Homeboy

Cliche and characters that are flat. Horrible sound. These actors did ok but went on to do much better movies.

I'm really fond of this movie and watched it originally in a cinema in Paris (along with 'Barfly'), This is my all time favourite Mickey Rourke pictures. He's excellent in the role and later even became a pro boxer. There have been some authentic boxing films such as 'Fat City', 'Raging Bull' and more recently 'The Fighter' but this is moving and heartfelt. Really touching in moments and also stars the rather wonderful Christopher Walken. Sort of plays like a pugilistic version of 'Midnight Cowboy'. Rourke was in fact, trained for the part by the ex middleweight champ Iran Barkley, who was also the opponent in the first (exciting) fight scene.

This ain't Rocky, this is far more realistic as a movie, it takes place in the blood, sweat and tears and dirt and snot and slime of the 80's boxing ''local'' boxing scene. When people didn't had cellphone to get entertained and boxing was popular and some kind of a local entertainement. Wow, seriously, I watched the wrestler many times and never heard of this movie, the washed-up boxer Micky Rourke plays is as lovable as the washed-up wrestler we saw in the 2008 movie. Homeboy is the same kind of movie but different and the only thing they have in common beside having Mr. Rour key as their star is that their main characters hold on to their passion/job cause they don'the know anything else and it'seems the only thing they are good at. Even if their health is at risk. If you like fallen heroes, you'll fall in love with that movie, the cinematography is great, the music enhance the mood of the scenes (Clapton guitar work) and its something only Mickey Rourke can do as well as this. The only bad thing I noticed was the sound of the boxing gloves hitting was kind of weird, it's really important thing, especially in boxing flick, that you need to feel those punches via the sound effects they make. Watch that movie, you'll be disappointed.

There are two things going for this movie: the weird but entertaining way in which Rourke (pre-Elephant Man phase) plays the borderline retarded boxer, and the very pleasant, suitable, somewhat bluesy music score. (Eric Clapton can be useful only when he plays other people's music.) The story, allegedly written by Rourke(?!), is all over the place. There isn't much plot here; mainly a series of scenes of how a strange cowboy-looking boxer from another dimension interacts with other people. Fairly original. The girl's (love interest) character is simple enough, Rourke's is weird, as mentioned, while Walken's makes less sense. The movie seemed to be heading toward a simultaneous double-death finale, but I guess the producers or the movie company must have insisted (?) Rourke survive the boxing bout so as to avoid a tearjerker ending. The movie has that typical ugly late 80s look. Overall, the first half is stronger than the second - which drifts a little more into clichés. I like the way the world is occasionally shown through Rourke's very blurred vision and impaired hearing. If Rourke really did write this, then I guess he isn't quite as thick as I thought he was.

Johnny Walker (Mickey Rourke) is a struggling boxer at the end of his road. He gets a surprise win and is befriended by sleazy promoter Wesley Pendergrass (Christopher Walken). He falls for Ruby, the owner of a struggling seaside carnival. Rourke is doing a forerunner to a much better film 20 years later. It's essentially the same character and the same performance. The girlfriend is rather bland and the actress isn't doing much. As for Walken, he deserves better. He needs more screen time and his character is doing weird things for no reason. I knew he was in trouble when he starts singing and the ending is doing another weird thing. He's wasted in this. Rourke would get his reward later but in this, he shows the potential.

Mickey Rourke's genuine love for the sport of boxing is evident in both his writing style and in his acting as the main character in his boxing genre film Homeboy. Rourke plays a somewhat dim-witted, booze drinking, over the hill cowboy dressing boxer named Johnny Walker, whose only means of eking out a bearable living is by getting back in to the ring travelling from boxing venue to boxing venue and fighting the local 'homeboys", where the judges seem to favor the local homeboy. I believe that sometimes we the audience will see an actor portray a character that just does not seem believable on the big screen simply because the actors' previous body of work influences the audience to expect to see the actor play a similar type character as in his previous roles on camera. In the case of Mickey Rourke, we are used to seeing him play leading tough guy roles as he did earlier on his career as in his 1980's films where he was usually portrayed as the handsome leading man as in The Pope of Greenwich Village, 9 ½ Weeks, Rumble Fish or in Diner. And then Mickey chooses to write a screenplay where he portrays a dim witted over the hill booze laden boxer who falls for a carnival girl of his dreams. Mickey just shows us time and time again that he is not afraid to explore new characters (as in his Academy Award Best Actor nomination in the 2008 film, The Wrestler) and he refuses to be stereotyped in his acting roles. What I liked about the film Homeboy most was the character Johnny Walker portrayed with a quirky distorted smile that enjoyed the most simple things in life, such as hot walking the carnival ponies along the sandy beach, or just being held by his carnival girlfriend Ruby played by Debra Feuer. There are also good performances played by the seasoned actor Christopher Walken and Kevin Conway. Walken plays Wesley Pendergrass a thief with grand illusions of wealth and expensive clothes. Wesley's grifter character plays opposite Johnny Walkers poor cowboy boxer character and in some ways a comparison can be drawn towards the earlier Academy Award winning 1969 film Midnight Cowboy starring Jon Voight (Joe Buck) and Dustin Hoffman's (Ratso) characters. Kevin Conway plays a grimy cop named Grazziano who is closing in on Wesley's grifter activities and he has a soft spot for Johnny Walker's character and tells Johnny while chomping on an apple that Johnny needs to know his various types of apples and to live his own life. The audience can interpret this exchange of dialogue between Grazziano the cop and Johnny the downtrodden cowboy boxer that he should stay away from that bad apple Wesley because he is up to no good. The actual boxing scenes in the ring were not the greatest, but I understand that spending a ton of money on the movies production is better spent on building the characters (Rourke, Feuer, Walken and Conway) then it would be on spending on a few minutes of boxing choreography. The last fifteen minutes are very appealing as we see what will happen to the struggling boxer Johnny Walker, his new found grifter friend Wesley looking for that one big score, and Johnny's girlfriend Ruby who is struggling financially to hold on to her deceased fathers carnival business. Who will win and who will lose in the life battles we all face in one way or another? All in all, I liked the film and I give it a 7 out of 10 rating. If you like Mickey Rourke, and you like a gritty under achiever, then Homeboy will not disappoint you.

