Barfly (1987)
January 9, 2025 5:47 PM - Subscribe
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.
Watched this a while ago and was pretty underwhelmed by it; Bukowski has generally struck me as someone who is sort of a starter outsider artist--people pick up his work either as part of a phase that they're working through when they're young, or eventually move on to better artists. I say this as someone who still owns a T-shirt with Bukowski's face on it (illustration by Robert Crumb, another artist whom I'm not really that into any more), and who went through his own serious barfly phase (which may have influenced the opinion above, admittedly).
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:27 AM on January 10 [3 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:27 AM on January 10 [3 favorites]
I haven't seen this movie, so have nothing to contribute, other than I always read the title as "barf-lee" in my head and giggle to myself
I’ve seen it several times and I do that too.
posted by Lemkin at 8:15 AM on January 10 [1 favorite]
I’ve seen it several times and I do that too.
posted by Lemkin at 8:15 AM on January 10 [1 favorite]
I do the name thing too and the great thing is both pronunciations are appropriate for this movie
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:36 AM on January 10 [3 favorites]
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:36 AM on January 10 [3 favorites]
I saw this in the theater when it first came out (I was a big indy movie aficionado at the time and despite its stars it "qualified" to play in one of the arthouse cinemas of Atlanta, iirc), and knowing nothing about Bukowski or the story I was put off a bit by Rourke's extremely mannered acting in it. I haven't seen it since, and expect I would view it much differently now.
posted by Pedantzilla at 11:12 AM on January 10 [1 favorite]
posted by Pedantzilla at 11:12 AM on January 10 [1 favorite]
Rourke's extremely mannered acting
I couldn’t place what his vocal mannerism reminded me of until someone called it the Snagglepuss accent.
posted by Lemkin at 11:50 AM on January 10 [4 favorites]
I couldn’t place what his vocal mannerism reminded me of until someone called it the Snagglepuss accent.
posted by Lemkin at 11:50 AM on January 10 [4 favorites]
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posted by mrphancy at 7:07 AM on January 10 [5 favorites]