Barfly
Based on the life of successful poet Charles Bukowski and his exploits in Hollywood during the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Henry Chinaski never cared for the American dream, the thought of needing to become 's…
Barfly
Based on the life of successful poet Charles Bukowski and his exploits in Hollywood during the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Henry Chinaski never cared for the American dream, the thought of needing to become 'something' and fit into the system disgusts him. He believes that life is free and yours to live like you see fit, and if that in some cases involves copious amounts of whiskey then so be it. Henry spends his days drinking and listening to the radio, and he spends his nights drinking and fighting against Eddy who he thinks personifies shallowness and shameless self promoting. Sometimes in the middle of this he finds the time to jot down a few lines of poetry or a short story. After fighting Eddy and winning for a change Henry is thrown out of his regular bar where Eddy is a bartender. This leads him to seek another watering hole where he happens to find Wanda who is a barfly, in her own words "if another man came along with a fifth of whiskey, I'd go with him". Henry is not fazed by this thou and moves in with her. Of course Wanda immediately goes off and sleeps with Eddy, but after some clothes throwing and two visits from the paramedics Henry and Wanda manage to patch up their relationship. Then Henry gets a visit from a literary agent who has decided to publish one of his stories that he sent in because he "liked the name of the mag". He follows the agent home to her place in order to receive his payment and with the help of a little whiskey sleeps with her. When he leaves to go back to the bar and back to Wanda the agent is heartbroken, she sees something special in Henry and has fallen in love with him. She follows him to his usual bar and gets into a cat fight with Wanda that Wanda wins. In celebration of new found love, happiness and money Henry buys a round for everyone at the bar and toasts them "to my friends!" —Erik Wallen <erik.wallen@bluetie.com> Living in a seedy rooming house in Hollywood, down-and-out alcoholic Henry Chinaski is a fixture at The Golden Horn cocktail bar where he can usually get one of the other regulars, such as bartender Jim, to buy him a drink or drinks. Henry is keenly aware of his situation which to him is a comfortable normal, including instigating fist-fights with Eddie, one of the other bartenders whose obvious hyper masculinity epitomizes everything Henry abhors in life, those fights which he always loses. That comfortable normal is earning just enough money, sometimes through selling his stories, solely for the here and now. One time when he is banned from The Golden Horn, Henry instead goes for drinks at the Kenmore, where he meets fellow alcoholic Wanda Wilcox. While Henry doesn't really care about his appearance or hygiene, Wanda is more put together, always wearing business suits despite also often relying on others for her alcoholic fixes, the only thing she not willing to do is sell her body in the traditional sense. There is an immediate connection between the two in they embarking on a somewhat committed relationship, although Wanda does stress that she, if left alone, will go off with any man offering her booze, and that she does not want to fall in love with him. One of the first real tests in their relationship is the entrance of another woman, Tully Sorenson, the owner of a literary magazine. She wants to publish one the stories he submitted to the magazine. In the process, she, enthralled with him as a writer and wanting him to get out of his down-and-out life, shows him a glimpse of the opposing other one percent of the rich. —Huggo
Barfly
Comedy,Drama,Romance
Film Details
Based on the life of successful poet Charles Bukowski and his exploits in Hollywood during the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Henry Chinaski never cared for the American dream, the thought of needing to become 'something' and fit into the system disgusts him. He believes that life is free and yours to live like you see fit, and if that in some cases involves copious amounts of whiskey then so be it.
Henry spends his days drinking and listening to the radio, and he spends his nights drinking and fighting against Eddy who he thinks personifies shallowness and shameless self promoting. Sometimes in the middle of this he finds the time to jot down a few lines of poetry or a short story. After fighting Eddy and winning for a change Henry is thrown out of his regular bar where Eddy is a bartender.
This leads him to seek another watering hole where he happens to find Wanda who is a barfly, in her own words "if another man came along with a fifth of whiskey, I'd go with him". Henry is not fazed by this thou and moves in with her. Of course Wanda immediately goes off and sleeps with Eddy, but after some clothes throwing and two visits from the paramedics Henry and Wanda manage to patch up their relationship.
Then Henry gets a visit from a literary agent who has decided to publish one of his stories that he sent in because he "liked the name of the mag". He follows the agent home to her place in order to receive his payment and with the help of a little whiskey sleeps with her. When he leaves to go back to the bar and back to Wanda the agent is heartbroken, she sees something special in Henry and has fallen in love with him.
She follows him to his usual bar and gets into a cat fight with Wanda that Wanda wins. In celebration of new found love, happiness and money Henry buys a round for everyone at the bar and toasts them "to my friends!" —Erik Wallen <erik.wallen@bluetie.com> Living in a seedy rooming house in Hollywood, down-and-out alcoholic Henry Chinaski is a fixture at The Golden Horn cocktail bar where he can usually get one of the other regulars, such as bartender Jim, to buy him a drink or drinks. Henry is keenly aware of his situation which to him is a comfortable normal, including instigating fist-fights with Eddie, one of the other bartenders whose obvious hyper masculinity epitomizes everything Henry abhors in life, those fights which he always loses.
That comfortable normal is earning just enough money, sometimes through selling his stories, solely for the here and now. One time when he is banned from The Golden Horn, Henry instead goes for drinks at the Kenmore, where he meets fellow alcoholic Wanda Wilcox. While Henry doesn't really care about his appearance or hygiene, Wanda is more put together, always wearing business suits despite also often relying on others for her alcoholic fixes, the only thing she not willing to do is sell her body in the traditional sense.
There is an immediate connection between the two in they embarking on a somewhat committed relationship, although Wanda does stress that she, if left alone, will go off with any man offering her booze, and that she does not want to fall in love with him. One of the first real tests in their relationship is the entrance of another woman, Tully Sorenson, the owner of a literary magazine. She wants to publish one the stories he submitted to the magazine.
In the process, she, enthralled with him as a writer and wanting him to get out of his down-and-out life, shows him a glimpse of the opposing other one percent of the rich. —Huggo.