I finally watched Desperately Seeking Susan

It was adapted into a West End musical featuring the music of Blondie.

No comment on Anna Thomson?

I'm not sure who that is, R2. Who did she play?

Madonna struts her stuff here and this and Dick Tracy are her best film performances. Smithereens by the same director was made 3 years earlier and is also set in and around the East Village is a grittier and darker version of the larky Desperately Seeking Susan and is worth watching.

Susan's friend.

Oh her! She kind of disappeared half way through the movie, didn't she?

I should watch Céline et Julie vont en bateau sometime to compare.

Oh, I was laughing at myself while watching it too, I should say. I'm pretty clean and I couldn't get over how that case of things Madonna had was all over sinks in some public bathroom and then all over the floor of the Port Authority. I was like, ewww! Haha!

All I can say is that when I saw it as a small-town teenager, its version of New York (along with After Hours and Something Wild) seemed incredibly hip and appealing to me. A certain affectlessness was part of the vibe, taken to extremes in something like Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise (which I also loved, but didn't see until a few years later). Watched it again last year and I still enjoyed it, though I honestly have no idea how younger people would take it. It was very much of its time (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).

This has to be the last possible time Madonna could be considered hip or "downtown" though. By the time of True Blue she was completely mega. There's a certain ease and lack of self-consciousness in her performance that she wouldn't really get back.

What's of its time about it? I haven't seen it in several years but it's about a suburban housewife who gets lost in the big city. It's pretty timeless.

[quote]All I can say is that when I saw it as a small-town teenager, its version of New York (along with After Hours and Something Wild) seemed incredibly hip and appealing to me.

I think I know what you mean. Bear in mind I'm not even American, let alone a New Yorker, let alone born at the time, BUT... it did seem very hip and appealing, and like they had captured a "moment" of what New York was like. I did enjoy that.

I saw the film sometime in the late 80s. It was alright but practically all fluff. The only reason people even remember it is because of Madonna. And because of Into the Groove which is one of my favorite Madonna songs.

I've always thought it was nuts that "Into the Groove" was never released as a proper single in the US. It's very clearly one of her greatest and most-loved songs. It probably would have been a #1.

Madonna is to Desperately Seeking Susan what Barbra was to What's Up Doc - an example of someone breezing through on their own genuine insouciance.

Unfortunately, with the best will in the world - and I would say that both Madonna and Barbra do take acting seriously even if they're not very good at it - it's almost impossible to replicate such a thing on purpose.

Did this movie happen before or after The Virgin Tour? I'm curious if this was the last time people got "street Madonna" before she changed her look.

I think it was filmed before she exploded with Like a Virgin but released after. Someone else might be able to elaborate though.

Actually, I'm answering my own question here, but "Into the Groove" was in The Virgin Tour wasn't it? Therefore the movie came first. I guess maybe Live Aid was the last time "Street Madonna" appeared.

She was street Madonna in the "Who's That Girl" video, not to mention "Open Your Heart."

She was kinda "street" (in quotations) in those though, much as I like them. One telling thing about Desperately Seeking Susan (and some of the earlier videos like "Lucky Star") is how un-toned her body is. That babyfat pretty much vanished at some point.

Yeah, by "street" I was just trying to describe everything up to when she lost the baby fat, dyed her hair platinum blonde and True Blue, all that stuff.

Oh, look what I found!

It wasn't baby fat. She was toned in her pre fame nudes.

It's not a very good movie, but it's her most memorable role.

She's not a very good actor, unfortunately, but given how humorless she is in real life, it is interesting that she believed she could do standup comedy, and her best acting roles are all comic. This movie is quasi-screwball, Who'sThat Girl is screwball, League of Their Own and Dick Tracy are comedies.

I recently saw this clip of her scenes as Karen's wacky roommate on Will and Grace, and she comes across to me as PERFORMING! her lines in a very unnatural way, but it seems like everyone who commented on the clip praises her for her comedic timing. I do have to admit though that while she is utterly unconvincing in dramatic roles, she has pulled off goofy comic roles with greater success.

