The Diane Keaton/Richard Gere film Looking for Mr Goodbar (1977) is on TV tonight! Apparently it’s a good film that has been ‘lost’ (not even a US DVD release) because of copyright issues to do with the music. I was very surprised to see it listed in my TV guide. It’s on Paramount Network at 11:35pm – 2:25am in the UK tonight.
153 Sky SD
188 SD / 187 HD Virgin
132 Freesat
It should be worth recording as it might disappear into the vault for ten years before you get another chance to see it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looking_for_Mr._Goodbar_(film)
It isn’t alone, there are a number of rare films getting UK broadcast soon. There was a bit about it in the Radio Times. I’ll check when I get home later.
Also on Freeview channel 54.
I found the mention in RT. Coming to My5 catchup service on Thursday are these never-shown-on-UK-TV films:
The Angriest Man in Brooklyn (Robin Williams),
Tomboy (Sigourney Weaver),
Debug (Jason Momoa)
I watched “Looking for Mr Goodbar” in the late 80s, because my Dad had it on an old VHS, taped from the TV.
For what it’s worth, I was really disappointed in the film.
I remember seeing it when it came out. There not many laughs, not any laughs in fact. Bleakissimo!
Ms Keaton doing a bit of serious acting as a woman in search of casual sex and violent sexgames. It all ends in tears.
Spoiler alert!
Lowering the tone a tad….
They Live was on Horror Channel last night so expect repeats.
Non more 80s sci fi horror with possibly one of the greatest movie quotes….
“I’m here to chew bubble gum and kick ass….and I’m all outta bubble gum”
Brilliant! I didn’t realise it was his film but that line is pure John Carpenter
Here is some background for us Carpenterphiles.
Terrific, and much underrated film. Pretty fucking bleak though.
Boy is it ever. I remember reading the novel a long time ago, and bleak doesn’t even come close…
I’ve never heard of this film. Might give it a watch. Sometimes with these “lost gems”, you wonder whether it was worth finding them again or if they should just have been left as “lost”….
(Controversial opinion ahoy) A Clockwork Orange is one of those films that held far more power as a banned (withdrawn, really) masterpiece, then its power fizzles up a bit when you actually see it. Is that all there is to it?
It’s strange how some genuine masterpieces fall by the wayside and out of collective memory, however. I recently wanted to buy my son a DVD of Being There (Peter Sellers movie from 1978 or thereabouts) as I had given him the book and he loved it. But it’s not currently on active release and seems difficult to obtain unless you buy an expensive second hand copy. It’s a wonderful film and definitely due a revival. If you’ve never seen it, it’s about a simpleton gardener who gets into politics by mistake when people mistake his trite, homespun philosophies for genuine political wisdom. If it ever does get a re-release, I claim the phrase “Forrest Trump” for my review, and you heard it here first.
A few weeks ago I watched:
Being There (1979) – a classic
What About Bob? (1989) – better than the sum of its very good individual parts
The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997) – very, very, very underrated Bill Murray comedy
Le Dîner de Cons AKA The Idiot Dinner (1998) – the American remake is truly dire
I call this my idiot trilogy (sic). I can’t watch one without the others. I love movies about clueless people accidentally getting the better of smarter, more aware people. If you have any recommendations concerning this subject matter please tell me.
I’m surprised Being There is out of print. It’s not OBSCURE within film buff circles and it’s been reissued on DVD at least once before with extra content.
They Live was recently re-issued on DVD/Blu-Ray and and 4K UHD so it’s far from lost. Indeed the new edition replaces a very strong and extra stuffed previous Blu-Ray edition.
Today I searched for On Deadly Ground (1994) because I’ve been reading a book about Steven Seagal. It seems to have fallen out of print some time ago. Which is odd since it’s a key movie in his career and would be an obvious film to put in a Warner Bros. box set. The oddest things slip away into out of print obscurity.
Not ‘lost movies’ as such, but I have the below list of films I want to have a Blu Ray release, some of which are difficult/impossible to find on DVD, let alone Blu Ray.
Let It Be – sounds like a rejigged version is being worked on
Magical Mystery Tour
The Fearless Vampire Killers – aka Dance of the Vampires
The Bounty – I can’t believe this hasn’t been done already, as it is ideal for HD
High Sierra – the best film by my favourite actor that hasn’t had the Blu Ray treatment
The Ghoul – the Peter Cushing/John Hurt film. I believe this is forthcoming
Taste of Fear – Christopher Lee said this was the best Hammer film he worked on. I agree
One False Move
Red Rock West
The Rutles
Crimes and Misdemeanours
Everyone Says I Love You
Manhattan Murder Mystery
MMT is available on Blu-ray, there is also a deluxe set.
Most of Woody Allen’s films are on Blu-ray.
e.g.
https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/woody-allen-six-films-1971-1978-blu-ray/FCD1278
https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/woody-allen-six-films-1979-1985-blu-ray/FCD1279
https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/woody-allen–seven-films—1986—1991-blu-ray/FCD1280
Others available separately, some only in Spain or Germany.
