Will we ever see LOOKING FOR MR GOODBAR on blu? (1 Viewer)

[MatthewA]

That's because the stores overexpanded themselves and only offered a limited selection of titles. Best Buy doesn't offer a single solitary Criterion title. Luckily, Barnes and Noble does. What I'm suggesting is that the "death" of physical media is not exactly a natural one and that the demand is still there.

 

[Robert Crawford]

That's because the stores overexpanded themselves and only offered a limited selection of titles. Best Buy doesn't offer a single solitary Criterion title. Luckily, Barnes and Noble does. What I'm suggesting is that the "death" of physical media is not exactly a natural one and that the demand is still there.

Not as much as you think. Times are a changing and if you haven't noticed then I don't know what else to say to you. Even the manufacturers of disc players have recognized the change in the market place by offering fewer models.

 

[MatthewA]

Best Buy may not have had Criterion DVDs or Blu-rays last time I checked, but they had vinyl. Vinyl. And this was a store that never even bothered with laserdisc. Don't count it out yet. Player manufacturers are likely moving their physical media resources to 4K, so players that have Blu-ray and DVD are what we will likely see less and less of in the years to come. Perhaps if Hollywood offered a more varied diet, then sales would be better.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Best Buy may not have had Criterion DVDs or Blu-rays last time I checked, but they had vinyl. Vinyl. And this was a store that never even bothered with laserdisc. Don't count it out yet. Player manufacturers are likely moving their physical media resources to 4K, so players that have Blu-ray and DVD are what we will likely see less and less of in the years to come. Perhaps if Hollywood offered a more varied diet, then sales would be better.

Like I said, I don't know what else to tell you. You keep thinking that way. I'm out!

 

[ahollis]

I was in my 20’s in 1977 and managing a 6-plex theatre and we played LFMG for 10 weeks with sellouts the first three weeks or so. I always placed myself at the Theatre door to say goodbye to the audience as they left. I can describe the reaction of the audience as they left as crying, staring at the ground, holding on to their dates, but not saying a word. Which I’m positive was the reaction to the ending.

The film was absolutely a snapshot of the 70’s, and from what I remember it was a best selling book.

I haven’t seen the film since it’s original release in theatres, but I can still remember scenes that are burned in my memory along with the beautiful Tuesday Weld. I do wish Paramount or especially Criterion would release a Blu-ray.

 

[JPCinema]

I was at a the Village theater in Westwood...sold out. When the film was over no one left their seats. Shocked and stunned... we all needed a few minutes to collect ourselves and then walked silently out of the theater.

 

[battlebeast]

Never discount the fact that Paramount is a mess, with newly installed management just now trying to right the ship.

I hope this means catalogue releases are forth coming in any capacity.

Has anyone tried appealing to Robert Redford to help get Ordinary People released?

 

[The Drifter]

I was in my 20’s in 1977 and managing a 6-plex theatre and we played LFMG for 10 weeks with sellouts the first three weeks or so. I always placed myself at the Theatre door to say goodbye to the audience as they left. I can describe the reaction of the audience as they left as crying, staring at the ground, holding on to their dates, but not saying a word. Which I’m positive was the reaction to the ending.

The film was absolutely a snapshot of the 70’s, and from what I remember it was a best selling book.

I was at a the Village theater in Westwood...sold out. When the film was over no one left their seats. Shocked and stunned... we all needed a few minutes to collect ourselves and then walked silently out of the theater.

Great memories of people seeing LFMG on it's original release. I was too young to see the film back in '77, but do remember hearing about the film & it was obviously hugely popular at the time. I first read the novel circa 2008-2009 (before I saw the film), and it was very disturbing - even more so when I realized it was based on a true story:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseann_Quinn

 

[The Drifter]

Recently re-watched LFMG again. Still a crummy print, but better than nothing - LOL.

Like many great films, each re-watch makes me appreciate the movie even more. Some comments:

--The opening photo montage, quick cuts, and the snippets of different songs was extremely well-edited. Well-done.

- For the first time, I noticed a Janis Joplin poster on Keaton's apartment wall - very cool, and really defined the late '70's era to a great extent. I.e., a lot of '60's rock music continued to be popular in the '70's (and is still popular).

