Product Description

Hank and his wife, Sarah, agree to write a screenplay, and encounter the strange world of the movie industry.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49471 in Books
• Published on: 1989-01-01
• Released on: 2002-05-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780876857632
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Publishers Weekly
Bukowski ( The Roominghouse Madrigals ) has written over 30 books of poetry and fiction in which he uses the persona of the artistic bum with reasonable success. In this flimsy novel, Henry Chinaski is asked to write a screenplay, and thus Bukowski continues his thinly disguised autobiography (Bukowski himself wrote the screenplay for the recent, self-referential Barfly ). When all the Hollywood types Chinaski encounters--directors, lawyers, producers, actors, actresses--fit the same drunken-outcast-but-artistic-genius mold, Bukowski seems to have exhausted his resourcefulness. His characters lose their individuality and the novel lacks force and perspective. This book deteriorates into juvenile satire in which familiar, real-life figures appear with the letters of their names shifted slightly: the famous director Jon-Luc Modard, the philosopher Jean-Paul Sanrah, Frances Ford Lopalla and an obvious Norman Mailer stand-in called Victor Norman.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In this hilarious roman a clef, Bukowski draws on his experiences while writing the script for the 1987 film Barfly. Henry Chinaski, the author's alter ego in the film, here returns to write--despite misgivings--a Hollywood screenplay, The Dance of Jim Beam. The film is based on Chinaski's early life as a barfly and brawler, before he became a famous author. As he and his companion Sarah are caught up in the Hollywood whirlwind, Bukowski satirizes a host of well-known movie personalities. While Bukowski fans will welcome the reappearance of Chinaski, with his penchant for booze, women, and horse racing, film buffs should enjoy the novel for its delightful and irreverent portrayal of Hollywood. Highly recommended.
- William Gargan, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., CUNY
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
The movie-making machinations of the title town are exposed in this thinly veiled roman a clef about a hard-drinking poet-novelist tamed screenwriter. Presumably based on his experiences writing the movie, "Barfly," Bukowski lays open the absurdity and egotism of the film industry from the worm's-eye view of a screenwriter. Harry Chinanski has been asked by Jon Pinchot, a French director, to write a screenplay. Pinchot doesn't seem to care what the story is about. Neither does Chinanski; he's more concerned about where his next drink is coming from, and when. Sarah, his wife, is amenable to all this, matching her husband drink for drink and concerned only about getting home in time to feed their five cats. The couple takes a precarious journey through the land of corrupt backers and bizarre creative types where the writer "was where he belonged, in some dark corner, watching." This novel is funny, and it moves quickly. When Chinanski isn't being updated on the movie's progress, he's playing the ponies. Alcohol and its accoutrements have as large a part as any of the characters. Nestled between the progress reports are anecdotes from Chinanski's past which are now enacted in "The Dance of Jim Beam," in part by an actress who insists he write a scene that will showcase her legs. If nothing else, the experience spawned a novel. -- From Independent Publisher

Customer Reviews

bukowski's most enjoyable novel
publishers weekly sure has it in for bukowski. personally, i think of that publication as a sort of cemetery where a lifeless staff of dullards pronounce useless verdicts from there dreary coffins. ignore publishers weekly on this and all books. please do. anyway, this is a very enjoyable book which gives an insiders/outsiders look from within hollywood that almost all of us will never see. bukowski is light and comedic here, but still as biting as ever. "ham and rye," might be his best novel; this one is just so much more fun. highly recommended.

The original barfly
Bukowski's humor is razor sharp in this book ostensibly on the making of "Barfly." Bukowski was enjoying some measure of success and even respect by this point, and was approached by Schroeder to write the screenplay for a movie about himself. Bukowski was of course flattered and took up the challenge. His books and poetry have always been about himself in one form or another, but here was his big chance to imagine himself on screen.

Bukowski takes you step by step through the making of the movie, with a sardonic eye for the details. Schroeder and his pal tried to get in touch with the lower east side of LA, which Bukowski enjoys poking fun at. He wasn't too keen about having Mickey Roarke cast as himself, he had Sean Penn in mind, but was smitten with the idea of Faye Dunaway as his love interest.

The book doesn't plunge to the lower depths as do his short stories and poetry. Bukowski keeps himself semi-detached from the subject of his early life. The book, like the movie, looks back at these formative years in a wry way that has a number of amusing twists and turns. He ends appropriately enough with the screening of the movie, with much of the gang invited to attend, making a party of it down in front of the screen as they assessed the film. Not bad, Bukowski concluded.

Hurray for Hollywood!
Drinking and creativity do not necessarily go together. For every O'Neill, Faulkner, Hemingway, and London, there are hundreds of others who live lonely, desparate and short existences, slowly drinking themselves to death in complete anonymity. Luckily, the world was blessed to have had Charles Bukowski whose most creative moments emerged when he sat before a typewriter with a wine bottle in one hand. Bukowski wrote gritty and no holds barred novels and poetry about the things he loved best--drinking, horse racing and women. He also wrote the screenplay for "Barfly," a film about his young manhood, spent hanging around seedy bars, getting into drunken brawls with the bartender, and writing some of the best poems this side of the grave.

Bukowski tells the story of his screenwriting experience through his alter ego Henry Chinaski, a survivor when everyone else in his crowd had already died. It's all there--dealing with easily bruised egos, the Hollywood eccentrics, the on again, off again production problems in making the film, and the continuous inconsistency of cash flow. What lends _Hollywood_ its wonderful resonance is its realness--the boldness and the pluck of its coarse leading player, Charles Bukowski/Hank Chinaski. And of course, his inspiration, the bottle of wine which was, even on the set, never too far off.