Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-24 01:16:43

The Dark. Side. of Saturday. Night. Fever (Blink)

Well, while everyone else was repeating the lyrics to all those obnoxious songs by the Gibb Sisters, my funky bunch was doing it decadent thing and frequenting altered states, whereupon we walked into this film one night on Christmas Eve, and stumbled out in catatonic shock. In retrospect, it's got 70s written all over it, but it was one of those films that happens to presage things to come... bad things to come. Yeah, disco was fun, babes, but we was flying without compasses lots of time, and the drives of the unconscious combined with the wild variables of the world put the death knell to more than a few. Richard Brooks made some decent films in his time, and GOODBAR is a solid outing. Keaton excels, Fraker's cinematography is dead-on, and the R&B/disco soundtrack is superior to that other film of this moment with Travolta. I don't think the tone is as conservative and moralistic and some may contend: you play fast and loose in a big city and bad things can and do happen (its dangerous enough in surburbia). Then there's the ending. My God. The ending. You will never perceive the disco experience the way you used to after watching this strobe light die out.In the words of the title theme, Don't Ask to Stay Until Tommorrow.

2012-05-23 16:46:37

One of the all-time best!

I have this movie on VHS and it is one of my favorite movies to watch! Now, will somebody please explain why Paramount has yet to release this on DVD!

a 2012-05-15 17:20:52

painful

Some movies you wish were more realistic, this one turns out to be way too realistic. Miserable life of a young catholic girl in NY, and you feel equally miserable going through it.Also, overly vintage look also gets quite irritating. Looks more of 1900s than 1970s the way it was shot. So while the description suggests the movie is fun, it's not. It's actually quite a depressing, visually weird-shot drama.

2012-05-15 00:37:42

Great acting - terrible story!

This is really a very sad, sad story. I remember watching it and thinking at the end, "This really sucks!" I won't give away the entire plot, but if you can think of a woman in her 20's, with a job at a school (so she should be leading a somewhat low key life) and tons of men that treated her like crap, then this is your flick! The worst part must be the ending. Some movies, you suffer through the whole thing, and then you get a really good ending .... but this one, you just get a crappy story with an even crappier ending. As much as I love Diane Keaton, and her acting is great by the way, this movie is a real downer. If you are in the mood to get depressed, watch this one!

2012-05-13 15:00:18

Hilariously Awful!

I can't believe I saw the same film described by other reviewers. This film is a hoot -- incoherent, wretchedly acted, far too long, filled with unbelievable dialogue and preposterous scenes, and shot through with a pious moralism that is truly insipid. A good film to watch with some funny, cynical buddies, while splitting a case of beer.

2012-05-13 13:18:11

sad but good

my obsession with Diane Keaton has to pretty much come from this movie! I consider this movie a classic from the 70's period. yes, it's very dark I can't remember a film now that is this dark. thats because it's very truthful. I suppose the fact that keatons caracter picks up men from bar's does drugs is a big part of the story. but it's more to me about the paths we choose in life. all these things hit her at once. being a free woman with a career and no oblagations to anyone. when I see this film now I don't really think about some of the bad things that happen. I think more about what makes up a caracter like this and what does she not want? why does something bad have to happen to good people? this movie really speaks to me on many diffrent levels.

2012-05-04 11:36:47

Self destruction and insanity of the 70s

"You want to kill yourself?" William Holden's character asks Richard Mulligan in Blake Edward's "S.O.B." "I can show you a half a dozen great ways." Too bad Diane Keaton's character didn't know of Holden's advice. She would have gotten a lot more out her short life than a bunch of loser men and cockroaches.I have to admit that Mr. Goodbar is more than just another high school Freudian anti male 1970s rant. It's just not much more than that. The self loathing Diane Keaton shows could have been further explored but any psychological study quickly gets drowned in a tsunami of 70s talismans -- drugs, orgies, female liberation, anti Catholicism. Keaton herself is the only thing that even partially redeems this otherwise clumsy, repetitive, self indulgent, dragging film.One other thing: the abortion scene with Theresa's sister is a lot of hooey and Hollywood propaganda. Abortion was elevated to a constitutional right in 1973. By 1977 there was no such thing as a back alley abortionist. Politically motivated anachronisms detract from any movie.

