Bukowski, directed by James Franco (2 Viewers)

Been looking around for some sort of recent update or news on the movie, but can't find anything beyond the realms of the suit and settling of the suit from a few years back. It seems to be in limbo or it's not going to be released at all. Hmm... :confused:
 
Any news on this? Apparently released in 2013/14 but can't find a trailer or anything except the legal issues around copyright. Any info appreciated. Apologies in advance if this has been covered.

All I can find are references to it and articles about the lawsuit over the rights. I'd like to see it. Just re-watched Barfly and got on a "Buk on film" kick.

Any Angelinos out there? Are there still a lot of those old school dive bars around like in the film? Tampa used to have dozens but a lot have gone the way of the dodo. All the new bars serve 8 dollar pints of craft beer. I love the good beer, but still like those dark places where PBR isn't ironic and Schlitz can be found. The kind of place where fights break out but no one will bother you if you don't look for trouble. I used to go to a place called Leo's. One afternoon I'm getting drunk, a somewhat classy guy and his lady having a drink next to me, and another guy starts to get lippy. A warning is given but lippy guy keeps at it. First guy calmly puts down his Scotch, gives a swift right-left to lippy, whose knees buckle; classy guy grabs him by the collar and belt and tosses him out the door. Lippy stands up and threatens classy guy, who tenses up to deal a few more blows, but lippy begs off and hurries away. First guy comes back and looks at me, nods with a slight raise of his glass, as if to say sorry for the disturbance, and resumes talking to his lady where he'd left off, no mention of the fight, cool as a cucumber.

That kind of place. :)

Albuquerque had its share of great dives. The worst was El Rey. I once sat there as two guys so drunk they could barely punch writhed at my feet while some young woman hinted at sexual favors if I bought her drinks. I bought her drinks, but declined the favors. Jack's was a good one but closed. I think Mori's is still kicking. Tradition was at five or five-thirty a song was song, something about "we are lost little sheep". The song and music were printed on cards. Any of those places would be good sets for a film about Buk, but I suppose LA still has it's share. Any places he frequented still open?

Sorry that got off track, but seeing those dives in the opening to Barfly stirred a powerful nostalgia in me. Tampa: Leo's, The Hub, Corsica Jean and Juanita's Palace. Albuquerque: Mori's, El Rey, Jack's. Ithaca: The Chanticleer. France doesn't have places like that. One thing I really miss about the States. That and Cuban sandwiches.
 
Times have changed, drastically, it seems. These days the only "old timey" dive bars you're likely to find in any city of any size are the ones that had "DIVE BAR" written in bold print on page one paragraph two of the business plan and marketing stratagem. They will sink a couple of hundred thousand in to the decor to get it just the right amount of sleazy for the hip kids.

Even the neon signs are going the way of red quarters and high button shoes from the gangster era. Now its all LED lighting.

I lament the loss of the real thing too. You haven't lived until you've seen a couple of whores throwing barstools and heavy glass ashtrays at each other across a crowded room.
 
the only "old timey" dive bars you're likely to find in any city of any size are the ones that had "DIVE BAR" written in bold print on page one paragraph two of the business plan...
I think that's always been the way. Or if not always, for the past 20 years or so anyway.

I read these descriptions of "dive bars," and all I can think is, you're just describing a regular bar.

Where I grew up bars like that were on practically every corner (hey, winter is long and cold). Most of them are still there. They would never call themselves dive bars. And if you called one of them a "dive" to the owner's face they'd probably knock our teeth out. (In true dive bar fashion, I suppose.)

When I was a kid my dad and his brother owned a bar in downtown St. Paul. You beardy kids would call it a "dive," he called it a "beer joint." I spent many Saturday evenings there while my dad tended bar. As a kid, it wasn't thrilling, it was boring. Just a bunch of people drinking beer and talking too loudly. Or, later in the evening, shouting and breaking things.

The only fun part was knowing I wasn't supposed to be there. And maybe taking half dollars out of the till and sticking them into the jukebox to play the records I wanted to hear. Everyone would BOO! when they saw me heading toward the jukebox. Half a buck bought a lot of rock and roll songs, and all they wanted to hear was honky-tonk music.
 
I think that's always been the way. Or if not always, for the past 20 years or so anyway.


The only fun part was knowing I wasn't supposed to be there.

The ashtray throwing incident I described in my post was actually an off duty stripper and a hardened old female bartender. I was 16 and working in the bar. The memories are enhanced by my not having been allowed in the place. Owner was a guy who looked just like (and probably belonged to the same un-named civic organization) as Junior Soprano. It was well over 20 years ago. The fights were boring. We'd prefer having the TV tuned in to channel 11 and watch Cheers followed by The Honeymooners then streets of San Francisco and Naked City. It was my favorite place in the world. Closed in '89. I've never found another drinking establishment like it.
 
Yeah, I suppose "dive" has a bad connotation, but a lot of these were just what I'm talking about. Raggedy places, usually named after the founder, and often called a "lounge". All of 'em at the beginning probably pretty snazzy. MJP, not exactly a kid anymore. I get your point, for me they were just bars, but I use the term loosely to describe a place a bit run-down, not a sports bar, or a hip club or craft beer kind of place. I mean, Red's was dark and smoky and full of bikers. "Decent" folk were leery of if. Now it's an upscale wine bar. The gentrification of the 90' and 00's seems to have decimated these places. I don't think my descriptions fit the "regular" bars in Tampa any more. I'm betting the bar landscape is different in St. Paul. Last time I was in Tampa, all those places seem to have either disappeared or transformed.
 
I'm betting the bar landscape is different in St. Paul.
Everywhere in the midwest. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Chicago - that whole Great Lakes area...many (many, many) corner bars. In some neighborhoods, you could stand on a corner and see three different bars within a block.

I don't know if it's still like that. I left in 1984, and things change quickly. But people knew how to drink up there.
 
I come from the "new south". My experiences in Philly, New York, and other older American cities, yeah, the corner bar is an institution. Tampa was chock full of bars, not corner bars because the urban landscape is different. Driving is much more imperative. I left Tampa in 94 but I still consider it home. But I think it's a different animal these days. It was a solid working class town but I think the screwheads have fuggered it. There was one place near my mom's that was ok, but I passed in September last year and it seems to have shuttered. A real loss. I get back there every four years or so and it's just sad how the boring c-nts in khaki pants and baseball caps have managed to maga the place into a soulless series of strip malls and TGI Fridays.
 
Apparently released in 2013/14 but can't find a trailer or anything ...
So, what happened to the movie-plans? Anyone heard anything?
It's so sad, Hollywood has this tradition of sitting on projects forever with no realization. Same with "Post Office" (Taylor Hackford), same with "Women" (Nicolas Chartier).
 
I picked up what is described as a FLAT trailer of the film. I got rid of my 35mm Projector around the same time as my Betamax, VHS, and Laserdisc player, but if a long-time member has a way to get this transferred to digital, I'll trust that it to be well taken care of and returned promptly.

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