Re MMT – you’re quite right, I have it. I even watched it fairly recently! I visit this list so rarely, that I forgot to take it off. I do this with other lists and regularly buy things I already have. You’d think I’d learn.
I have all the UK Woody Allen Blu Rays, but I’ll wait for the others to get released over here.
Then you have Crimes and Misdemeanours too! ESILY is available ina German box set, MMM is available on Spain or US (if you are region free)
Ruddy heck, you’re quite right, I do. Today’s task – go through my wants lists!
On Deadly Ground (1994) was on TCM a few nights ago.
It’s an interesting movie. I can see why it was laughed at and why I disliked it as a circa 13-year-old kid. Not enough action, too vague a baddie, too preachy etc. Now though, as an adult, the peculiar nature of the baddies (they are just a greedy corporation dangerously cutting corners to keep a time sensitive oil rights contract) is fascinatingly unusual. The relative lack of action was fine as the story itself held my attention. The ecological message is a lot more mainstream than it was back in the mid-90s so it doesn’t look so absurd now. It has some weird moments (the barroom brawl ends on a very weird note), I fast-forwarded through the tedious looking Native American healing scenes so who knows what madness I skipped (there was a dream sequence that looked barking), and the end speech wasn’t embarrassing. I enjoyed it. I thought it was perfectly watchable if you don’t expect too much from it. The immoral corporation was a refreshingly different type of enemy for an action film. Michael Caine gets a strong character to play and tears into it with relish. There are a few crude moments but otherwise Seagal was a good director. It was a better movie than expected.
I really liked Goodbar when I saw it on VHS in the 80s – features Richard Gere and Tom Berenger (who I just saw in a Cheers re-run this morning) in early roles, and a very haunting ending.
Not sure what territory you’re in @Arthur-Cowslip, but Being There is readily available on DVD in the UK. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Being-There-Peter-Sellers-Deluxe/dp/B000U5CO9K/ref=sr_1_1?crid=A5D1NJJE0OLR&keywords=being+there&qid=1564422376&s=dvd&sprefix=being+there%2Caps%2C142&sr=1-1
Actually had a customer query about Being There just the other day. It’s not available as such in the UK – there’s no UK version in the catalogue, and that version on Amazon is clearly an import (come on @KDH, where’s the BBFC certificate on the front? You know better than that!), although it will almost certainly play fine on any UK based DVD player
The world of film rights is incredibly murky, and things drop in and out of the catalogue all the time, often with no obvious reason. If you’re patient, they do come round – one of my favourite films, Vincent Ward’s The Navigator, had a belated blu ray release last year almost thirty years after it was made, and I’ve just discovered today that Clive Barker’s Nightbreed is out on blu ray in October (with a director’s cut as well!). Interestingly, the company myself and KDH spent a lot of time working for is floating the idea of a kind of Kickstarter for out of print films – the idea being that if they can get a certain amount of pre-orders for a title, they can go take that number to a company who have previously expressed doubt that there’s a market for it, and arrange a one off run. If it comes off it’ll be great.
Ah, @Kid-Dynamite, a fair point – I feel like I should hand over a badge of some sort for missing that! In my defence, I bought a copy from the dodgers just under three years ago with exactly the same sleeve, but including the certification, ( this one – https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001IWELFY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) and I did check the region code was UK on the one I originally linked to.
A good idea, the Kickstarter thing, and they’ve had some success with exclusives previously, so hopefully it’ll get off the ground, particularly if they start off with blu-rays of Roman Holiday & The Devils (now there would be a double bill!).
Nightbreed! That’s excellent news, have wanted a copy of that for ages. Though admittedly it’s been so long since I’ve seen it that I really can’t remember if it was actually any good or not 🙂
Yep, saw it in the cinema on release and not since. I think it was good, but to be fair I also thought Neds Atomic Dustbin were good at roughly the same time.
Yeah I’m in the UK. I’m sure it wasn’t available but I’ll check again.
Never seen it but I’d like to. There are crap prints on YouTube but dubbed in Spanish or whatever. I read the book back in the day and I love Diane Keaton and gritty 70s movies so it’s a must if it’s on Freeview (thanks Fenton).
Oh, I watched it during a private english course where vhs dialogs where played, translated and pronounced. A great way to learn. I remember hating the end for being sanctimonious. I always take the side of those characters that needs to “prendre des vacances” as we say in French.
I guess that, at the time, I should have understood that the movie could have been a hint.
This teacher was great and she invited me to a Ginsberg reading, that I am thankfull for.
I started Looking for Mr Goodbar (1977). I watched about 15 to 20 minutes. It did zilch for me. It felt dramatically vague. It went from top to bottom of my to watch list. I’ll probably get back to it but I’m in zero rush.