In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Starring Diane Keaton in a wild movie of debauchery and rabidness, "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" is certainly no bore of a movie. Directed by the late Richard Brooks, and transferred from a novel this movie moves along and sometimes feels repetitive, probably because the Keaton character keeps looking for the wrong types of men and getting more than she can handle. She is the good girl unfulfilled and always going for the bad-boys. The movie features a jazzy, 70s track and delves into sexual content thoroughly. Richard Gere, is in for a bit in precursor role to his American Gigolo stint a few years later. (spoiler) Without giving too much away, the end certainly surprises, and is as well done as it is disturbing. Totally frenetic and worthy watch - 7/10

It was searching for a copy of this that led me to a source of otherwise unavailable films but the lengthy running time has put me off watching it, for some time. Also, I cannot now remember what got me intrigued by the title anyway. In any event the thing is now watched. It seems to me there is a bit too much of everything here, certainly Richard Gere and Tuesday Weld who are well over the top. Keaton is fine but her character begins to irritate halfway through, what with all her neediness and simultaneously thrusting of people aside, her wonderfully virtuous deaf classes, adding nothing whatsoever and the growing tedium of the shadowy scenes of sex and drugs. Brave of Keaton to take the role but if only Brooks could have kept it to something more like 90 minutes we would surely have had a much more succinct and effective movie. Too many characters to little effect and too many downers and not enough uppers.

I watched this film again recently to see if it would give me the same impression it gave me as a teenager. I saw this movie with a group of friends when it first came out. We didn't know what to expect, but when we all came out of the theater I noticed everyone looked a bit dazed. I felt kind of numb. The ending still packs a big punch, still one of harshest and abrupt I've ever seen. I have a tendency to like happy endings, but this is still a good, well-acted movie. Keaton is great in this, and she draws you in to caring about the character, Theresa Dunn. She is a shy, caring person who teaches deaf children; unfortunately, she also has a sex addiction. Weld (Katherine) gives her best performance as the older sister who leans on and looks up to her younger sister, as her "rock of Gibraltar." In the end, the sisters reverse roles, and it is Theresa who needs help. I feel the message of this movie is to not confuse women's liberation (or any liberation) with promiscuity and addiction, which is actual slavery. The supporting cast is excellent, with both Richard Gere and Tom Berenger giving gritty performances early on in their careers.

Thersea Dunn (Diane Keaton) is a dedicated teacher by day. By night she cruises bars picking up men for increasingly violent sexual encounters. This leads to drug abuse and starts affecting her job. Can she stop? A VERY negative view of the swinging 70s before AIDS came about in the 80s. I originally saw this on TV when I was in high school where it was cut to ribbons and virtually incomprehensible. A revival theatre did show it a few months later so I got to see it uncut on the big screen. I was a little too young to understand it fully (a 10th grader doesn't know much about singles bars:)) but the message came through loud and clear--sex + drugs = death. There's more to it than that--they get into Dunn's family life and you see she grew up feeling neglected with an obnoxious loud father and a meek mother. There's also her sister Katherine (Tuesday Weld) who is also addicted to sex and drugs. Basically this is a very depressing film full of unpleasant characters and situations. Keaton is great in her role--she totally buried her "Annie Hall" image with this. She also did nude scenes which she previously refused to do. Weld was superb (and Oscar-nominated) for her role. It's also fun to see Richard Gere and LeVar Burton before they hit it big. Also a still unknown Tom Berenger pops up at the end in a very disturbing but crucial role. He had guts playing the role he does (I won't give it away). This movie has disappeared due to song rights (I believe) and that's too bad. It IS disturbing but an accurate portrayal of the dark side of the singles bars in the 1970s.