The more I think about it, the more I think I'm disappointed that it wasn't a better film. There are actually lots of little touches in it if done properly would've been great. It feels like they're trying to show the city and all its characters throughout the movie, these lovely little bits like the triplets checking out Madonna, the man putting in his advert for afternoon playmates, Iris Chacon on the television and so on. Even the smallest character in this is just that, a character. I like the idea of that, if only as I said, if it had been done in a better film.

Maybe you should remake it.

We could be friends r8 ... and maybe we are! 👍

Todd in the Shadows has done reviews of every one of Madonna's movies. Here is his one on Desperately Seeking Susan, where he makes some pretty fair points.

A lot of people would disagree but I honestly think it's a quintessential 80's film. It is one of the only five good films (others are Who's That Girl, Dick Tracy, A League of Their Own and Evita) in her entire acting career.

Also "Into The Groove" was included on some early international CD releases of Like a Virgin as a bonus track.

Film was shot in fall 1984. Movie was released March 29, 1985.

Like a Virgin single was released on Oct. 31, 1984, the album was released two weeks later on Nov. 12, 1984.

Madonna's first public performance of Like a Virgin (at least in front of a mass audience) was at the first ever MTV Video Music Awards held at Radio City Music Hall on Sept. 12, 1984.

When was "Like a Virgin" finished? Madonna was ready to release Summer 1984, right? Was the album recorded very quickly?

I loved this film. Saw it as a youngster when it was released, my older brother took me to see it. Have seen it again over the years and it always makes me laugh. Gary Glass and his sublime sister played by a Laurie Metcalfe, those earrings, Aidan Quinn, the boots! All of it.

So 80s, like a time capsule of an era.

I used to love Aidan Quinn, I need to re-watch this.

Just a year or two after it came out, there was this big dictionary of films that was published with the 1000 greatest films of all time. Believe it or not, "Desperately Seeking Susan" was included as one of them. Somehow I don't think it would make it into the same dictionary published today.

I remember it was available on home video about 6 weeks after it’s theatrical release to cash in on the Madonna craze, which they obviously didn’t think would last 10 months.

Like R8, I saw this when I was a young and stuck in the provinces; it all seemed so cool to me. I tried to adopt a similar gritty, insouciant style and still love the 1930s big trousers and t-shirts Aiden Quinn wore. (Later sat through some bad films just to see him, too.) I re-watched it a couple of years ago and thought it held up okay--really took me back that 80s feeling. However, in terms of filmmaking, it has nothing on After Hours.

It was filmed just before Madonna exploded--Susan Seidelman cast her because she liked her style (which was then Susan's) and Rosanna Arquette was the star. By the time it came out, it was a Madonna movie. She was charming but still an abominable actress. Her wooden line reading of "I'm here, and I'm thinking" has stuck with me to this day.

It was the beginning and the end of Susan Seidelman. Sad, because at the time (and still today) there were so few women directors.

I remember Pauline Kael hated the movie(typical) and the best thing about it was Madonna.

Seidelman was never a particularly good director. She got by on Smithereens based on moxie and the energy of the performers.

Desperately Seeking Susan is actually pretty clunky for a comedy, and I remember there was a lot of tension (to put it nicely) between Seidelman and Rosanna Arquette. To be fair, Arquette is known to be a royal pain whose career tanked. The movie is OK and Madonna is passable.

Madonna is usually better when she's not a lead, as in A League of Her Own (her best performance IMO) and Dick Tracy.

Best Laurie Metcalf line: "Take a valium like a normal person!"

I agree, the direction is what lets a lot of this movie down, if done better it would've been perfectly fine, and the little touches in it could've given it a flavour of its own. It's funny, I was explaining it to a friend last night and she pulled up the trailer to see it - the trailer is nearly ALL Madonna. Madonna was actually in the movie more than I was expecting but she's still like, at least third after Rosanna Arquette and Aidan Quinn.

