Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)

A bored New Jersey suburban housewife's fascination with a kooky character she's read about in the personal columns leads to her being mistaken for the woman herself.

Director:

Susan Seidelman

Writer:

Leora Barish

Stars:

Rosanna Arquette, Madonna, Aidan Quinn

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rosanna Arquette	...	Roberta Glass
Madonna	...	Susan
Aidan Quinn	...	Dez
Mark Blum	...	Gary Glass
Robert Joy	...	Jim
Laurie Metcalf	...	Leslie Glass
Anna Thomson	...	Crystal (as Anna Levine)
Will Patton	...	Wayne Nolan
Peter Maloney	...	Ian
Steven Wright	...	Larry Stillman D.D.S
John Turturro	...	Ray
Anne Carlisle	...	Victoria
José Angel Santana	...	Boutique Owner (as Jose Santana)
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Street Vendor
Richard Hell	...	Bruce Meeker

Storyline

Bored Roberta spots a regular personal ad in the paper titled 'Desperately Seeking Susan'. She heads off to New York, following one of the ads, and finds Susan. When Susan sells her jacket, Roberta - trying to emulate her mystery ad writer - buys the jacket and wears it. Little does she know someone is looking for the jacket - and its owner...

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Plot Keywords:

neo screwball comedy | riches to rags | prince and pauper | rags to riches | impostor | 

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Taglines:

Roberta is desperate to be Susan. Susan is wanted by the mob. The mob finds Roberta instead...

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

PG-13

Did You Know?

Trivia

Included among the American Film Institute's 2000 list of the 500 movies nominated for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies.

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Goofs

When Susan sees the two criminals on TV, the blond guy is called Richard Nolan. In the closing credits, the character is named Wayne Nolan.

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Quotes

Newspaper Clerk: "Desperately Seeking Stranger Seeking Susan. Regarding Key. Meet me Saturday night, Magic Club, Broadway, 9:30 PM. Be there." Is that it?
Susan: She'll love it.

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Alternate Versions

Desperately Seeking Susan was intended as an R-rated movie. To address Madonna's very young fan base, the film was trimmed to meet PG-13 criteria. It never received an uncut release.

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Connections

Referenced in Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful (1991)

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Soundtracks

Mashed Potato Time
Written by Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe (as Harry Land)
Performed by Dee Dee Sharp
Courtesy of K-Tel International

User Reviews

Cool girls from the city.

Desperately Seeking Susan is one of those titles in a catalogue of definitive 80s movies. It is a fantastic little caper directed by the fantastic Susan Seidleman, and unfortuantely, was one movie that got pitched around a long time before someone finally picked it up.

Susan (played terrifically by Madonna in her pre-burnout years) is a sassy, flaky, and often witty young woman who's always looking for a good time, even when danger is afoot. Enter Roberta Glass (Rosanna Arquette) who could practically be her alter ego as she is everything Susan is not. She is shy and judicious and stuck in a boring marriage, looking for an escape. She is everything Susan is not, and wants to be everything that Susan is. And she will get her chance.

Roberta reads the personal ads frequently because that is how wordly traveller Susan reaches her boyfriend, Jimmy (Robert Joy). They place ads saying hello and telling each where to meet. Roberta is going to tag along when Susan posts a new ad telling Jimmy to meet her in battery park. This is where Roberta takes an interest in Susan, but not that in single white female kind of way, despite the sudden mix up that arises out of all of this. She follows Susan around the city and so forth.

Someone else is following Susan, too. A murderer (Patton) looking for a very expensive earring that was stolen from a museum. He is after Susan because he knows she has the earring. But, after an accident at the park and Roberta winding up with amnesia, the murderer is after the wrong Susan. With the help of Jim's friend Dez (Quinn), Roberta slowly has to figure out who she is, otherwise the murderer is going to kill her, thinking she has the find. In the meantime, Susan teams up with Roberta's totally idiotic husband, Gary (Mark Blum) to find out Roberta's whereabouts. Roberta is going to get exactly what she wanted: a little fun, a little adventure, and a little escape, that will have her rethinking her own course.

Desperately Seeking Susan is really a fun movie that takes place in New York City. Everybody in it, even Mark Blum as the obnoxious Gary Glass and Laurie Metcalf as his compulsive and mistrusting sister, Leslie. Rosanna Arquette is great in nearly everything I've seen her in for her 80s career of movies, and works perfectly as Roberta in her romance with Dez (Quinn). And, it is one of the few things that I actually like Madonna in. They tried to recreate her Susan image (and story) for the movie, Who's That Girl (with Griffin Dunne), but it just couldn't work as perfectly as it did here. Seidleman and writer Leora Barish did some good work in producing a fun film.

By the way, if you're ever in Greenwhich Village, 'Love Saves the Day' (the second hand clothing store that Susan goes into to buy boots) still exists. However, they mostly sell retro novelty toys.

Details

Official Sites:

HBOMAX [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 April 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Desperately Seeking Susan

Filming Locations:

Bleecker Street Cinema, 144 Bleecker Street, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,526,098, 31 March 1985

Gross USA:

$27,398,584

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$27,398,584

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (original release)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1