STACK Magazine November Issue 121

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Photo: brettstanleyphoto.com
Last year I was doing my
tri-weekly comb through of all
of the DVDs and Blu-rays at my
local JB Hi-Fi (which the team at
the Moore Park Super Centre can
testify to) in the hope of finding the
remake of Maniac with Elijah Wood
(awesome movie by the way).
When I found the 2012 Maniac,
I was thrilled to see a reissue of
the ‘80s film with original artwork
sitting right next to it, on the label
Cinema Cult. Over the course of
the next few months, I found other
beloved forgotten titles like Flesh
for Frankenstein, Driller Killer,
The Burning , Lifeforce and The
Abominable Dr. Phibes, to name a
few… as well as the unbelievably
underrated 1987 classic, Barfly.
Barfly follows Henry Chinaski
(Mickey Rourke), who serves as
the literary alter ego of Charles
Bukowski in several of his novels,
and this semi-autobiographical
journey of his time in Los
Angeles, drinking heavily. Henry
is a destitute alcoholic, living in a
shabby apartment and carving out
an existence through a series of
menial jobs. Despite his life and
outward appearance, Henry is
a talented writer and expresses
himself through short stories and
poetry. Henry spends his life in a
series of dive bars, drinking and
bent on self destruction.
He meets fellow alcoholic
and kept woman Wanda (Faye
Dunaway) and the two begin
an affair, living together and
purchasing alcohol on the account
that Wanda’s older lover settles.
But things change when Henry is
tracked down by wealthy female
book publisher Tully Sorenson,
who offers to publish his work.
Given money and a way out
of his circumstances, Henry
must choose between being
true to himself and his work,
or selling out his ideals for
success and money.
Barfly is a classic movie,
simultaneously dark and funny,
gritty and hopeful, and serves as
a great introduction for anyone
out there who wants to get into
the wild and weird world of
Bukowski and his incredible body
of work. The author wrote the
screenplay himself with Sean
Penn in mind for the lead role, but
the two couldn’t see eye to eye
on a director. The role eventually
went to Mickey Rourke, who is
nothing short of amazing. And
although he was initially critical of
his performance, Bukowski went
on to say in later years “…Part of
my luck was the actor who played
Henry Chinaski. Mickey Rourke
stayed with the dialogue to the
word and the sound intended.
What surprised me was that he
added another dimension to the
character, in spirit.”
Charles Bukowski would
go on to write the book
Hollywood, which is based on his
experiences while making Barfly
the movie, with the characters
all thinly veiled versions of the
real-life actors and directors he
worked with during the process.
I decided to make a bar-
themed dessert for this movie
using things you would normally
find in a dive bar, including beer,
bourbon, pretzels and beer nuts.
Now you may think that Beer Ice
Cream is not a delicious idea, but
I promise you, you are wrong.
The molasses sweetens its dark,
malty flavours and they work
perfectly together with the ultra
rich and gooey brownie and the
salty sweet caramel.
OCTOBER 2014 J
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Ingredients
BARFLY
EXTRAS
by contributor
Aaron Harvie
From MasterChef:Series 2
and MasterChef All Stars
For the Bourbon & Beer
Nut Brownie
90g Salted Beer Nuts
40g g Flour
¼ tsp. Baking Power
¼ tsp. Salt
225g Dark Chocolate
150g Castor Sugar
160g Unsalted Butter
2 Eggs
30ml Bourbon
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
100g Milk Chocolate
For the Stout and
Molasses Ice Cream
330ml Stout
¼ Cup Molasses
1 Vanilla Bean
2 Cups of Heavy Cream
2 Cups Milk
¾ Cup Castor Sugar
6 Egg Yolks
For the Salted
Dulce de leche
1 Tin Condensed Milk
Sea Salt
To Finish
Pretzels
Sea Salt
Hot Chocolate Fudge
For the full recipe,
download the STACK app
or visit stack.net.au
Barfly
Bourbon and Beer Nut
Brownie with Crumbled
Pretzels on a Salted Dulce
de leche and a Stout and
Molasses Ice Cream
MONSTER FEST 2014
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