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The Worst Film Ever

hyped garbage

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Barbet Schroeder at his best! And "More" and "Single White Female" I really enjoyed. Very much. But here, the director managed to overcome himself. When I first saw it, I think it was in 1987 or 1988, I did not like it, I found it boring. I was only 29 years old. Watched again in June 2018, I rediscovered it, I see it with other eyes and another mind. A true masterpiece, a unique cinema piece. Mickey Rourke makes a role of great value. Faye Dunaway the same. Also Alice Krige who is very beautiful. All the actors are exceptional. The story is exceptional. The music is cool. Directed and filmed brilliantly. I think I've woken up, at least, after 30 years...

Barfly was written directly for the screen by one of my all-time favorite authors, Charles Bukowski. Mickey Rourke has never given a finer performance than as Henry, a "Bukowski-esque" writer/barfly struggling to survive along with the other dregs of society. Faye Dunaway shines as Wanda, Henry's newly found, (sometimes lover) drinking partner. Directed by Barbet Schroeder, Barfly did not find a large audience but critics and the lucky few to see this film in the theater became instant fans, knowing they have just viewed a small masterpiece.However the real thrill is Dunaway appearing at a time when her Hollywood star was suffering still from "Mommie Dearest". I find her performance here probably one of her best and she captures beautifully the louche attitude of a beautiful woman too attracted to the bottle and heading for oblivion. This film is certainly up there with Bonnie & Clyde, Chinatown and Network in showing what she was capable of when well directed and stretched.Also special mention should be made of the two support actors J. C. Quinn as Chinaski's friend and Alice Krige as the wealthy and attractive publisher attracted to the doomed Chinaski and not realising she is out of her depth when confronted by Dunaway. Add to this a very memorable cast of cheap bar low-lifes who all feed off each other and some smart art direction and camera-work. The several shots of daylight streaming into those dark room long bars when the bar door is opened and the inhabitants react dazedly captures the milieu of their twilight existence perfectly, and the bitter sweet ending of having gone full circle in the story depicts the entrapment of such an existence beautifully.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

Love blossoms in the gutter when a shabby skid row derelict meets an alcoholic floozy in the bars of outer LA, but don't be dismayed by all the rampant sleaze: despite the vivid atmosphere of cheap booze and wasted lives this unique and unusual film represents a minor triumph of comic nonconformity. The script was written by low-life poet Charles Bukowski and is filled with all his favorite things: winos, hookers, losers, and a "wet rat in the rain", played to perfection by Mickey Roarke, who with his flabby posture and smooth beatnik whisper gives the character more humor and humanity than Bukowski may have intended. Give Roarke credit for choosing to appear in such an unflattering role, but this is no ordinary bum. He's a philosopher drunkard who listens to Mozart and Mahler when he isn't picking a fight or puking in an alley after one drink too many, a man whose total freedom from responsibility gives him the power to be completely spontaneous. Faye Dunaway isn't allowed the same depth of character, but together they help make this one of the few films for which the word skuzzy can aptly be used as a compliment.

I never heard of this when it came out.A Sleeper? Why can't I find it for sale anywhere..I ended up buying a Greek subtitled version off of ebay because I always wanted to see it again.You really don't notice the subtitles after a few minutes.This Movie shows a realistic looking world of rummies and barfights and mickey rourke does an amazing job of making a defiant alchoholic poet come to life.I highly recommend this if you haven't seen it before.It doesn't make alcoholism romantic but it does make you think about your values from a different point of view.