204: A Woman in Trouble, Part 1: Looking for Mr. Goodbar (with Jessica Ritchey)

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CW: This episode contains spoilers and discussions of cinematic sexual violence.

The film writer Jessica Ritchey returns to the show for a two-part series about two controversial films about a woman’s complex sexuality, films that took a couple of decades to be rediscovered and better understood.

In part one we discuss Richard Brooks’ 1977 drama Looking for Mr. Goodbar starring Diane Keaton, based on the popular seventies bestseller by Judith Rossner, based on the true story of a New York City schoolteacher who was murdered by a man she picked up at a singles bar. Mr. Goodbar was a major hit for Paramount upon release, but a few weeks later it was overshadowed by another Paramount release with an even bigger cultural impact and hit soundtrack, Saturday Night Fever.

Mr. Goodbar has been hard to see properly for decades due to its reputation as a misogynist, depressing film and the extremely expensive licensing costs for its disco soundtrack, until the end of 2024 when Vinegar Syndrome unexpectedly released a limited-edition restoration. Jessica and I dig into the thorny and complex issues this film presents about a woman’s sexuality, partly due to Richard Brooks’ determination to tell a more empathetic story than the more punishing tone of Rossner’s novel (she was angered by the adaptation). Brooks may not have been the ideal person to make this film being two generations removed from the subject but nevertheless his film contains an interesting and useful critique of the patriarchy, using his understanding of New Hollywood techniques.

Jessica and I also discuss the film’s use of music, Diane Keaton’s tremendous performance as Theresa Dunn, the depiction of all the terrible men in her life, and our responses to the shocking conclusion of the film.

Part two of this discussion is exclusive to the Patreon feed: more about Mr. Goodbar, contrasted against a controversial 2003 film that could be seen as a feminist response to it, Jane Campion’s In the Cut, and a 1982 TV movie about a woman in danger that echoes some of these themes, Hotline starring Lynda Carter.

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Follow Jessica Ritchey on Bluesky, and support her work on Patreon.

The limited edition Vinegar Syndrome release of Looking for Mr. Goodbar can be purchased here.

“Goodnight Theresa”, a YouTube playlist Jessica and I cooked up of disco songs that came out too late to be included on the Goodbar soundtrack but would have fit right in.

Trailer for Looking for Mr. Goodbar (Richard Brooks, 1977)

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