Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Barfly (1987)

Director: Barbet Schroeder

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Rourke plays one Henry Chimaski, habitué of the Golden Horn, a '40s down-town LA dive where no iceman cometh, but one day battered princess Wanda (Dunaway) does. A few hard days' nights in Wanda's flat has the two barflies abandoning their tentative move towards a mutual expression of need in favour of rejoining the death-wish trail. Chimaski is as articulate as a lorry, so the arrival of 'beautiful' literary agent Tully (Krige) in pursuit of his genius and punchy charm comes as a surprise; his refusal of her largesse is merely a chance to show Integrity. Schroeder's direction of Charles Bukowski's script is consistent with the film's throwaway mood, stresses the upbeat, and mercifully eschews seriousness, cleverly relying on Robby Müller's efficient colour photography to create atmosphere.

Author: WH 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Barbet Schroeder

Producer: Barbet Schroeder, Fred Roos, Tom Luddy

Cast: Mickey Rourke, Faye Dunaway, Alice Krige, JC Quinn, Frank Stallone, Jack Nance, Sandy Martin full cast

Duration: 100 mins

Related articles


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.