Is it streaming anywhere now?

I watched it on SBS on Demand, R39. Not sure if that's an Australian only site though.

I still love it. Saw it in the theater when it came out, and then a few years later moved to the East Village. It’s not a GOOD movie, but it’s fun.

R9 It's the NY scene from the late 70s to early 80s and the music and clothing style that is of its time before downtown NY became more gentrified.

I love this movie. The supporting cast/cameos are great. Rockets Redglare, Ann Magnuson, Anne Carlisle, Richard Hell, Adele Bertei, John Lurie...just so fucking cool! I saw it in theatres when I was in 8th grade when it was first released and again at The Castro maybe 10 years ago. The younger crowd at Castro loved it! I took my then 18-year-old nephew and his friends and they had a ball. Beyond Madonna (also the name of my prog-rock band...), I think my nephew and his friends liked dirty/arty NYC of the 80s.

An annoying film, but with peak Aiden Quinn.

The cameos of those downtown people may be great but what I've always loved most is the parade of NY theater actors throughout the film; besides Laurie Metcalf, there's Mark Blum (RIP), Robert Joy, John Turturro, Peter Maloney, Giancarlo Esposito, Annie Golden, Richard Portnow and so many others. And production and costume design by the great theater designer Santo Loquasto.

This thread really makes me want to see the film again. I haven't watched it in a couple of decades. I hope I'm not disappointed.

[quote]besides Laurie Metcalf, there's Mark Blum (RIP), Robert Joy, John Turturro, Peter Maloney, Giancarlo Esposito, Annie Golden, Richard Portnow and so many others. And production and costume design by the great theater designer Santo Loquasto.

I can totally see how this would add to the film. I don't know who any of those people are, except Metcalf, perhaps I would've enjoyed it more if I did?

I bet you'd recognize most of those actors now, even if you don't recognize their names, r46.

I've quoted that line, r37, but I've never sensed that anyone got the reference.

Richard Edson also had a cameo in this. He's the guy who watches Susan stealing newspapers, IIRC.

Madonna literally became a superstar during the filming of the movie because she sang Like a Virgin on the then mega-popular MTV Video Awards.

I've read they started filming prior to that and they were just a little low budget film filming on the streets of downtown New York.

By the end of shooting they had to have security and traffic blocked off because crowds were forming to see Madonna.

It drove Rosanna Arquette crazy that Madonna "stole" her movie. It didn't help that on the VHS box they put a critic's quote of "the Madonna movie" on the top front cover.

Arquette even won a BAFTA for Supporting Actress which must have bothered her too since she was supposed to be the star.

[quote]Arquette even won a BAFTA for Supporting Actress

Wow, really? God, that must've stung!

The movie is strangely similar to Smithereens (which plays a lot on TCM Underground.)

Madonna's character is almost like a lighter version of the Smithereens character.

Seidelman was supposed to be the great female director of the time. She-Devil stopped that.

Even I, someone who doesn't know anything, could see her directing was off, sometimes she had some great ideas, in fact the ideas really were there generally, but pulling them off wasn't always well done. The dance scene is great, except we barely notice that Roberta's husband is trying to dance along with Susan, it's almost exclusively focused on Madonna. Which, I mean, she definitely lights up the screen in her element there, but the joke is that he is this out of place yuppie, trying to replicate her dance moves. You can see that he is doing that on the edge of the screen, but it should've been more noticeable to be funnier, I think.

“You bought a used jacket?”

Aidan Quinn in this was my teenaged j/o material. Husband #1 was a dead ringer for him.

I have always loved this movie, but it's far from perfect. The movie sparks to life when supporting characters and bit players get a chance to show their oddities and quirks (Laurie Metcalf chugging Tab and offering Valium all movie, for instance), and Madonna was terrific when she just got to be Madonna (dancing, in the pool).

Yes, r54 rum and Tab!

