Looking for Mr. Goodbar – Vinegar Syndrome (UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1977
Director: Richard Brooks
Writer: Richard Brooks
Cast: Diane Keaton, Tuesday Weld, William Atherton, Richard Kiley, Richard Gere, Alan Feinstein, Tom Berenger, Priscilla Pointer, Laurie Prange, Joel Fabiani, Julius Harris, Richard Bright, LeVar Burton, Marilyn Coleman, Carole Mallory

Release Date: December 10th, 2024
Approximate Running Time: 136 Minutes 17 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: R
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free (UHD)/Region A (Blu-Ray)
Retail Price: $64.98

"Theresa Dunn’s mild demeanor and job as an inner-city school teacher for deaf children masks her rebellious nightlife of frequenting dance clubs and dive bars, searching for easy men and one-night stands. At odds with her older sister Katherine, whose seemingly idyllic life is itself a cover for infidelity and heartbreak, Theresa finds joy in her self-styled form of liberation, in part to overcompensate for the trauma of a disfiguring scar from childhood scoliosis and her repressive Catholic upbringing. When two wildly different men, the square but grounded James and fun but unhinged Tony, enter her life, Theresa is forced to confront her demons as never before, forcing her on a path of increased self-destruction." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD, Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative."

Looking for Mr. Goodbar comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD. 

Disc Size: 92.5 GB

Feature: 91.6 GB

Out of circulation for almost three decades, Looking for Mr. Goodbar's last home media release was a VHS released in the 1990s. That said, going from an analog format VHS to 4K UHD is a massive leap, and the end result is stunning. Flesh tones look healthy, colors look correct, and image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid. Grain remains intact, and the image always looks organic. It should be noted that there was an issue with Dolby Vision, and Vinegar Syndrome will be sending out new discs that correct this.

Looking for Mr. Goodbar comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44.7 GB

Feature: 37.3 GB

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English with removable English SDH. The audio sounds excellent; dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Also, ambient sounds are well-represented, and the soundtrack is appropriately robust.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an audio commentary with filmmaker/film scholar Gillian Wallace Horvat.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc radio spot #1 (35 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), radio spot #2 (34 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), radio spot #3 (35 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 45 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a video essay by Brent Cowley on the obscenity trial following the film's theatrical release in Utah titled Defining Autonomy: The Trial of Looking for Mr. Goodbar (30 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), Studs Terkel radio interview from 1976 with Looking for Mr. Goodbar author Judith Rossner (13 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with Douglass K. Daniel, author of Tough as Nails: The Life and Films of Richard Brooks titled First Comes the Word: Richard Brooks and the making of Looking for Mr. Goodbar (23 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with Gillian Wallace Horvat.

Other extras include reversible cover art, a spot gloss hard slipcase + slipcover combo (limited to 8,000 units), and 40-page perfect bound book (limited to 8,000 units) with an essay titled I am my own girl. I belong to me written by Marya E. Gates, an essay titled Don’t Leave Me This Way: The Goodbar / Fever Break written by Marc Edward Heuck, an essay titled Love Hangover written by Elizabeth Purchell, and We’re all Looking for a Painkiller written by Jourdain Searles.

Summary:

Richard Brooks directed Looking for Mr. Goodbar. He is also known for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Elmer Gantry, The Professionals, and In Cold Blood.

A woman who teaches deaf inner-city children leads a double life where she cruises bars, takes strangers home, and has sex with them.

Though Looking for Mr. Goodbar is based on true life events, from book to film there are numerous instances where they differ. The most notable difference is the protagonist's persona, and in this instance it is a perfect example of a film enhancing the source material. That said, going in blind to a film like Looking for Mr. Goodbar is essential; the less you know, the better. 

The flawlessly executed narrative does a phenomenal job building up its protagonist. Unable to live up to her overbearing father's expectations, the protagonist moves out of her parents home and goes on a journey of self-discovery. The protagonist often daydreams, and there are many moments that are her internal fantasies. Despite her best efforts, her decisions and reckless behavior are constantly putting her in harm's way.

Diane Keaton (Annie Hall) is cast in the role of the protagonist, and she delivers a remarkbale performance that is arguably her best. Though Theresa Dunn is the type of character that most actresses dream of portraying, without Diane Keaton, Looking for Mr. Goodbar would be a different film. That said, the rest of the cast are all great in the roles, especially Richard Gere (American Gigolo) and Tom Berenger (Platoon); they portray two of the men that Theresa Dunn takes home.

Though Diane Keaton’s performance is going to draw the most attention, and rightfully so, one must not overlook Richard Brooks' direction. He is an exceptional storyteller who elevates Judith Rossner’s source novel. Nowhere is this clearer than in how editing and juxtaposition of images heighten the mood.

Made during the height of disco, Looking for Mr. Goodbar’s soundtrack features artists like Donna Summer, Diana Ross, The O’Jays, and The Commodores. It has been reported that the soundtrack was a major reason why Looking for Mr. Goodbar has been unavailable on home media. All of the music except for a Frank Sinatra song that plays in the background appears to be intact for this release from Vinegar Syndrome.

The most surprising aspect of Looking for Mr. Goodbar is how it handles sex scenes. These moments are artfully executed, playing with light and shadow, and they never come off as vulgar. That said, Looking for Mr. Goodbar saves its most memorable moment for an intense finale that is one of cinema’s bleakest endings. Ultimately, though Looking for Mr. Goodbar is a film that will make you feel uncomfortable, it's also a thought-provoking film that is filled with social commentary and subtext.

When I first encountered Looking for Mr. Goodbar, it was via cable television, and back then there were no accessibility issues. By the late 1990s and into the 2000s, when thousands of notable Hollywood films were making their way to DVD and Blu-ray, a notable absent title was Looking for Mr. Goodbar. It is a film that stayed with me long after that first viewing, and now that it's been released on 4K UHD and Blu-ray, more people can finally discover it.

Vinegar Syndrome gives Looking for Mr. Goodbar an exceptional release that comes with a solid video presentation and insightful extras, highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer