Barfly (1987)

Americas favorite drunkard Charles Bukowski writes what is somewhat of an autobiography here. Okay maybe he is Americas second favorite boozer, under Hunter S. Thompson and what Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas was to Thompson, Barfly is to Bukowski.

Mickey Rourke takes on the role of a half dead Barlfy named Chinaski (but you can call him Bukowski if you like) who lives by the golden rules of drink, fight and write. He is an author who has gone unnoticed until some high society bimbo discovers his work and tracks him down. When she finds him she is appalled to learn that such beautiful writing came from such a distraught man. He truly lives on the fringes of society, roaming the filthy city streets and drinking away his liver in sleazy bars filled with prostitutes and other fellow wastes of life. "Anybody can be a non-drunk. It takes a special talent to be a drunk. It takes endurance." This movie is just chock full of great and memorable quotes.

Fay Dunaway (Bonnie And Clyde) plays Rourke's girlfriend. She is also an alcoholic and a bit of a lunatic but Dunaway fans will be pleased to know that she does show some nipples in a bathtub scene.

Things get really bad for Chinaski when he learns that his girlfriend went home with his worst enemy played by Frank Stallone. Barfly opens up with a fist fight behind the pub between Stallone and Rourke and it also closes out with yet another fight between the two. Not to mention that we get some more drunken fisticuffs between them in the middle.

Barfly is totally a mans movie and would definitely appeal more to a male audience. I think there are two main audiences for this film. The first being Charles Bukowski fans and the second being anyone who likes to drink a lot. "I need a drink like a spider needs a fly". Of course Mickey Rourke fans will also be drawn in as well but there is a level of philosophy that runs with the madness of Barfly that only a true drunk can appreciate. So grab your liquid of choice and step into Bukowski's world. After all any movie that opens up with this line "Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead." has to be good.

The Basketball Diaries (1995)

Leonardo Dicaprio takes on the role of infamous junkie, poet, writer, punk rocker Jim Carrol and gives an amazing performance of the true and tragic life that Jim lived. As the tagline says its The Death Of Innocence and death surrounds Jim as he journeys further and further into the dark depths of addiction.

I guess you could really take the quick way out of watching this thing by just playing Jim Carrol's record Catholic Boy. Most of the songs on the record explain the events which will take place in the film especially the song everyone knows and loves him for People Who Died. Its almost like listening to Lou Reed's Take A Walk On The Wild Side or watching Andy Warhol's Trash.

Being a fan of cult movies and exploitation cinema I have never been able to understand what it is that I like about Dicaprio. He plays in big budget Hollywood movies that I can't stand with few exceptions like Critters 3 : You Are What They Eat but there is just no denying that he is a talented actor. Its to bad he is casted in such bland movies for the mindless mainstream because what ever he does, he does it well. Remember him as the retard in that stupid fucking Grape movie?

Basketball Diaries sets itself aside from all that other shit. While its still a big budget mainstream movie it deals with a subject that most Americans would rather not think about. The fact that the youth is starting younger and younger with drug use and become young criminals. Dicaprio's character is so desperate in this film that he begs, steals, fights and even prostitutes himself out for a fix.

Some of the highlights that Basketball Diaries has to offer are homosexual gym teachers, priests who get off on beating young boys, a priest is blown away at close range by a shotgun, male and female prostitutes alike, gratuitous heroin use and other assorted narcotics as well, a kid jumps to his death from a city building, a old woman is punched, kicked and robed, flying vomit which lands on an angry construction workers head, religious conflict and a cameo from the real Jim Carrol.

Less humorous but in the same vein as Trainspotting. Fans of junkie films like Sid And Nancy are the true audience for this movie. Its as fun as a spike through the arm.

Sid And Nancy (1986)

There is not a Sex Pistols fan out there who has not seen this 80's flick about the fast life and early death of the band and its bass player Sid Vicious. If there is, they can't be that big of a fan...

Sex Pistols films in general cater to obviously that certain audience but the fact that Sid And Nancy was a bigger budget film and certainly had wide releasing it is a surprise that writer/director Alex Cox (Repo Man) would make a film that explains nothing. Its almost as if Cox said fuck you to everyone else, I'm going to make a movie for the people who already know something about the subject at hand and everyone else can just fuck off. Its a pretty nihilistic attitude to go along with a nihilistic movie and the finished product became an immediate cult hit. Nobody else would want to sit through a two hour movie of two junkies shooting up, snotting on themselves and bleeding while incoherent music blares in the background.

All the important iconic figures are in the movie but of course there is no explanation behind the  characters. A John Spaceley or Gringo (Story Of A Junkie) character shows up for some screen time. A character named Rock Head who is supposed to be Johnny Thunders, Malcom Mclaren, Sue Cat Woman and many others and as if its not obvious enough that this is an intentional cult flick the dialogue although extremely funny, memorable and quotable is almost dulled out whenever any conversation of importance is going on. Of course with countless viewings one would know the script inside and out but yet again to everybody else... Fuck off!

Gary Oldman (True Romance) plays Sid Vicious and does an excellent job at that. From his body language to his slurred cockney speech. Chloe Webb plays Nancy and does an excellent job of portraying Nancy as the fucking horribly obnoxious piece of shit that she was. Before the films climax the average audience is awaiting the moment Sid kills her and puts us all out of our misery. Aside from the great cast Alex Cox's direction is amazing with excellent camerawork and plenty of symbolic trash to fill each frame.

So skip out on "the methadone clinic and go out in a blaze of glory" with Sid And Nancy.