I believe that was the last movie I ever saw at a drive-in.

[quote]It was adapted into a West End musical featuring the music of Blondie.

How strange that Blondie songs were commissioned for a musical so identified with Madonna and the mid-80s. What a balls-up!

Agreed, R54. I also liked little moments like the man placing his advert in the paper, or Roberta waiting for the security guard to come back while the TV is blaring out that variety show number: "Your body's hot, you're always HOT! Sooo hot!" then seeing her husband's advert dubbed in Spanish.

R57 The styling of the musical is a couple of years off. It looks as if they tried to re-insert it back into the late 70s. Incidentally, Deborah Harry also starred in a terrible German rip-off of Desperately Seeking Susan, which was set in NYC called Forever, Lulu.

Apparently this is the movie that Desperately Seeking Susan was somewhat based on.

2 comments:

1) liked the short snippet of carly simon's "you belong to me" my favorite song of hers... and

2) watching the movie when i was young, madonna's character and lifestyle was so so fascinating and interesting to me... to be so carefree and a traveling vagabond with no worries, picking up and leaving whenever you wanted.... then you realize as you get older, that isn't a way to live and not a life because reality and money comes into play....

I'm curious to see that one R60. It's over 3 hours though, which is a long time for me and movies.

It was filmed before, but came out when she was a hot thing emerging from the New York scene. It will exist for a long time as an artifact of NYC culture and east coast american film from that era. Afterwards it became impossible for her to disappear into a role, so it's easily her biggest lasting movie performance. The guy from Sonic Youth has recalled how overnight she went from someone involved in the local culture / neighborhood star to global megastar and how crazy it seemed to them at the time.

i remember seeing it in the theater with my best friend at the time. Aidan Quinn was hot, this movie was the epitome of cool to a couple of jr. high kids

r58 the Spanish woman in that clip was actually a frequent guest on David Letterman's show at that point. He had lots of offbeat people like that on when he first started such is this woman and the woman who Woody Allen put in Broadway Danny Rose who played songs just by rubbing the rims of glasses filled with various liquids.

I remember renting it on video back in the mid-'80s because i was a huge Madonna fan. I was captivated by Madonna but the film itself I have never loved but i do appreciate many of its qualities.

Looking back, it's amazing how fast Madonna's fame transitioned from popular new recording star (Borderline, Lucky Star) to absolute pop-culture sensations (Like a Virgin, DSS). If I recall from interviews, Madonna's first album was still doing extremely well so they had to wait for it to cool off before releasing Like a Virgin. There was really no break between Madonna (1983) and Like a Virgin (1984) and then no break between LAV and DSS and the soundtrack singles of 1985 (Into the Groove, Crazy for You Gambler).

One cute story about the making of the film is that when considering Madonna for the film, apparently Madonna showed up at the audition in a cab. When she got out, she asked the filmmakers for cab fare. I don't know if it was Seidelman or a producer, but they said, "That's something Susan would do!"

What a time to be alive. I know Madonna is seen by DL as a crazy, plastic surgery mess, but in 1983-1985, her rise to superstardom was like nothing else. It was an exciting time.

As a kid I had a copy of Billboard magazine and on the back cover was an ad for Madonna's single "Everybody" and it proclaimed a star is born. She soon would be. Damn, I wish I'd kept that magazine.

No other person has since broken through in culture the way Madonna did in 84/85. She took what she needed to succeed and earned her fame, and the whores and hussys of today can only cower in her shadow. Only Britney Spears came close to creating that kind of phenomenon and fame broke her early.

Her MTV Like a Virgin appearance seems pretty tame nowadays but it was shocking and scandalous back in the day.

I remember all the kids in my neighborhood running inside to see her when she was on Live Aid. We didn't care about any of the other "stars." Madonna was it.

Her inability to act after this is sort of odd. She excelled at making music videos. She's just too cautious about what she says. Even as herself she speaks very slowly and sounds like she is measuring every word. It's odd.

