The term "slut-shaming" has only recently become commonplace. However, I think that had that term existed in the past, it would have been applied to the main character in Looking for Mr. Goodbar. Shocking and tragic, Looking for Mr. Goodbar is a strong film with an exceptional central dramatic performance.
Theresa Dunne (Diane Keaton) is the product of a good, conservative Catholic family. She also has her older sister Katherine (Tuesday Weld), whom the family sees as perfect in every way. Under those circumstances, Theresa becomes a whore. She begins an affair with her married professor Martin Engle (Alan Feinstein). She may be in love with him, but he is not in love with her. Katherine, we find, is anything but the perfect angel that Katherine and Theresa's father (Richard Kiley) think that she is. She confesses to Theresa that she had an abortion to cover up an affair.
For her part, Theresa moves out of her parents' home and begins a dual life. By day, she is Miss Dunne, respected, respectable and devoted teacher for the deaf. By night, she hits the bars and picks up various men for trysts at her place. That is not to say that Theresa does not have some regular male relationships. There is Tony (Richard Gere), a charming but unreliable Italian American. Then there is James (William Atherton). He seems the ideal man. James is from a good Irish Catholic family, is gainfully employed as a caseworker and has progressive values while also being traditional in his courtship views.
He is also a bit controlling and obsessive with Theresa. James' problems are nothing compared to Theresa's. Her boozing and casual hookups cause her to miss class, which in turn causes the class to devolve into total chaos and angers both the administration and students. Tony comes in and out in every way possible in Theresa's life. She has to deal with her disapproving and disappointed family, her own issues and her inability or refusal to stay clear of risky situations. This culminates on New Year's Eve, where to avoid James, she finds herself in a gay bar but still manages to pick up Gary (Tom Berenger). Unfortunately for her, this will be the final hookup, leading to a shocking and tragic end.
Looking for Mr. Goodbar may be fictional in that it is based on Judith Rossner's novel, but the film and novel are based on the life and death of Roseann Quinn, a real-life case that shocked New York City. There are so many elements in the Quinn case that elevated it to its notoriety: the dichotomy of a schoolteacher of the deaf being seen as this wanton slut, the brutality of Quinn's killing especially at the young age of 28, and the sordid details around it. Quinn was murdered in 1973, so the case would have been fresh in the minds of audiences watching Looking for Mr. Goodbar, released four years later.
Looking for Mr. Goodbar reveals another side of Diane Keaton. The same year that Looking for Mr. Goodbar premiered Keaton was charming America as the quirky title character in Annie Hall. Loveable and kooky, Keaton won Best Actress for Annie Hall. She could have easily won or at least been nominated for Looking for Mr. Goodbar, a dynamic performance that shows Diane Keaton to be as adept at drama as she is in comedy.
Keaton's performance is a standout. Her Theresa is brittle, bitter but also deeply yearning for love. I think that Theresa wants love, but she confuses it with sex. "Don't love me. Just make love," she tells one of her hookups, revealing through writer/director Richard Brooks a woman who struggles in her sexual liberation. She may be free and easy, but she is not happy. "I'm alone, not lonely," she also says, but if memory serves right this is said almost in defensive anger. Theresa still carries a lot of Catholic guilt and feelings of inadequacy which she attempts to drown in ways positive and negative.
Her work with deaf children is one way to find fulfillment, and Keaton has wonderful moments as she learns American Sign Language and interacts with the children. It also allows for LeVar Burton to appear in an early screen appearance as the brother of one of Miss Dunne's students, yet I digress. Her other fulfillment comes from what nowadays would be called her body count. In Looking for Mr. Goodbar, we see the evolution of Theresa from someone who gave herself to an unsuitable man for love to someone who thinks that she is in full control when she was not. Once her secret life literally hits the front pages, we feel for Theresa in the plight of her own creation.
Tuesday Weld received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her turn as Katherine, the idealized older sister who was just as messy as Theresa. I think her role is relatively small, but she has some good moments in Looking for Mr. Goodbar. "They all think I pee perfume," Katherine tells her sister. In how Katherine is just as self-destructive as Theresa, Weld does more than what the material gives her.
Looking for Mr. Goodbar has a host of great performances throughout. Richard Kiley as Mr. Dunne appears very taciturn throughout, but at the end he has a wonderful moment in his last confrontation with Theresa. If memory serves right, it is not one filled with rage but with regret, even pain, while still keeping to his values. This is an early film for LeVar Burton, but it also is an early film for both Richard Gere and Tom Berenger. Each of them did extremely well. Of these, Gere had the largest role as Tony, the occasional lover who drops in and out at whim. He is charming and dangerous, handsome and loathsome in equal measure.
An unsung figure is Atherton as James. He seems like a good catch: relatively handsome, from a good family, with a decent job and what appears to be an overall decent manner. However, we see that James can be as harsh and brutal as Theresa's other hookups. Atherton brings out James' dark side, his obsession and cruelty while also showing that kind and considerate side. I do not know if James is hypocritical or troubled, but he gives a fine performance.
One can tell the tragedy in Looking for Mr. Goodbar at the beginning and end of the film. The film starts with a photo montage of people enjoying themselves with music that blends jazz with the current disco craze, including Thelma Houston's Don't Leave Me This Way. It reflects not just the times of the film but also what Theresa probably would ask. In the midst of this musical montage (which may be a reason why for decades Looking for Mr. Goodbar was unavailable due to music rights issues), we have the haunting theme Don't Ask to Stay Until Tomorrow, sung by Marlene Shaw in a mournful, haunting manner. Artie Kane's music and Carol Connors' lyrics fit the mood beautifully. If Don't Ask to Stay Until Tomorrow was written specifically for Looking for Mr. Goodbar, one wonders how it failed to receive a Best Original Song nomination.
The ending of Looking for Mr. Goodbar is one of the most haunting, terrifying and tragic endings I have seen. As filmed by Brooks, one feels the life ebb away as the strobe lights flash while she literally fades out of existence. It is frightening and terribly sad. One cannot help feeling for Theresa, who may have been careless with the men she hooked up with but who never deserved her horrifying and tragic end.
Looking for Mr. Goodbar can be seen as a cautionary tale. It can be seen as a tragedy. It should be seen.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Views are always welcome, but I would ask that no vulgarity be used. Any posts that contain foul language or are bigoted in any way will not be posted.
Thank you.