Synopsis
Downtrodden writer Henry and distressed goddess Wanda aren't exactly husband and wife: they're wedded to their bar stools. But, they like each other's company—and Barfly captures their giddy, gin-soaked attempts to make a go of life on the skids.
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Cast
- Mickey RourkeHenry Chinaski
- Faye DunawayWanda Wilcox
- Alice KrigeTully Sorenson
- Jack NanceDetective
- J.C. QuinnJim
- Frank Stallone Jr.Eddie
- Sandy MartinJanice
- Roberta BassinLilly
- Gloria LeRoyGrandma Moses
- Joe UngerBen
Recommendations
- 100
Chicago Sun-Times
A truly original American movie, a film like no other, a period of time spent in the company of the kinds of characters Saroyan and O'Neill would have understood, the kinds of people we try not to see, and yet might enjoy more than some of our more visible friends. - 90
Los Angeles Times
This seedy Barfly is beautifully written, acted and directed. It may be full of dank desire, wasted love and jesting misery--but it blooms. Whatever its flaws, it does something more films should do: It opens up territory, opens up a human being. - 80
TV Guide Magazine
Not a film for everyone, but the unrelieved squalor of Barfly offers its own peculiar fascinations. - 80
The New York Times
Though it's set within the world of the seriously down-and-out in Los Angeles and is about people who are at the end of their ropes, Barfly somehow manages to be gallant and even cheerful. It has an admirably lean, unsentimental screenplay by Charles Bukowski, the poet laureate of America's misbegotten. - 75
Washington Post
A highly watchable slice-of-low-life entertainment. If this isn't her best role, it's Dunaway's gutsiest. - 70
Washington Post
After one scummy role after another, Rourke finally stops taking himself so seriously. Instead of the usual Neanderthal, he treats us to a sensitive, likable blob with a sense of humor. - 70
Time Out
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. - 50
Chicago Tribune
O'Rourke acts way over the top; Dunaway is more effective because she seems more desperate. Both characters are the kind of people who want to be left alone. That's what you may feel like after you spend a few minutes with them in one long brawl after one long argument after one long soliloquy.