You'd think she could have hired a coach or acting teacher to help her out.

“What do you use the birds for?”

That's a good point R70. She was very good in her videos, I guess because she had complete control? She did well in Papa Don't Preach, playing the teenage daughter for example. I mean I guess the reason she was good in Evita was just that it's like an extended music video. But yeah, she's so rarely good in movies. I'd forgotten A League of Their Own, but yes, I think that is probably her best that I've seen. I've heard she was very good in Dangerous Game but not seen that. She's good at crying scenes, too. But she's too aware of herself most of the time, which gives this wooden quality to her acting. Plus, your point about the acting coach is a good one, and her problem is that she seems to have decided she didn't need one and could get by the same way she got by in singing without a vocal coach.

Madonna tried to get Shelley Winters to coach her for Shanghai Surprise, offering her a small fortune to do it. This is what Winters claimed on Inside the Actors Studio, which Madonna later denied in a statement to Vanity Fair. This was when the world was out to get her for her lack of acting ability.

Shelley was once roommates with Marilyn Monroe, who Madonna idolized. Shelley said Madonna was too much of a pain in the ass to teach. She did not like Madonna's artificial facade and told her she was better suited to making music videos. Shelly later said that Like a Prayer was the best acting Madonna ever did.

"That Madonna may think she is the reincarnation of Monroe, but there is no way that she can duplicate Marilyn's intelligence and vulnerability".

SMITHEREENS feels like a more authentic capture of the downtown NYC “scene” back then. It looks like all the characters were acting out scenarios in their genuine stomping grounds. It’s very low budget and grittier, but has a fresh, wild energy that feels immediate. But at times it feels ragged. DSS is similar but feels more like a Hollywood movie with lots of cameos by downtown arty types, even if it didn’t start that way. And I think is successful in its own way, but at times feels hollow.

Someone mentioned Richard Hell is in DSS, is this true? He’s one of the main characters in SMITHEREENS.

Richard Edson has a cameo opposite Madonna is DSS, as mentioned. He was also the first drummer for early Sonic Youth, and played on their first EP. He later was in a band called Konk, and early Madonna appears briefly in one of their videos.

The star of SMITHEREENS, Susan Berman, says in one of the the dvd interviews that a few weeks before filming started Susan Seidelman took her to see Fellini’s NIGHTS OF CABIRIA, and told her she wanted her to be like Giulietta Masina‘s character in that film.. The request didn’t put Berman at ease! As the first day of filming approached. Berman got more and more nervous and almost bailed and skipped town the day of filming because she was so intimidated, but pulled herself together.

OP, you should have seen it with the rest of us in '85 when our young hearts were wide open. Don't come here 30-odd years later making everything seem as desiccated and embittered as you've become.

Speaking of Ann Magnuson’s cameo in DSS, have you seen Seidelman’s 1987 film MAKING MR. RIGHT? It stars Magnuson and has something to do with making a robot boyfriend. It’s reeeeeally bad, but very wacky. I was kind of fascinated watching it because it clearly had great ideas but just falls apart. I’m not sure it was even released in theaters.

I met this guy from London in 2003. I called him FOOT FETISH boy because he was SO into my big (size 17-4E) feet. Basically he was only into me below the ankles. He was slightly chubby but cute in his own way. He had such AVERAGE tastes. When he first came to New York he took a Sex and The City Tour and he told me how much he loved Madonna. He would go to ALL of her concerts when she had one of her tours.

R76- I saw Desperately Seeking Susan in the theater in 1985. I thought the movie was ok. I was a teenager but any queen who loves Madonna has AVERAGE taste.

The only good movie to which Madonna was ever attached.

[quote] " I called him FOOT FETISH boy because he was SO into my big (size 17-4E) feet"

I don't even have a foot fetish, and I find that hot too, R78.

“Hola! Yo soy Gary de Gary’s Oasis”

R77, I saw Making Mr. Right at the cinema.

Wow! I assumed it hadn’t run in theaters. What did you think?

