6. Barfly (1987)
Henry Chinaski is a total and utter drunk who lives in a rundown apartment in LA and spends his life drinking in bars. He also happens to be very intelligent and a writer of short stories and poems. He frequently antagonises a tough barkeeper called Eddie, who one night throws him out of the bar for his drunken tomfoolery. Henry goes to another bar where he meets fellow drunk Wanda who is a kept woman and buys loads of booze with her lover's money and invites Henry back to her apartment. Henry is obsessed with Eddie. This ends up in fights between the two being staged outside the bar, with patrons betting on who will win. Acrimony breaks out when Henry finds out Wanda shagged Eddie. Nevertheless, Henry and Wanda live and drink together and he submits his manuscripts to publishers. Tully Sorenson, a wealthy female publisher, tracks down Henry to see about publishing his work. She gives him a $500 advance and they sleep together. Tully is of a different class to Henry and he thinks about the upmarket life he could have if he went along with her, but ultimately that is a betrayal of his true self - a barfly. He goes back to Wanda who beats up Tully when she comes looking for him. Tully realises she is wasting her time on Henry and sods off. Henry buys everyone in the bar a drink and reignites his feud with Eddie. The end of the film shows them in another fight. Mickey Rourke gives one of his best turns as Henry Chinaski. He is not exactly sinking desperately into alcoholism - he is positively embracing it and wallowing in dipsomania. Barbet Schroeder interprets Charles Bukowski's work in a manner that displeased the great author but made an icon of his character Henry Chinaski. Henry cannot stand conformity and it is this which propels him to drink and seek out low lives. As a barfly he feels right at home. Chinaski nearly celebrates alcoholism as a way of life - as being the only authentic way to live one's life. No matter what a wretched being he is, he can always summon up a wisecrack. A more realistic picture of the bad side of drinking - puking and ghastly hangovers would have made the film more realistic.