Themes: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, Single Life, Playing the Field
Main Cast: Diane Keaton, Tuesday Weld, William Atherton, Richard Kiley, Richard Gere
Release Year: 1977
Country: US
Run Time: 135 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Adapted from Judith Rossner's best-selling novelization of a true story, Richard Brooks's melodrama turns one woman's search for a liberated life into a cautionary tale about promiscuity. After an affair with her college professor, no-longer-good Catholic girl Theresa Dunn (Diane Keaton) follows the lead of her hedonistic sister (Tuesday Weld) and moves out of her oppressive family home to forge a life of her own. A compassionate teacher of deaf children by day, Theresa metamorphoses into a sexually free cruiser of singles bars by night. She prefers the satisfying attentions of unpredictable, danger-tinged stud Tony Lopanto (Richard Gere) to the more noble intentions of social worker James (William Atherton), but she ditches anyone who prevents her from being her "own girl." As Theresa's life threatens to spin out of control, she makes a vow to clean up her existence once and for all. But before she makes the break, she goes to one more bar and brings home one more man (Tom Berenger). ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Review
With the casting of Diane Keaton as Theresa, Looking for Mr. Goodbar became a then-rarity in Hollywood movies, depicting an everyday woman with an erotic life, rather than a vamp or a whore. While Keaton's performance was hailed for embodying the contradictions faced by women after the sexual revolution, Looking for Mr. Goodbar was faulted for Brooks' heavy-handedly puritanical view of the 1970s singles bar world. With its cultural currency, Looking for Mr. Goodbar became a moderate hit, as contemporary audiences debated how close Theresa's story was to their own experience. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Edward C. Carfagno - Art Director, Jodie Lynne Tillen - Costume Designer, David Silver - First Assistant Director, Richard Brooks - Director, George Grenville - Editor, Artie Kane - Composer (Music Score), Charles Schram - Makeup, William A. Fraker - Cinematographer, Freddie Fields - Producer, Ruby Levitt - Set Designer, Robert W. Glass, Jr. - Sound/Sound Designer, Richard Portman - Sound/Sound Designer, Al Overton, Jr. - Sound/Sound Designer, Kay Rose - Sound Editor, Richard Brooks - Screenwriter, Judith Rossner - Book Author
The 1977 film starring Diane Keaton as Dunn traces the sexual awakening of a young teacher searching for excitement outside of her mundane existence. Originally in search of the "perfect man", whom she refers to as "Mr. Goodbar", she begins losing control of her life as her sexual appetite grows. Quiet and reserved teacher by day, sexual deviant and bar-hopper by night, Dunn begins to dabble in drugs and unstable men. Her self-destructive behavior is a means of escaping her numbing existence and testing her boundaries and providing excitement in her otherwise safe and boring life. One such sexual partner, played by Richard Gere, turns jealous and possessive, and begins to threaten her life. Ultimately, her sexual addiction and high risk behavior put her life in danger.
Diane Keaton received a nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Dramatic Film for her performance in the film. She was not nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in this film, although she was nominated (and won) the same year for Annie Hall.
Trivia
The music video for the Madonna song "Bad Girl" was loosely inspired by the film.