Though there certainly are enough fight scenes to call this a boxing film, it is more of a slowly evolving study of some interesting, but loser-type characters. Do not expect "Rocky" and you just might enjoy "Homeboy". Eric Clapton's music adds immeasurably, and the acting is solid. Christopher Walken and Mickey Rourke carry the movie. The love interest, Debra Feuer, is quite unremarkable. I liked it, some may think it is too slow moving, but that is sometimes a price worth paying, for strong character development. There is a message here to believe in yourself, no matter what the odds against you. Recommended. - MERK

I worked in Asbury Park a few blocks away from most of the scenes. at lunch time and after work and evenings I watched some of the scenes being filmed. What a great experience.Difficult to see the stars. I saw O Rourke a few time from a half block away. he had his own trailer. One experience Ill never forget was walking down Cookman Ave and seeing this actor walking towards me. Who was he? A girl asked for his autograph and he happily complied. then he walked past me and as I was still trying to remember his name he said "hi" to me and I said 'HI". The next next day the local paper which was reporting the filming every day supplied the answer.Christopher Walken!! Nice guy. One evening I watched the car scene down Cookman with the robbers disguised as orthodox Jews. and the car went by over and over for about an hour! kind of boring after awhile. no stars were there either. Couldn t wait to see the movie but it never really came out. a very limited release. took me a few years to find it on tv and buy the VHS tape! I thought it was a great film but very bleak and depressing. acting was superb and location was where I worked every day so it was a fantastic viewing. For over a month I walked around the various locations where they were filming,all the places I knew. So I give it a ten for all these reasons. If i didn't see the filming I would say a 7.

A lot can be written about the derailing of Mickey Rourke's career... But when reflecting on the the reasons he achieved such recognition to begin with... One has to review Homeboy. The man had real talent as an actor and it is a shame that he is more remembered for phoned in performances than the highlights. Homeboy is one of the highlights. A very complete method performance that regardless of commercial stereotypes stays true to the characters created and the world they're in. This is a real picture of a fighter way past his prime who gets a second chance at inspiration. But this is not the Rocky world where a theme song and a jog around the park give the character new life. This is a real character at the bottom of the bucket trying to reach up. And the mistakes of a lifetime are not easily overcome in this film. Also Alan Parker's longtime cinematographer Michael Serensin makes his directing debut. Sadly it also ends his directing career. But the screen is always wonderfully alive under his direction both gritty and flashy in unison. The support cast is wonderfully strong including one of the best minor support roles Christopher Walken has ever delivered. I highly recommend this film for fans of smaller unconventional character dramas. If you want stereotypes... watch something else.

I absolutely liked this movie of a cowboy pugilist that has taken too many hits to the head, but doesn't realize it. Written and starring Mickey Rourke, who is about 26 and in damn good shape. He gets credit of writing the screenplay under the alias of 'Sir' Eddie Cook. Rourke plays Johnny Walker, a quirky cowboy boxer that doesn't want to face the fact he is probably just past his prime; but he can still come up with a devastating knock-out punch. He is given one last shot at a big purse fight in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Along the way, the slow-witted Walker falls in a trap set by a smooth talking hood Wesley Pendergrass(Christopher Walken). Johnny finds himself in a pickle when he wants to help a young woman(Debra Feuer)save her financially strapped sea shore arcade; being hoodwinked in helping con-man Wesley pull off a jewelry heist; or get back in the ring despite being told one blow to his temple bone could possibly cause his head to explode. Rourke and Walken are beyond a doubt outstanding. You just can't help but want to cheer on Johnny Walker. Others in a crowded cast: Thomas Quinn, Jon Polito, Matthew Lewis, Dondre Whitfield, Anthony Alda, Jeanne Daly and Ruben Blades.