Looking for Mr. Goodbar

"To her father, Theresa was a dutiful daughter. To the children she taught, Theresa brought warmth and hope. To the men she met in bars, Theresa was easy. All kinds of people loved Theresa. Diane Keaton plays Theresa in Looking for Mr. Goodbar."

1977 2h 16m EN

😐

6.3

MID

★6.3TMDB · 135

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A short, unhappy affair with a married man leads a dedicated schoolteacher into the alcohol-and-drug fueled underworld of singles’ bars, where she begins to engage in a pattern of dangerous sexual activity.

“To her father, Theresa was a dutiful daughter. To the children she taught, Theresa brought warmth and hope. To the men she met in bars, Theresa was easy. All kinds of people loved Theresa. Diane Keaton plays Theresa in Looking for Mr. Goodbar.”

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Cast

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

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Richard Brooks
Writers: Richard Brooks
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

49 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Goodbar Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Richard Brooks, shot by William A. Fraker. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Artie Kane. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor George Grenville shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Diane Keaton and Tuesday Weld and William Atherton carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "To her father, Theresa was a dutiful daughter. To the children she taught, Theresa brought warmth and hope. To the men she met in bars, Theresa was easy. All kinds of people loved Theresa. Diane Keaton plays Theresa in Looking for Mr. Goodbar.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0076327 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Richard Brooks directs. William A. Fraker behind the camera. Artie Kane scores. George Grenville cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

149 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Part of the "The Goodbar Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
3Directed by Richard Brooks, shot by William A. Fraker. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Artie Kane. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor George Grenville shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Diane Keaton and Tuesday Weld and William Atherton carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "To her father, Theresa was a dutiful daughter. To the children she taught, Theresa brought warmth and hope. To the men she met in bars, Theresa was easy. All kinds of people loved Theresa. Diane Keaton plays Theresa in Looking for Mr. Goodbar.".
8IMDB entry: tt0076327 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 11 themes, including "cocaine", "gigolo", "cannabis", "teacher".

The technical file

Cinematography: William A. Fraker
Original score: Artie Kane
Editing: George Grenville
Makeup / hair: Judith A. Cory
Sound: Robert W. Glass Jr.
Runtime: 136 min · 2h 16m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $22,512,655
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)

Part of

The Goodbar Collection

Collection of films surrounding the killing of a school teacher in NYC.

Also by

Richard Brooks

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2020-05-23
★ 7/10
We're all hurt someplace and we're all looking for a painkiller. Looking for Mr. Goodbar is directed by Richard Brooks and Brooks adapts the screenplay from the Judith Rossner novel of the same name. It stars Diane Keaton, Tuesday Weld, William Atherton, Richard Kiley, Richard Gere, Alan Feinstein and Tom Berenger. Music is by Artie Kane and cinematography by William A. Fraker. Theresa Dunn (Keaton) is a dedicated schoolteacher to deaf children by day, but at night she cruises bars looking for abusive men with whom she can engage in progressively violent sexual encounters. First off it should be noted that the Judith Rosner novel is based on the real life case of the 1973 murder of New York City schoolteacher Roseann Quinn. Also of note is that Rossner was not enamoured with this filmic adaptation. What we have here is a tragic tale set in the promiscuous pre AIDS era of 1970s America. It's a bleak observation of the swinging singles scene of the era, providing caution of patriarch pressures, religious suffocation and the dangers of casual encounters for sexual gratification. Is it any wonder the big hitting critics of the time were nonplussed by it?... The pic generated a lot of buzz for handsome new actor, Richard Gere, even if he does overact, it actually works in context to the brashness of the period. It also introduced Tom Berenger, in what is a frightening portrayal of a very sexually confused man. Tuesday Weld got a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for playing Theresa's sister, which was richly deserved, so much so one wishes she was in the film more. Yet it's Keaton who absolutely shines here, lifting an overlong picture to greater heights. Proving she had more in her armoury than merely playing kooks, Keaton imbues Theresa with a desperation and loneliness that is shattering for viewing purpose. The whole narrative bites with a crushing inevitability, that the nihilistic back drop can only bring pain and misery, and so it proves. Richard Brooks should have sliced at lest thirty minutes from the run time, especially given that the "Theresa fantasy sequences" just come off as pointless and take one out of the heartbeat of the story. Yet this is still a fine movie, not one to be cheered up by of course, but poignant, relative and with the real life story at the core, important. 7/10

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