The late Charles Bukowski is a highly regarded and influential writer in America . I know this because I once had a friend ( Hope you read this Ange and apologies in advance ) who was a massive fan and if it wasn't for her I'd never heard of the guy who is totally unknown in Britain and if it wasn't for this film adaptation of his semi autobiographical novel BARFLY he'd be even more obscure , but even then this film is half forgotten and I was totally convinced that it was a star vehicle for Jack Nicholson and Meryll Streep until I saw it again today and I'm not surprised it's somewhat forgotten . Some people have criticised it's lost something from page to screen . Well I think that's happens to drunks . We've all heard of the vodka diet - " I lost four days in a week " One can perhaps see the appeal of the black comedy elements as Henry Chinaski and Wanda Wilcox as they drink themselves in to nightly oblivion . There is of course strong autobiographical elements to the story with Chinaski being Charles Bukowski in everything but name and the character arc of Chinaski mirroring that of Bukowski . Chinaski is an urban anti-hero but if there's a problem with anti-heroes they've a peculiar idiosyncratic character quirks that makes them unlikable to a degree . The degree of unlikability to Chinaski is a bit too extreme . He's not a courageous quixotic existentialist figure fighting against a world of indifference but one who is happy to live life through alcoholic soma . As someone who grew up in a drinking culture in the West of Scotland surrounded by drunks I can state without fear of contradiction that drunks are almost universally worthless degenerates amongst the lowest examples of humanity . Disagree ? If someone's ambition extends no further then their next drink then how is that different from an insect whose whole DNA instructs it to have no more ambition to nibble the nearest leaf ? No difference at all from an intellectual point of view . Let's not also forget that in Victorian Britain all drugs were legal and yet literature chronicles that the worst drug of the masses was alcohol . More addictive than heroin , more mind bending than magic mushrooms alcohol along with religion are the worst thing the human species has invented

"Henry Chinaski" (Mickey Rourke) is a drunken bum who is a regular customer of a nightclub in Los Angeles called "The Golden Horn". He disdains one of the bartenders named "Eddie" (Frank Stallone) which results in frequent fistfights which Henry typically loses. One night, however, he manages to beat up Eddie and because of it he is ejected from the bar. Needing a new place to satisfy his alcoholism he wanders into another nightclub where he meets "Wanda Wilcox" (Faye Dunaway) who is just as alcoholic as he is. Naturally, they hit it off right away. When she tells him she dislikes people in general, he responds by saying that he doesn't dislike them so much as he simply feels better when they're not around. Anyway, rather than spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it, I will just say this isn't just a film about barroom brawls and drinking. Instead there are some philosophical points made in the midst of the squalor that even "Tully Sorenson" (Alice Krige) may not quite understand. 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. Above average.

Somehow this film stuck in the back of my head as something really good I had seen in the 80's and when I had the chance to see it again I jumped at the chance. Oh dear. I never made the connection between "Barfly" and Charles Bukowski's writings, which I read 10 years later, and there's a good reason why. This is awful and untrue to the writing. Mickey Rourke seems to have based his acting on cartoon characters. Foghorn Leghorn for the physical acting and Sylvester the cat with a touch of WC Fields for speaking. He could do no wrong at the time, who was going to tell him otherwise? Set in a different time period from the writings it misses a chance to draw comparisons between those lost to society post-Great depression and their hugely similar post-Reagan counterparts. Bukowski had "Don't try" written on his gravestone, a phrase from one of his poems. Obviously everyone involved in this film read that poem. Watch "Factotum".

Rourke was and is one of the most unusual talents in modern movies. I saw him first in Rumble Fish and was hooked - and later in Barfly.The movie is tragic - and magic. It appeals to the sense of the dreamer in all of us - limited only by our ability or inability to loose the bonds of self-imposed craving, addiction - "that which we can't do without" - whatever that may be.Faye Dunaway is just beautiful in Barfly and the relationship between Dunaway and Rourke is one of the great unsung romantic partnerships on screen. Imagine if you will if Rhett Butler hit the bottle in his late forties and Scarlet suddenly twigged that she couldn't have kids and gin tasted better anyway - it would look like Rourke and Dunaway! Its been years since I saw the movie but the memory of it is never far away and its about time I bought a copy. If you've seen Rourke in Sin City you're just not getting the full picture of one of the most gifted, badly managed actors in the business. The nineties should have belonged to Rourke.Enjoy.