On B List of Movie Reviews
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Barfly (1987)
Rate:
9
Viewed:
11/13
11/13:
Barfly features Mickey Rourke in top form.
If there's any doubt of his acting ability, it's laid to rest by seeing this along with his other brilliant
performances during the 80's:
Year of the Dragon,
9½ Weeks,
Homeboy, and Francesco.
Mickey Rourke steals the show from start to finish while outshining Faye Dunaway, a highly respectable actress, in every scene.
What helps the most is Charles Bukowski's writing to make alcoholic cynosure tolerable because
films like The Lost Weekend and Leaving Las Vegas are hard to care when the protagonist is an
unsympathetic drunk. There's plenty of character in Mickey Rourke's Henry Chinaski who views life in an interesting lens.
If I compare Mickey Rourke to other films in terms of how he acts, walks, and behaves, there's a dramatic transformation going
on. Hence, it's a shock how he went from John in 9½ Weeks to Henry in Barfly in the span of one year.
All in all, Mickey Rourke shows in Barfly why he's almost in the same class with Marlon Brando as far as Method acting
goes.