Review of Barfly (1987) by Willem W — 05 Oct 2007

God I love this movie. One of Rourke's best performances and a wonderful turn by Faye Dunaway. A shambling, drunken, brawling mess of a film that captures the locale and the energy (or lack thereof) of these characters perfectly.

I love movies like this that just kind of hang around with oddball characters for a while. Schroeder frames every scene perfectly and injects just enough visual style to let us know we're not in Kansas anymore, but not so much that we're distracted from the wonderful cast of beautiful losers.

Best line? "Do you hate the cops?" "Nah, I don't hate the cops, I just feel better when they're not around." Frank Stallone shines as the burly bartender. If only he could have kept doing little roles like this.

This film is poetic, raw, and even a tad philosophical. Refreshingly lacking any morally redeeming qualities. Just what I love in a movie.