeking a typical narrative feature but if you love the skill of actors indulging in their characters, you will find Barfly to be endlessly, fascinatingly entertaining.

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About the Creator

Sean Patrick

Hello, my name is Sean Patrick He/Him, and I am a film critic and podcast host for the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast I am a voting member of the Critics Choice Association, the group behind the annual Critics Choice Awards.

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