À la recherche de Mr. Goodbar

It was searching for a copy of this that led me to a source of otherwise unavailable films but the lengthy running time has put me off watching it, for some time. Also, I cannot now remember what got me intrigued by the title anyway. In any event the thing is now watched. It seems to me there is a bit too much of everything here, certainly Richard Gere and Tuesday Weld who are well over the top. Keaton is fine but her character begins to irritate halfway through, what with all her neediness and simultaneously thrusting of people aside, her wonderfully virtuous deaf classes, adding nothing whatsoever and the growing tedium of the shadowy scenes of sex and drugs. Brave of Keaton to take the role but if only Brooks could have kept it to something more like 90 minutes we would surely have had a much more succinct and effective movie. Too many characters to little effect and too many downers and not enough uppers.

The movie really gets the whole 1970s drug sniffing, gay liberation, pro swinger pre aids lifestyle down, and then closes with what may be one of the most depressing endings ever shot for a movie. As we all know, Diane Keaton is the straight laced teacher by day, and bar hopper by night. Her Catholic background and domineering father all contribute to her rampant promiscuity, and she ends up paying for it in the end. Sad, because the sexual revolution of the time gave women the right to do what she does in the film without being called whores, and then she had to pay for it. Such a good flick though, although it could have used a little editing for time. See it, and decide for yourself. Highly recommended, and perfect depiction of a life that really is impossible to imagine in this day and age.

Probably the biggest problem with this movie – other than its insistence that all men are either worthless sexual predators or pathetic, near-impotent panderers – is the fact that it has aged so badly. In an age when a small army of women under 30 seem hell-bent on doing all they can to turn their livers and septums to mush in as short a time as possible, Diane Keaton's Theresa Dunn no longer comes across as somebody out of the ordinary.

Diane Keaton gives a performance that is by turns both sensitive and irritating as her character revolves around her schizophrenic lifestyle. As a child, Dunn was encased in plaster, a result of scoliosis, and it seems that this is what compels her to take so many risks in her effort to find the kind of freedom she was denied as a kid – both by her spell in traction and by a harsh, overbearing Catholic upbringing. She is full of love, as indicated by her relationship with the deaf children she teaches, but gives it in all the wrong ways, leading to encounters with equally warped characters. One of these is Richard Gere in the role that first brought him to Hollywood's attention and which serves as a kind of template for the role of Jesse in Jim McBride's ill-fated remake of Breathless. The other is Tom Berenger, a borderline psychopath tortured by his own homosexuality. Both are characters no right-thinking adult would want to get involved with, but Keaton's self-destructive personality draws her to them, and while you want her to break free from her sleazy night-life a part of you can't help thinking she's going to get what she deserves.

The problem with Dunn is that she engages the viewers' sympathy in her straight persona then keeps pushing them away with her self-indulgent excesses and sometimes callous treatment of those who love her most. Combined with the relentlessly depressing atmosphere of impending tragedy that hangs over the entire film, this makes Looking for Mr. Goodbar a difficult film to enjoy (or even watch) and one to which many people wouldn't wish to return.

My wife has recently came across of a used vinyl somewhere titled "LOOKING FOR MR GOODBAR" MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK and after noticed Diana Ross is listed she bought it for me for the price of... only $1!!! Despite it's almost 30 years old there are no scratches, excellent quality, sounds like new - unbelievable lucky, isn't she? :)

So here are the tracks:

Side 1 1. Theme from "LOOKING FOR MR GOODBAR" (Don't Ask To Stay Until Tomorrow) 1:16 2. Don't Leave Me This Way - Thelma Houston 3:37 3. Lowdown - Boz Scaggs 3:19 4. Machine Gun - Commodores 2:45 5. Love Hangover - Diana Ross 3:47 6. She Wants To (Get On Down) - Bill Withers 3:15 7. Theme from "LOOKING FOR MR GOODBAR" (Don't Ask To Stay Until Tomorrow) (Reprise) 2:24

Side 2 1. Theme from "LOOKING FOR MR GOODBAR" (Don't Ask To Stay Until Tomorrow) (Vocal) - Marlena Shaw 4:08 2. She's Lonely - Bill Withers 5:04 3. Try Me I Know We Can Make It - Donna Summers 4:14 4. Back Stabbers - The O'Jays 3:06 5. Prelude To Love - Donna Summer 6. Could It Be Magic - Donna Summer 6:12

PS: there's no time printed for 2/5 - in fact there's no such track present on the disc but it's listed on the label.

I saw this movie when it came out in the '70's. Living in Marin County, we were all experimenting with our new freedom of sexuality, (Hot Tubs included). This movie should have been a wakeup call. But naive as I was, the night I saw the movie, my friend and I went to a local pub afterwards. I met a handsome fellow and he invited me to his home nearby, where he said he had a warm fire going. I told him of the movie and made him swear he wasn't a Mr. Goodbar (in a joking, yet serious way). But dummy me, I believed he was OK, and the man turned out to be someone you'd rather not go home with. Nothing too drastic happened, but I didn't go home with strangers again. I also became a "poster child" or should I say the voice of reason regarding the fact that "free love" was really not what we were looking for. Women are usually looking to be loved, and although we now had choices, this choice was a poor example of what we really needed.

Tonight my boyfriend and I were listening to Could It Be Magic by Barry Manilow, and I could picture the ending with that music playing and the lights flashing, and the rest of it which as you already know is unforgettable. So much so, that it's something I wouldn't want to see again. At my age now, it just might be a little too much for my heart to handle, LOL