scubaesp 2012-05-04 06:02:21

shocking then - thought provoking now

I saw this movie when it was first released as a newly divorced 25 yearold woman hitting the dating scene of the time. I felt this movie putthe fear of god in me about bars the same way Psycho has me stilltaking baths instead of showers and Jaws kept me out of the water foryears. At the time of it's release there was a lot of drugs, sex andthe meat market bar scene. I felt this should have been shown to everyteenage girl as a training film with a warning.I did show it to my own daughter years later when she was old enoughand she thought it was great - although much of the "scene" had changedby her dating years it was still a great capture of the underlyingdangers we all face with meeting people for hit and run relationships.Guess now they involve the computer but the danger is still there.

ggr-3 2012-04-29 01:20:44

"Looking For Mr. Goodbar" - an 70's odyssey

I also saw "Looking For Mr. Goodbar" in my senior year and found it tobe one of the most profound films. I can remember sitting in theaudience at the Loma Theatre in San Diego after waiting in a long linefor 2 hours - I had no idea what the film was about - I had seen thetrailer at a viewing of Robert Altman's "Welcome To LA" and loved theintro of the trailer with Donna Summer's "Try Me" being the openingmusic - along with Thelma Houston and O'Jays - Disco music was becomingquite popular and I was drawn in - I sat in my seat and next to me were2 women who kept giggling as they spoke about their excitement to seethe film. I turned to them and asked them what the movie was about. Onewoman said, "Well, this woman goes looking for Mr. Goodbar. And she hasto go through all of the other Goodbar's to find him." I laughed andwas actually entertained at the though of it - sounded to me like aPeyton Place (of course, not precisely) of this time. Verycontroversial.After the film, I was in a trance over the violent ending. I realizedthat what our heroine had gone through was slowly committing suicidewith her soul - the ending was evident. Sad, but evident.I saw the movie about 50 times following since I was trying to find myown sexuality (without the drugs) and found it to be the only film thatcould be a connection for that time. I knew the wrongs and rights ofthe film and looked at it as an adoring for Diana Keaton, who waswonderful in the film. It is honest - raw and somewhat entertaining.It continues to be an outline of the 70's for me along with the music.Kudos to Paramount for releasing it with such openness. It has beenbashed allot - but who has not been for being brutally honest?

2012-04-28 11:13:30

Looking for Mr. Nutbar!

When this movie was released, it was really controversial even though it came out during the height of the swinging '70s. It's a movie that I didn't like too much when I first saw it on TV in the late '70s. Over time though, this movie has really grown on me. It's about a woman that is a teacher of deaf children by day, and a swinging disco mama by night. She is trying to come to terms with her sexuality & relationships, but always seems to have to confront conflict with her family or the men she meets. What always amazed me about this movie was the loser men she meets throughout. This is why I have always affectionately titled this movie as "Looking For Mr. Nutbar" The atmosphere is dark & seedy, and can be a depressing movie to watch-especially the heart wrenching end. This doesn't take away from the movie, it just adds some '70s flavour to it! If you are a fan of Diane Keaton, or like movies from the '70s, this is a great choice for your video library.

jbmm 2012-04-26 14:26:04

Annie Hall it ain't...

