Barfly is a 1987 American comedy-drama film directed by Barbet Schroeder and starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. The film is a semi-autobiography of poet/author Charles Bukowski during the time he spent drinking heavily in Los Angeles, and it presents Bukowski's alter ego Henry Chinaski. The screenplay, written by Bukowski, was commissioned by the Iranian-born Swiss film director Barbet Schroeder, and it was published (with illustrations by the author) in 1984, when film production was still pending. The Kino Flo light, now a ubiquitous tool in the film industry, was specially created by Robby Müller's electrical crew for the bathroom scene with Henry and Wanda, which would have been difficult to light using the conventional lampheads available at the time. The film was "presented by" Francis Ford Coppola and features a cameo by Bukowski. It was entered into the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme D'or. Plot Henry Chinaski is a destitute alcoholic who lives in a rundown apartment in Los Angeles and works menial jobs when he can find them. An intelligent man and keenly aware of his circumstance, he finds solace in expressing his feelings and perceptions of the world through writing poetry and short stories which he submits to magazines and papers for a few extra dollars. Henry frequents a bar called The Golden Horn, where he drinks, hangs out with other down and out alcoholics, and gets into altercations with the tough guy bartender he hates, Eddie. One night, Henry gets into a fight with Eddie and loses. The next day, he delivers sandwiches to two patrons in the bar. Realizing he needs to eat before fighting (to gain energy) to win, he grabs the sandwich out of one of the patrons' hands and eats it, disgusting the patron and angering the bar owner, Jim, one of Henry's best friends. Jim tells Henry to go lie down in his apartment for a few hours. After an afternoon nap, Henry steals bread, bologna, and wine from another apartment to eat and drink in preparation to fight Eddie. Henry returns to The Golden Horn later that evening, and antagonizes Eddie until he finally challenges him to another fight. Henry jumps over the bar and drinks beer out of the tap, infuriating Eddie. Jim puts a wager on Henry to beat Eddie. Henry wins the fight, and is then kicked out of the bar. Jim