Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)

A dedicated schoolteacher spends her nights cruising bars, looking for abusive men with whom she can engage in progressively violent sexual encounters.

Director:

Richard Brooks

Writers:

Judith Rossner (based on the novel by), Richard Brooks (written for the screen by)

Stars:

Diane Keaton, Tuesday Weld, William Atherton

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Diane Keaton	...	Theresa
Tuesday Weld	...	Katherine
William Atherton	...	James
Richard Kiley	...	Mr. Dunn
Richard Gere	...	Tony
Alan Feinstein	...	Martin
Tom Berenger	...	Gary
Priscilla Pointer	...	Mrs. Dunn
Laurie Prange	...	Brigid
Joel Fabiani	...	Barney
Julius Harris	...	Black Cat
Richard Bright	...	George
LeVar Burton	...	Cap Jackson
Marilyn Coleman	...	Mrs. Jackson
Carole Mallory	...	Marvella

Storyline

Theresa is a successful teacher of deaf children during the day but after a short unhappy affair starts to spend her nights cruising bars. Her craving first for sex but later also for drugs leads into increasingly demeaning and dangerous situations completely at odds with her daytime commitment to her children.

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Plot Keywords:

bar | schoolteacher | teacher | city | controversy | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 March 1978 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Buscando a Mr. Goodbar

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$16,900,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Actress Diane Keaton's contract explicitly prohibited the manufacture of any production photograph stills from any "sexually suggestive" frames from the film's print.

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Goofs

In the book, Theresa's sister Katherine goes to Puerto Rico to procure an abortion during a scene that takes place in the mid-1960s. In the movie, the timeline is changed so that this scene is set in 1975, two years after abortion was legalized by the Roe v. Wade ruling, making the trip to Puerto Rico unnecessary.

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Quotes

Theresa: First thing, on with the tv. Next - nothing. Just sit there on the bed watching the porno movie, I honest to God expect he's going to bring out a bag of popcorn. Finally, the big moment. He doesn't even take off his pants. And all the time he's doing it to me, he's watching them do it on tv.

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Connections

Referenced in Glitch! (1988)

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Soundtracks

"Back Stabbers"
(1972)
Written by Leon Huff (uncredited), Gene McFadden (uncredited), John Whitehead (uncredited)
Performed by The O'Jays
Courtesy of CBS Records

User Reviews

A dirty epic

This movie came out when I was a senior in high school. It made quite an impression on me, so much so that I saw it at least twelve times in the course of two months. It made sex and drugs seem like the greatest things life had to offer. At the time and for a little while afterward, that was true.

I always felt that Diane Keaton won her Oscar for the wrong movie; this was released the same year as "Annie Hall". The entire cast is great - a young Richard Gere, Tuesday Weld and William Atherton, to name a few. All of Richard Brooks' movies have interesting casts and this is no exception. I can understand why some viewers find this movie offensive; it all depends on what you want out of life, though.