This film, based on the best selling novel of the same name, goesnowhere.Even Diane Keaton can't save it.Unlike the book, the characters are all one-dimensional, seeminglydisconnected from the story. You don't care about anyone, because there'snodepth to anyone.Keaton, despite being a fine actress, seems confused in her part, goingfrom prim, gullible school teacher to bar-hopping slut, with nothing inbetween, except maybe Richard Gere. How and why she gets to this point isnot really explained. As for Gere, his acting is so out of control, youwonder where the hell was the director.The rest of the supporting cast plods along with the uneven script,changing personalities as quick as Keaton changes partners. The onlysavinggrace in this mess is LeVar Burton. His appearance on the screen is brief,but boy does he pack a punch...literally.Only wish he'd punched a few more in this film.

mollylane 2012-04-25 21:58:02

Cautionary tale holds up over time

Few viewers can deny the impact of this film – on the '77 crowd andgenerations afterwards. As a curious 8-year-old up late watching HBO, Inever forgot the story or the lesson. Based on a true story, Richard Brooksastutely translated Judith Rossner's best-selling novel to screen, choosinga luminous Diane Keaton, hot off `Annie Hall' and `The Godfather' to playTheresa Dunn, an up-and-coming Richard Gere, a quirky Tuesday Weld , andamazing Richard Kiley as Dunn, the overbearing Irish-Catholic father. Themisogynistic Richard Atherton and an ominous Tom Berenger rounds out thesolid cast.Neither traditionally beautiful like her stewardess sister, Katherine or ababy factory like her other sister living at home with her, Theresa is theodd one out, the sister who is searching for approval from a father whobarely acknowledges her existence. Childhood traumas mold her and make thefact that Theresa allows herself to be strong and fallible all the morepowerful and endearing.Tired of her father's unyielding rule, Theresa moves into the apartmentbuilding owned by Katherine's next attempt at a husband. As the women'sfreedom movement is underway, Theresa is caught in the position ofquestioning the traditional roles for women, roles against a new woman incontrol of her body and her sexuality. By day she teaches at a school forthe deaf. By night her nightly jaunts into New York's seamier nightlifescene, expose the dichotomy of being a professional woman by day who mustmaintain credibility and responsibility, especially with young childrenwhile trying to be sexually active, experimental and suffering the stigmaattached to both – as whore and as a free woman – wanting purely physicalexperiences much the same as men, yet realizing the label isdifferent.Throughout this film, Brooks explores Theresa's perpetual search foracceptance by men but a need to maintain her own identity. From a failedaffair with a Prof. she was a TA to, to her fling with Tony, a localhustler, Theresa is perpetually in question of her sexuality and her allurefor men, making poor choices in her partners only to endure their violenceand possessiveness - much like her father. That she meets up with ahomicidal drifter the New Year's Eve night she has decided to quit drugsandcruising, is the irony of her self-discovery.The only positive male in her life appears to be is LaVar Burton'scharacter, Cap Jackson, –the sullen brother of one of Theresa's students.Heis the only male presence in the movie that is not malevolent or trying toextract something from Theresa and during her altercation with Tony at theschool, he is the only person to defend and protect her.While the scare of AIDS stole later generations' promiscuity, this talestill resonates for viewers, especially for women on their own, looking forintimacy yet craving isolation.While the ending tends to drag with one too many drug scenes the moviestillpacks a wallop for a finale.

pljewkes 2012-04-21 03:47:22

Really Goodbar

It's not easy to sit through but LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR is ultimatelya very good movie, not to mention a real milestone in Diane Keaton'scareer. As a school teacher by day who trolls the single's bars bynight, Keaton is a revelation, proving why she was one of the mostdaring actresses of the 1970s. Director Richard Brooks extracts areally great performance from her. She's matched at every level by anunusually fine supporting cast including Richard Gere as anon-again-off-again lover, Richard Kiley, and, best of all, Tuesday Weldas her older sister (an airline stewardess with A LOT of baggage!) TomBerenger makes a brief but memorable (and shocking) appearance. Not forthe faint of heart, or for those who know only of Keaton's comic workin the '70s. Prepare to be shocked. The last really good movie directedby Richard (ELMER GANTRY, IN COLD BLOOD) Brooks.

Ranger1-3 2012-04-20 14:22:02

That's the way it was.

