Looking for Mr. Goodbar
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Looking for Mr. Goodbar is a 1975 novel by Judith Rossner, and a 1977 film starring Diane Keaton and Tuesday Weld. Rossner based the novel on the events surrounding the brutal 1973 murder of Roseanne Quinn, a 27-year-old New York City schoolteacher. The film received two Oscar nominations for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Best Cinematography; was nominated for the Best Actress Golden Globe; and received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium.
Plot summary
The novel opens with a prologue of a confession of murder of the novel's main character, Theresa Dunn. Theresa, a schoolteacher, often visits bars late at night when she is unable to sleep, picking up men and bringing them back to her studio apartment. After having sex with them, Theresa asks them to leave, never letting a man spend an entire night with her. The man that kills her does so after being asked by Theresa to leave, and becomes so infuriated that he hits her over the head with a lamp, smothers her with a pillow, and stabs her repeatedly.Theresa contracted polio when she was a child, and as a result, she gets scoliosis, eventually spending a year of her childhood in the hospital. Theresa feels that her parents, who are strict Catholics, don't love her as much as her older sister, Katherine. She harbors deep resentment towards her parents, feeling that they don't care what happens to her. Theresa's first love is her college professor, Martin Engle. The two have an affair that ends with Martin telling Theresa that it is time for her to "move on." Theresa is devestated by this news and falls into a deep depression, refusing to eat and sleeping for hours on end. After much urging from Katherine, Theresa spends the summer with Katherine and her latest husband, Brooks, at Fire Island, acting as a mother's helper to Brook's children from a previous marriage. Katherine and Brooks are heavily into smoking marijuana and have an open marriage, often sharing sexual pleasures with similarly-minded couples. This creates distress for Theresa, who is still uncomfortable with her blossoming sexuality. After the summer, Katherine convinces Theresa to move out of their parent's house and take an apartment in the building where she and Brooks live. One night, Brooks invites a friend from work home and the four of them share joints. Feeling extremely relaxed for the first time in her life due to the marijuana cigarettes, Theresa invites Brook's colleague to her studio downstairs, and the two make love. However, the man is married, and
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The 1977 film starring Dianne Keaton traces the sexual awakening of a young teacher searching for excitement outside of her mundane existence. Originally in search of the "perfect man", whom she refers to as "Mr. Goodbar", she begins to spiral out of control as her sexual appetite grows. Quiet and reserved teacher by day, sexual deviant and bar-hopper by night, Keaton begins to dabble in drugs and unstable men. Her self-destructive behavior is a means of escaping her numbing existence and of testing the boundaries of her otherwise safe life. One such sexual partner, played by Richard Gere, turns jealous and possessive, and begins to threaten her life. Ultimately, her sexual addiction and high risk behavior put her life in danger.This sexual thriller can be interpreted as a warning to young women choosing to explore their sexuality, pointing out the dangers of bringing home strange men. However, it more accurately explores the emotions which sexuality evokes. Keaton's character is strong and confident in her sexuality, while the men she sleeps with are insecure, angry, and primally instinctive in their actions. Together, this is a lethal combination.
External link
| Films directed by Richard Brooks |
| Crisis | The Light Touch | Deadline - U.S.A. | Battle Circus | Take the High Ground! | The Flame and the Flesh | The Last Time I Saw Paris | Blackboard Jungle | The Last Hunt | The Catered Affair | Something of Value | The Brothers Karamazov | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | Elmer Gantry | Sweet Bird of Youth | Lord Jim | The Professionals | In Cold Blood | The Happy Ending | $ | Bite the Bullet | Looking for Mr. Goodbar | Wrong Is Right | Fever Pitch |
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