She's actually effective in Dangerous Game, but praising it is fraught, since you either have to give credit to Abel Ferrera for abusing the fuck out of her to get her into an emotionally raw place, or you have praise Madonna for being the willing recipient of abuse and completely unable to realize that the resulting performance was better than most of the stilted, undeveloped tripe she's committed to celluloid over the years. There's no good way to praise her in DG without it conferring her a victim or a moron.

Speaking of Foot Fetish Boy does anyone know who played the hunk who gets his foot tickled by Madonna in the beginning of the film? I always assumed it was just some hot guy on the film crew.

Speaking of Foot Fetish Boy does anyone know who played the hunk who gets his foot tickled by Madonna in the beginning of the film? I always assumed it was just some hot guy on the film crew.

I can't believe there are people who like Who's That Girl. Shit, she's awful in that.

And to those people boasting about 83-85, Cyndi Lauper was the one who was getting the critical accolades and awards during that period. And it was assumed that she was the one who would have the bigger career.

Madonna's success was viewed by many to be a flash in the pan. Her performance at the MTV awards got scathing remarks according to those like Nile Rodgers who were in the audience that night, People thought Madonna at the time was a trashy joke. It's why she wasn't invited to We are The World.

It was Madonna's thin voice that only worked on some songs. She was no Laura Brannigan.

Who's "desiccated and embittered", R76? That's an incredibly juvenile response to someone's opinions on something just because you're a bit fan of it. And for someone who says they were there watching it in the 80s, it's worrying to think how old you've gotten but still remain mentally at about 14 years old.

Other than that, this thread has been really interesting.

No, Madonna's best role would be in Dangerous Game. That's because Abel Ferrara somehow managed to get her to improvise on the spot and it worked really well. She shows a lot of range and she is very natural in the role. Unfortunately, she hated the experience because she hates being vulnerable on the spot which is why she will never be a good or great actress. Had she genuinely tried to be a good actress instead of a "movie star" I think she could have accomplished great things.

[quote] "That Madonna may think she is the reincarnation of Monroe, but there is no way that she can duplicate Marilyn's intelligence and vulnerability".

Half agree--Madonna was never as vulnerable but she was much smarter. Hence, why she never died of drugs, owner her own record company, etc.

Agree that this was a good role for Madonna and that she did seem like she was playing herself. Being self-conscious is her problem as an actor and she's not self-conscious here.

Memorable scene: cocktail waitress came to the table with a tray of drinks and guessed what drink belonged to who, based on looks alone. Triple Tequila Sunrise went to the Madonna character.

You Can Dance

Mark Blum who played Rosanna Arquette's husband sadly died very early in the covid outbreak. He had asthma and died quickly. Sad. He had a goofy charm I always liked.

Free with ads on the yewtewb.

I've always wanted a copy of costume designer Santo Loquasto's famous cropped metallic jacket. I could make one, but I'll probably just purchase a well-made replica.

[quote]Just a year or two after it came out, there was this big dictionary of films that was published with the 1000 greatest films of all time. Believe it or not, "Desperately Seeking Susan" was included as one of them. Somehow I don't think it would make it into the same dictionary published today.

It still made the cut in the New York Times "1,000 Best Movies Ever Made," published 1999.

Canby's included review from 1985 was a rave. "Madonna, one of the hottest personalities in music videos, here has her first major role in a theatrical film and carries it off with nervy ease...Miss Seidelman's principal talent is for bringing cockeyed characters to life with great good humor and no condescension, and she's as wicked about life in the new bohemia as in the new suburbia. Desperately Seeking Susan is full of funny, sharply observed details...It's a New York movie that, like Times Square at four A.M. or Central Park at high noon, is available to everyone."

I'm sure a revised edition would remove a lot of the lesser titles to make room, and DSS would be a prime candidate (although I liked it well enough). The Charlie Sheen/Maxwell Caulfield serial-killer film The Boys Next Door, from 1986 (also by a female director, Penelope Spheeris), is the inclusion that surprised me the most.

