''Bukowski'' is a 1973 documentary film produced by

Taylor Hackford Taylor Edwin Hackford (born December 31, 1944) is an American film director and former president of the Directors Guild of America. He won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for '' Teenage Father'' (1979). Hackford went on to dire ...

and directed by Richard Davies.

Plot

''Bukowski'' follows

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

poet

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German Americans, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambien ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

on 21 November 1973, for a poetry reading. The full 46-minute documentary begins with footage of Bukowski in his Los Angeles home and neighborhood as he discusses his history as a postal worker as well as his approach to and perspective on poetry. The film then shows him flying with Linda King to San Francisco for the poetry reading followed by interactions with attendees after the show. One night the window of his room is broken during a fight between some guests and then a fight between Charles and Linda causes her to leave. Interviews follow with Liza and Linda about their relationship with Charles. Bukowski is shown betting at the track and explaining his betting strategy.

"A cinema-verite portrait of Los Angeles poet Charles Bukowski. At age 53, Bukowski is enjoying his first major success (a San Francisco poetry reading nets him 400 dollars). Until 1969, Bukowski worked in the Post Office to support his writing, and the camera captures his reminiscences of those days as he walks around his Los Angeles neighborhood. Blunt language and a sly appreciation of his life form the core of the program, which includes observations by and about the women in his life" —
TV guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
, 25 November 1973.

Versions

A heavily-edited 28-minute version of the footage with alternate scenes and a rearranged structure was aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

as an episode of the

KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOC ...

* * * series ''Artbound'' under the title ''Bukowski Reads Bukowski'' on Thursday, October 16, 1975, at 10:30 PM. This version contains less interview footage with Bukowski and his acquaintances but more footage of the reading itself. Bukowski: Born into This (2003) shows clips, and interviews director, Taylor Hackford.

Recognition

* local

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

nominee, Los Angeles area * ''Silver Reel Award'', 1973 San Francisco Film Festival

References

External links

*
''Bukowski''
(1973) on

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''Bukowski''
(1973) on

''Artbound'' Series 5 Episode 6: ''Bukowski Reads Bukowski''

Artbound Episode: Charles Bukowski's Odes to Los Angeles
(

article) 1973 films 1970s English-language films American documentary films 1973 documentary films Documentary films about poets Films shot in San Francisco Charles Bukowski 1970s American films English-language documentary films {{art-documentary-film-stub

Plot

Versions

Recognition

See also

References

External links