Barfly is a 1987 American black comedy film directed by Barbet Schroeder and starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway.

Destitute alcoholic Henry Chinaski lives in a Los Angeles rundown apartment and works menial jobs when he can find them.

Henry frequents The Golden Horn, a bar where he drinks, hangs out with other alcoholics, and gets into altercations with the bartender he hates, Eddie.

After an afternoon nap, Henry steals food from another apartment to eat in preparation to fight Eddie.

The two buy liquor at a nearby store, and Wanda steals corn from a cornfield, attracting the attention of the police.

At first, Henry is impressed with the promise of wealth and security, including an endless supply of booze that working for Tully could provide.

However, he begins to realize that he is uncomfortable being involved with Tully, romantically or professionally, because of class differences, saying that she is "trapped in a cage with golden bars".

Tully heads out to see if she can change his mind, and finds him at the bar where a drunken, jealous Wanda proceeds to beat her up.

Henry and the other barflies follow Eddie out the door, the fight starts, and the crowd cheers the two men.

[citation needed] The opening and closing song for the film is the 1967 instrumental "Hip Hug-Her" by Booker T. & the M.G.

Mickey appeared to really love his role, and yet without exaggeration he added his own flavor, his zest, his madness, his gamble to Henry Chinaski without destroying the intent or the meaning of the character.

[14] The NOFX song "Green Corn" on their 1991 album Ribbed references Tully in the lyrics, "Tully, baby, you're trapped behind your golden bars; I'm the prince of poverty hangin' out in bars", and finishes with the lyrics, "maybe what we had was just green corn".

[17] A line of dialogue from the movie was used in a track titled "Only Angel" from Harry Styles' self-titled debut album.

[18] In an episode of the television series Mission Hill, Andy French mistakenly rents Barfly while seeking movies with notable vomit scenes.