-At one point early in the film, Keaton is seen buying a vinyl record - nice.

-Interesting dichotomy between the seemingly conservative, selfless, and kind/caring teacher of deaf children during the day, and the bar hopping, promiscuous drug addict at night.

-The idea that Keaton was rebelling against her parents & her traditional upbringing by screwing around with various guys was emphasized even more when she was definitely not interested in the one conservative, "square" guy that her parents liked (Bill Atherton). He was exactly the type of guy that her parents would have wanted her to settle down with & have a family with, and that's why she wasn't into him. The scene when she tried to "seduce" him (to bring him down to "her level", probably) was meant to humiliate him to a certain extent, as were the other jabs/barbs at him. It was interesting to see how she was such an a-hole to him, when she was a completely different, kind, and patient person when dealing with her students.

-Keaton's sister (played by Tuesday Weld) was an interesting character; she was rebelling against her parents/conservative upbringing to a great extent as well.

-The scene at the very end of the film

Spoiler: SPOILER

where the Keaton character was viciously murdered was harrowing & stomach-turning, even by today's standards - the flashing lights, blood, etc. were quite grotesque - which was the whole point. It was a good idea to have the film end on that note, and not have any kind of epilogue, etc. - it made this last scene all the more powerful.

 

[RICK BOND]

It is on Movies! channel tonight at 10:20 PM EST. I have not seen it in years.

 

[JPCinema]

It is on Movies! channel tonight at 10:30 PM EST. I have not seen it in years.

That's a promising sign! Sadly in New York it will SD only on FIOS. Hope it will be available elsewhere soon.

 

[Worth]

I saw it not too long ago in HD on one of the movie channels. It seems to pop up from time to time, but licencing for television and licencing for home video are completely different things.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, courtesy of Joe Dante, I discovered you can watch this film anytime you want online at:

Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)

4.3 (33) How would you rate this movie? Click on a star to rate it! Submit Rating

rarefilmm.com

The site is pretty interesting featuring a lot of rare, hard to find, or forgotten pictures.

I am going to reserve comment on the film right now as I am processing how I want to describe it. If I were to just say two words about it they would be "not good" and I am a lover of 1970s filmmaking.

 

[The Drifter]

The link you provided is where I recently saw LFMG as well; it's probably the best print of the movie I've seen in that it appears to be widescreen (though I'm not sure it's Anamorphic).

I did notice that the audio in this print appeared to be "off" to some extent, though it didn't ruin/mar my enjoyment of the film.

 

[JPCinema]

Tried to watch LOOKING FOR MR GOODBAR on MOVIES! tonight. It was heavily edited and with all the commercials , I gave up. The fact that it is being shown , I truly hope a Blu Ray or a showing in HD on a premium streaming channel will be coming soon.

 

[The Drifter]

Unfortunately, as has been discussed on this thread - I strongly suspect that the music copyright issues will keep LFMG from being released on physical media for a long time - at least with all of the original music intact.

From my recent re-watch, I especially noticed the initial, early photo montage with all of the different pop/rock songs from the '60's/'70's. This would be a nightmare from a copyright licensing standpoint; there were at least 6-7 snippets of different songs in just that one sequence, and these would all obviously have to be cleared if the movie were to be released unedited. And, that's not even counting the plethora of the other music that is heard throughout the rest of the film.

 

[JPCinema]

I think the music rights issue has been solved. The editing was censorship ....every curse word as mild as it was bleeped out....sex scenes as well.

 

[The Drifter]

I think the music rights issue has been solved.

I'll believe that when the film comes out on Blu-ray/DVD with all of the original music, unedited - it would be a minor miracle if this ever happens.

If even one song is replaced/removed/revised, I won't be interested in getting this film on physical media - and will stick with the crummy streams. Note that, AFAIK, the streams all still feature the original music/songs.

 

[JPCinema]

The fact that it showed up on cable even though it was a crummy one is a good sign. ( None of the music was cut or altered) It also has been showing up more frequently in revival theaters in New York.

 

[Worth]

I think the music rights issue has been solved. The editing was censorship ....every curse word as mild as it was bleeped out....sex scenes as well.

Music rights for broadcast and video are not the same thing, especially when it comes to films made before the home video era.