This movie does an excellent job of showing just how it was, at that time,in the location it's portrayed in. Most of you were never there. Or, ifyou were, you're just now 42 years old, female, and grew up in an urbancity(American) location. The (real) average girl of that time only knewenoughto look, listen and (maybe, if lucky) partake. Diane Keaton successfullyplayed the part of a maturing women (17-20) who wanted to know what theworld was hiding. In 1977 no one had VCR's, cable TV or passes to thecorner adult theater. The only way to see the world was to get into it alittle bit at a time. Starting with a teacher was as good a way asany.

the_lazy_brother 2012-04-20 07:14:26

a masterpiece!

A Richard Brooks' masterpiece! I first saw the movie as a teenager inBelgrade and it disturbed me profoundly. It's a story on femalesexuality and search for personal freedom and fulfilment. The maincharacter, brilliantly played by Diane Keaton, is a young womanrevolting against oppressive Catholic upbringing, personified in thecharacter of authoritarian and hypocritical father, and metaphoricallyrepresented as an incurable hereditary disease. She refuses to getmarried, rejects the role of a submissive wife and mother (under thepretext of not wanting to pass "the disease" to her children) andindulges in numerous loveless sexual relations with rough, violent goodlooking men. But for me, the beauty of the movie truly reveals itselfin the way Brooks, by the end shows all the tragedy of the "nihilisticcure" to the emptiness that the rejection of the hypocriticaltraditional family order leaves behind. Brooks' understanding andempathy for women looking for freedom and self reliance is impressive!

canewyorker 2012-04-19 08:37:39

Excellent style, excellent acting, excellent atmosphere

The movie really gets the whole 1970s drug sniffing, gay liberation,pro swinger pre aids lifestyle down, and then closes with what may beone of the most depressing endings ever shot for a movie. As we allknow, Diane Keaton is the straight laced teacher by day, and bar hopperby night. Her Catholic background and domineering father all contributeto 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 todo what she does in the film without being called whores, and then shehad to pay for it. Such a good flick though, although it could haveused a little editing for time. See it, and decide for yourself. Highlyrecommended, and perfect depiction of a life that really is impossibleto imagine in this day and age.

2012-04-18 00:16:21

You've got to read the book or you won't get the movie

The movie leaves out a lot of explanation as far as what's going on and why the characters do the things they do. You really can't "get it" without knowing the story. She's not just an immature barfly--she's really got problems! I think the movie visually captures the mood of the book, but it leaves out way too much detail.

2012-04-17 11:41:50

looking for mr good bar

This review is from: Looking for Mr. Goodbar [VHS] (VHS Tape) This is a riviting caultion tail for the yong club goer or bar drinker.I hope every one has seen it.

Mike Koenen 2012-04-16 14:54:52

Interesting portrayal of the late 1970s bar scene

This was an interesting movie and it shows how the world has changed inthe last 30 years. The attitudes (between men and women, gays andstraights), the language used back then, the social atmosphere (barscene) of the late 1970s, even the financial differences--she's able toafford an apartment in Manhattan on a teachers salary! (even though ithas roaches this still isn't possible in 2006). All of these thingsmade the movie interesting for me. I also imagine it must have been avery shocking movie back then. I was 8 years old when it came out so Ididn't see it in the theater but I would have liked to see it in atheater just to see how people took it back then. I would have liked towalk out of the theater and hear the conversations going on as peoplewalked to their cars. Did people like it back then? Did they think itwas shocking? Did they think it accurately portrayed a type of personthey maybe knew or were themselves back then? Also, Diane Keaton wasvery good in it and it's very interesting to see a young Richard Gereand Tom Berenger when their careers were just beginning.

2012-04-16 03:02:23

Slow depressing movie about sex & drugs in the late 70's

Depressing look into the life of a girl who doesn't know what she wants in her life, other than to be free, and not understanding what free is. Diane Keaton does a good job, but the movie leaves one depressed and wondering why they just wasted 2 hours watching it.