The Kino Flo light, now a ubiquitous tool in the film industry, was specially created by Robby Müller's electrical crew for the bathroom scene with Henry and Wanda, which would have been difficult to light using the conventional lampheads available at the time.
Henry Chinaski is a destitute alcoholic who lives in a rundown apartment in Los Angeles 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.
Henry frequents a bar called The Golden Horn, where he drinks, hangs out with other down and out alcoholics, and gets into altercations with the tough guy bartender he hates, Eddie. One night, Henry gets into a fight with Eddie and loses. Realizing he needs to eat before fighting (to gain energy) to win, he grabs the sandwich out of one of the patrons' hands and eats it, disgusting the patron and angering the bar owner, Jim, one of Henry's best friends. Jim tells Henry to go lie down in his apartment for a few hours. After an afternoon nap, Henry steals from another apartment to eat in preparation to fight Eddie.
Henry returns to The Golden Horn later that evening, and antagonizes Eddie until he finally challenges him to another fight.
Henry then staggers on to another establishment down the street called the Kenmore, where he continues his imbibement. There, he meets Wanda, a fellow alcoholic and a kept woman. Wanda is initially annoyed with Henry, telling him she "hates people," but is intrigued by his sarcastic and witty responses. The two buy liquor at a store across the street, and Wanda then steals corn from a cornfield, attracting the attention of the police. The two run to her apartment, evading them. Wanda boils the corn but discovers it is green and inedible, and then freaks out, saying that nothing in her life ever works out. Henry comforts her.
However, things become acrimonious between Henry and Wanda when Henry discovers that Wanda has slept with Eddie. After he chastises her for it, Wanda beats Henry with her purse, knocking him unconscious. Later, a detective following Henry sees him covered in blood and calls 911. Two paramedics arrive and are unfazed by Henry's being covered in blood, telling him not to waste their time. Wanda returns later, and the two apologize to one another. Later that night, Wanda claims to be dying in bed, seeing angels. Henry calls 911 and the same two paramedics arrive, much to his surprise, and they claim Wanda is just drunk and "too fat."
After Wanda leaves to look for a job the next morning, Henry is tracked down by Tully Sorenson, a wealthy female book publisher, who has been impressed with his writing and is interested in publishing some of his work. She finds him through the detective she has hired. Knowing Henry is destitute, Tully pays him an "advance" of $500. Henry then breaks into another apartment after hearing a man abusing his wife. After the man threatens to cut his wife's throat, he and Henry get into an altercation which results in the man being stabbed. Henry scrambles out of the apartment building and goes for a drive in L.A. with Tully. At one point, he rams a car where a man and woman are making out while the light is green. Tully tells him he was immature and reckless in his response. She then takes him back to her home where, after drinks, 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. 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." 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 does not intercede, Tully realizes that Henry does not care about her and does not want her help. So she leaves the bar and gives up on publishing his work, realizing that her pursuit of him was futile.
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.
Charles Bukowski wanted Sean Penn to star as protagonist Henry Chinaski, but Penn insisted that Dennis Hopper direct the film.[5] Bukowski had written the screenplay for Barbet Schroeder, who had filmed him for French TV years before, but would not surrender the script to Hopper, whom he despised as a gold-chain-wearing Hollywood phony; Bukowski and Penn remained friends for the rest of Bukowski's life.[6]
There is a scene where the camera tilts up over Faye Dunaway's legs.[7] This glamour shot was done at her insistence and was not in the original screenplay.[8]
The apartment building where Wanda's apartment is located was an actual building where Charles Bukowski and his lover Jane Cooney Baker, the real-life counterparts to Henry and Wanda, had lived. No one knew this until Bukowski, who was watching the filming, remembered.[citation needed]
The opening and closing song for the film is the 1967 instrumental "Hip Hug-Her" by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, released in their 1967 album.
Bukowski's reaction to the film
Charles Bukowski had mixed reactions about the lead performance by Mickey Rourke. In an interview in the 2003 documentary film Born into This, Bukowski said that Rourke "didn't get it right... He had it all kind of exaggerated, untrue. He was a little bit showoff about it. So, no, it was kind of misdone."[9] This contrasted with a 1987 interview Bukowski had conducted with film critic Roger Ebert on the set of Barfly, in which Bukowski said he thought Rourke was "doing a good acting job. I didn't really expect him to be so good."[10][11] In addition, the original 1987 press kit for the film included a letter by Bukowski titled "A Letter from a Fan", in which the writer stated: "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".[12]
Bukowski later novelized his experiences surrounding the film in the book Hollywood.[8]
Critical reception
Barfly received positive reviews from critics, holding a 76% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10.[13]
Nominee, Best Actor – Independent Spirit Awards (Mickey Rourke)[15]
In popular culture
The NOFX song "Green Corn" on their 1991 album Ribbed references Tully in the lyrics, "Tully, baby, you're trapped behind your golden bars; I'm the prince of poverty hangin' out in bars", and finishes with the lyrics, "maybe what we had was just green corn".[16]
A line of dialogue from the movie was used in a track titled "Only Angel" from Harry Styles' self-titled debut album.[17]
In an episode of the television series Mission Hill, Andy French mistakenly rents Barfly while seeking movies with notable vomit scenes.[18]
Related Research Articles
Henry Charles Bukowski was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted home city of Los Angeles. Bukowski's work addresses the ordinary lives of poor Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women, and the drudgery of work. The FBI kept a file on him as a result of his column Notes of a Dirty Old Man in the LA underground newspaper Open City.
