|
Actors: Diane Keaton, Richard Gere, William Atherton, Tuesday Weld, Richard Kiley, Alan Feinstein
|
|
| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Looking for Mr. Goodbar |
|---|
This story turns one young woman's determined pursuit for a liberated existence into a cautionary tale about being too promiscuous.
Theresa Dunn (Diane Keaton) lives in a strict household, ruled by an abusive and domineering father (Richard Kiley). Still bearing the emotional and physical scars of childhood scoliosis, Theresa is extremely self-conscious and low on self-esteem. She also has mixed feelings about trying to lives as a wholesome, Catholic girl, yet still yearning for sexual experience. She allows her college professor, Martin (Alan Feinstein), to take her virginity. When their affair finally ends, Theresa is devastated to learn that Martin used her; she was simply another of his sexual conquests. Theresa then decides to take a cue from her wild, hedonistic sister, Katherine (Tuesday Weld), and moves out to start her own carefree, independent life. Theresa quickly finds an apartment in Katherine's building and Katherine happily introduces her naïve sister to a completely new world, drenched with pornography and drugs. If Theresa learned anything from her affair with Martin, it was that sex and love do not necessarily go hand in hand.
Theresa is a sympathetic, dedicated and conservatively dressed teacher of deaf children during the day, but at night, she morphs into a suggestively clad free spirit, prowling local bars in search of Mr. Right … or Mr. Right Now. This time around, Theresa is purely looking for no-strings attached fun, using an array of ready, willing and able men strictly for her pleasure. Theresa soon meets and hooks up with the sexy, volatile and dangerous Tony Lo Porto (Richard Gere). She prefers Tony's lewd but gratifying attention to the more respectable affections of compassionate, strait-laced social worker James (William Atherton). Theresa brings clean-cut James home to appease her concerned parents, but her heart is not really into the relationship. Theresa, refusing to give up her outrageous nightlife, quickly dumps James when he sadly points out that her life is going in the toilet, judging by her poor performance at work and the disgusting, cockroach-infested condition of her apartment. When Katherine does a complete turn-around, forgoing her wildness for a life of clean stability, she urges her Theresa to do the same. Theresa makes a solemn promise to clean up her act. However, on New Year's Eve, she decides to have one last hurrah and brings home another young stud, the attractive but highly peculiar Gary (Tom Berenger).
--Tara Dugan, Resident Scholar
|
| Analysis of Looking for Mr. Goodbar |
|---|
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
elements, all of which are searchable (click here). |
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1960's-1970's
Romance/Love/Hugging
Yes
Kind of romance:
- boatload of casual sex without love
Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Profession/status:
- teacher/professor
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric:
Yes
- obsessed
- emotionally unstable
- wild
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (woman) long straight
Body type
- (woman) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- sad
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- general circumstances
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 90%-100%
Setting
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
Misc setting
- bar
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- concerned
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- kissing
- touching of personal anatomy
- licking
- seeing nude female butt
- seeing nude male butt
Any profanity?
- Some foul language
Is this movie based on a
- book
|
| Most similar reviews by Gordonator ranking |
|---|
| 2046 (Kar Wai Wong)
starring Tony Leung, Ziyi Zhang, Gong Li, Maggie Cheung, Faye Wong
|
| Shampoo
starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Carrie Fisher
|
| Last Tango in Paris
starring Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider
|
| La Collectionneuse
starring Patrick Bauchau, Haydée Politoff, Daniel Pommereulle
|
| Spetters
starring Jeroen Krabbé, Rutger Hauer, Renée Soutendijk, Hans van Tongeren
|
|
Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Tara Dugan
SCHOLARS:
|
|
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
|
