Barfly (1987)

3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

To All My Friends

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

With Hollywood dreck like Kiss of Death and Before and After on hisresume, The Iranian-born Barbet Schroeder is not exactly a cooldirector, but he has made one cool film.

Barfly (1987, Warner Brothers, $19.98) is a love-it or hate-it cult item written by Charles Bukowski as a kind of autobiographical look at a few days in his early life as a writer.

Mickey Rourke plays Henry Chinaski with a huge, swaggering bravado and a murmuring slur, and still manages to stammer out many quotable lines, like his toast "to aaaaallll my friiieeeeenndss." Faye Dunaway co-stars as the beautiful older woman who occupies his attention during these few drunken days.