Dorothy Faye Dunaway is an American actress. She is the recipient of many accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and a BAFTA Award. In 2011, the government of France made her an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters.
Barfly may refer to:
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. is an American actor and former professional boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading man in drama, action, and thriller films.
Barbet Schroeder is an Iranian-born Swiss film director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working with directors of the French New Wave such as Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer.
More is a 1969 English-language romantic drama film written and directed by Barbet Schroeder in his directorial debut. Starring Mimsy Farmer and Klaus Grünberg, the film deals with heroin addiction as drug fascination on the island of Ibiza, Spain. Made in the political fallout of the 1960s counterculture, it features drug use, "free love", and other references to contemporary European youth culture.
Henry Charles "Hank" Chinaski is the literary alter ego of the American writer Charles Bukowski, appearing in five of Bukowski's novels, a number of his short stories and poems, and the films Barfly and Factotum. Although much of Chinaski's biography is based on Bukowski's own life story, the Chinaski character is still a literary creation that is constructed with the veneer of what the writer Adam Kirsch calls "a pulp fiction hero." Works of fiction that feature the character include Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live With the Beasts (1965), Post Office (1971), South of No North (1973), Factotum (1975), Women (1978), Ham on Rye (1982), Hot Water Music (1983), Hollywood (1989), and Septuagenarian Stew (1990). He is also mentioned briefly in the beginning of Bukowski's last novel, Pulp (1994).
Ham on Rye is a 1982 semi-autobiographical novel by American author and poet Charles Bukowski. Written in the first person, the novel follows Henry Chinaski, Bukowski's thinly veiled alter ego, during his early years. Written in Bukowski's characteristically straightforward prose, the novel tells of his coming-of-age in Los Angeles during the Great Depression.
Post Office is the first novel written by American writer Charles Bukowski, published in 1971. The book is an autobiographical memoir of Bukowski's years working at the United States Postal Service. The film rights to the novel were sold in the early 1970s, but a film has not been made thus far.
Fat City is a 1972 American sports drama film directed and produced by John Huston, and adapted by Leonard Gardner from his 1969 novel of the same title. It stars Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges, Susan Tyrrell, and Candy Clark in her film debut.
Factotum is a 2005 French-Norwegian dark comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Bent Hamer, adapted from the 1975 novel of the same name by Charles Bukowski. It stars Matt Dillon as Bukowski's alter ego, Henry Chinaski. Although events in the book take place in Los Angeles in the 1940s, the film has a contemporary setting.
Women is a 1978 novel written by Charles Bukowski, starring his semi-autobiographical character Henry Chinaski. In contrast to Factotum, Post Office and Ham on Rye, Women is centered on Chinaski's later life, as a celebrated poet and writer, not as a dead-end lowlife. It does, however, feature the same constant carousel of women with whom Chinaski only finds temporary fulfillment.
Hollywood is a 1989 novel by Charles Bukowski which fictionalizes his experiences writing the screenplay for the film Barfly and taking part in its tumultuous journey to the silver screen. It is narrated in the first person.
Albino Alligator is a 1996 American crime thriller film. The directorial debut of Kevin Spacey as well as the screenwriting debut of Christian Forte, it stars Matt Dillon, Faye Dunaway, and Gary Sinise. It tells the story of three small-time criminals who take hostages after being cornered by the police. The title refers to an anecdote told in the film, claiming that alligators will use an albino among them as sacrifice, so that the opposing alligators will be distracted and become prey themselves.
The Arrangement is a 1969 American drama film directed by Elia Kazan, based upon his 1967 novel of the same title.
Factotum (1975) is a picaresque novel by American author Charles Bukowski. It is Bukowski’s second novel and a prequel to Post Office (1971).
The Charles Bukowski Tapes are a collection of short interviews with the American writer/poet Charles Bukowski, filmed and assembled by Barbet Schroeder and first published in 1985. Today, the video documentary is considered a cult classic.
Hip Hug-Her is the fifth studio album by the Southern soul band Booker T. & the M.G.'s, released on Stax Records in June 1967. The title track was the band's most successful single since their debut, "Green Onions" while their cover of the Young Rascals song "Groovin'" was also a hit. The album was their last to be produced by Stax co-founder Jim Stewart, because the band started to produce themselves starting with Doin' Our Thing. The title track Hip Hug-Her is featured during the opening credits of the feature film Barfly (1987) with Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway.
The Wicked Lady is a 1983 British-American period drama directed by Michael Winner and starring Faye Dunaway, Alan Bates, John Gielgud, Denholm Elliott, and Hugh Millais. It was screened out of competition at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. It is a remake of the 1945 film of the same name, which was one of the popular series of Gainsborough melodramas.
Charles Bukowski's work has influenced popular culture many times over in many forms, and his work has been referenced in film, television, music and theater.
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