The urban classic coming-of-age story about sex, drugs, and basketball
Jim Carroll grew up to become a renowned poet and punk rocker. But in this memoir of the mid-1960s, set during his coming-of-age from 12 to 15, he was a rebellious teenager making a place and a name for himself on the unforgiving streets of New York City. During these years, he chronicled his experiences, and the result is a diary of unparalleled candor that conveys his alternately hilarious and terrifying teenage existence. Here is Carroll prowling New York City--playing basketball, hustling, stealing, getting high, getting hooked, and searching for something pure. The Basketball Diaries was the basis for the film of the same name starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
"I met him in 1970, and already he was pretty much universally recognized as the best poet of his generation. . . . The work was sophisticated and elegant. He had beauty." -- Patti Smith
Release Date: April 21, 1995
Release Time: 104 minutes
Director: Scott Kalvert
Cast:
Leonardo DiCaprio as Jim Carroll
Lorraine Bracco as Mrs. Carroll
Marilyn Sokol as Chanting Woman
James Madio as Pedro
Patrick McGaw as Neutron
Mark Wahlberg as Mickey
Roy Cooper as Father McNulty
Bruno Kirby as Swifty
Alexander Chaplin as Bobo
Juliette Lewis as Diane Moody
Michael Imperioli as Bobby
Michael Rapaport as Skinhead
Ernie Hudson as Reggie
Manny Alfaro as Manny
Cynthia Daniel as Winkie
Brittany Daniel as Blinkie
Jim Carroll as Frankie Pinewater
Ben Jorgensen as Tommy
James Dennis "Jim" Carroll was an author, poet, autobiographer, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work The Basketball Diaries, which was made into the 1995 film of the same name with Leonardo DiCaprio as Carroll.
Carroll became sober in the 1970s. After moving to California, he met Rosemary Klemfuss; the couple married in 1978. The marriage ended in divorce, but the two remained friends.
Carroll died of a heart attack at his Manhattan home on September 11, 2009, at the age of 60. At the time of his death, he was in ill health due to pneumonia and hepatitis C. He was reportedly working at his desk when he died. His funeral mass was held at Our Lady of Pompeii Catholic Church on Carmine Street in Greenwich Village.
Film