It's a picture of New York at a specific time. Into the Groove is a great song and Madonna owns the role without making too much of it.

I actually liked the actor playing Susan's husband - he gave the funniest performance in the whole thing - Madonna hanging out with him and reading Susan's diary was also pretty funny. "Nobody's life could be this boring."

Does anyone know the exact production/filming dates of this movie?

Were Madonna's scenes filmed before, after, or both before and after the MTV VMA performance?

I really wish DSS didn't start filming until after the MTV performance, because they might have made Madonna's part in the movie bigger. (Meaning, she didn't become a star until after the MTV VMA performance so they didn't know she'd be a star yet and that's why her part in the movie wasn't bigger.)

The movie would have been even better if Madonna was in it more...

It's a time capsule for the 80s. Quintessential of that time. The movie is ok, though. It was quirky.

They need to release the unedited and uncut R-rated version with outtakes/bloopers/all additional footage/etc.

They should have given Madonna the most screen time or at least given both Madonna and Rosanna equal screen time...

Dsss

Bump

Its a cute movie. Aiden was very cute as were the ladies. The director is mostly a hack. But she captured the ambiance of downtown, as did a number of other fun little movies of the time.

Why don't a lot of people like the director (Susan Seidelman)?

Got to see it as a young gayling in a private screening room in NY before it was finished. In fact "Into The Groove" wasn't even put in yet, they were all dancing to silence, just the actors talking. I knew.

Why do people say Madonna wasn't the lead of DSS?

Who likes the alternate ending better?

I like Rosanna sometimes, but didn't think she was great in this. She's in "After Hours" too, which I agree is a much better movie.

Who was better-looking: Madonna or Rosanna?

I saw it when I was a kid. Have no desire to revisit it now.

Great movie

OP you should watch Smithereen's (1982) Seidelman's first feature film. It's set in the same NY scene as DSS but it's grittier.

Good going stranger

The full unedited version of DSS needs to be released.

Also, the full unedited Virgin Tour needs to be released.

Madge

“You bought a used jacket? What, are we poor?”

Laurie Metcalfe was the best part “take a Valium like a normal person”

The best part was Aiden's face.

Bonus points for Anne Carlisle cameo.

It was released right around the time when the Virgin Tour started, so the movie came first. Interestingly, the film contains a demo version of Into The Groove, which is less polished than the final single version. Also of note, Into the Groove was never released as a single in the US because her record label didn’t want it competing with the singles from her Like A Virgin album. So despite it receiving massive airplay in the US it was ineligible to chart. At the time, the only way to buy the song in the US was as the B side to the Angel 12” single, since it wasn’t even included on the Desperately Seeking Susan soundtrack.

The guy who played Gary Glass was one of the first reported “persons of note” to die of COVID.

As a young teen in the midwest seeing this in the theater I wanted to go to NY so badly.

It is strange that Madonna can be such a good actress and captivating in music videos but fall flat in movies. It’s like the silent actress who went into talkies and failed.

I guess it’s her delivery of lines and as OP said, you can see her brain working as she’s acting, it’s so unnatural. I mean it’s just bad acting.

But I feel the same way about Gaga. I feel like I’m watching my friends act on stage in theater class in high school. Everyone says Gaga is amazing but I don’t see it.

It was one of my favourites as a kid.

R126 I don't find Madonna's mixed set of skills strange at all.

From 84-86 I thought Madonna was the shit.

She should have made official proper music videos for both Angel and Dress You Up.

I love the Dress You Up live peformance with the fabulously whorey makeup and that terrific dance break!

Which Virgin Tour hair was best?

OP here.

Thanks, R115, I have that on my list to watch sometime for sure! Depictions of New York around the late 70s to early 80s are really interesting to me.

You know, it's funny - while my review at the top of the thread isn't exactly laudatory, I do find myself thinking of this movie a lot, and the bits I enjoyed rise to the top.

r131 she was cute then, I didn't like when she cut her hair short and went platinum blonde.

R134, what do you think of the Live To Tell/Shanghai Surprise looks?

[quote] I like Rosanna sometimes, but didn't think she was great in this.

I thought she was kind of annoying (and unworthy of the beauty that was young Aidan Quinn!).

Madonna was Madonna and perfectly cast.

r135 kind of dowdy, I preferred the boy toy era

Bump

What does everyone think of Rosanna's looks?

I thought young Will Patton was hot. He was always good at playing unhinged and sinister.

One thing I have always wondered about is this:

Considering the movie is called Desperately Seeking SUSAN, and since Madonna is playing the character named in the title, why isn't her part the biggest (or at least bigger than what it was)?

That never made sense to me.

Anyone know?!?

At least she had a part...

Original ending. They made the right decision to scrap it.

According to IMDB, the screenwriter went on to write a direct-to-video movie starring Morgan Fairchild. And Basic Instinct 2.

r139 she has nice breasts but her face wasn't that great.

The alternate ending is interesting but I like the happy ending they had in the film

Mark Blum died from COVID complications at New York–Presbyterian Hospital on March 25, 2020. He was 69. IIRC, he didn't even make it to a room, he died in the hospital's ER. Sad.

r71 It's "How do you use the birds?"

"Oh my God, I have heard that 4 out of 5 prostitutes are lesbians"

"Pages of it. It's gotta be a cover. Nobody's life could be this boring"

Fun Fact: The opening scene has Betty Everett's Shoop Shoop Song, that Cher covers in MERMAIDS. In Mermaids, she sings Peggy Lee's Fever in the kitchen. Madonna covers FEVER on her Erotica album.

[quote]What does everyone think of Rosanna's looks?

Quite big tits!

Who agrees that Madonna was the most beautiful woman ever during this time?

Rose

R126 you're still in high school?

[quote]What does everyone think of Rosanna's looks?

For what it's worth, my brother thinks Patricia Arquette was hotter.

Glass

The movie should have been 2 hours long (at least).

Or at least longer than what it was...

The best movie ever

This movie has cheered me up every time I’ve watched it. I’m going to rewatch tomorrow night as I’ve had some bad news and a shitty week. Now, will somebody get me a rum and Tab?

Dss.

the Into The Groove music video is awesome too

Rosanna

What are Madonna's best scenes in this movie?

r160 I like when walks by the triplets when she goes in to place an ad in the paper

"Good going stranger!"

In the trailer there's a part where Madonna is sitting on a pinball machine and she says to Jim "got a quarter, wanna play?" but that scene is not in the movie.

"Roberta can't be a prostitute, she doesn't even like sex that much"

Dez was sweet and cute, love tall thin guys with some body hair.

Why don’t you just take a Valium like a NORMAL PERSON?”

I’m sure that they swapped heads between Rosanna and Madonna because Madonna is much taller and in real life she is tiny. Or maybe Rosanna Arquette is a little person.

^^^on the poster, I mean

I wish there were more scenes of Madonna and Rosanna together

I once owned the DVD and watched the version that included film makers commentary.

A producer of the film describes Madonna begging for the role in the film because she didn't want to end up touring as a musical act in her dotage.

The film is a favorite because it was filmed in NYC. Back then, NYC was crackling with energy which is represented in the film.

Roberta didn't want to be a little hausfrau in Jersey, she wanted to live in NYC.

What are Susan Seidelman's best movies?

And her worst?

R170 it really does seem to be a snapshot of a particular time that resonates with a lot of people but that is now also lost, fitting in with many films set in New York from around the late 70s to early 80s.

Have any other DSS cast members passed away aside from Mark Blum?

I love the trailer and bloopers that are on YouTube

The Magic Club

I liked the grittier vibe of "Smithereens" better.

Madonna is the greatest actress ever

R-rated version needs to be released

Bleeker

Jimmy

I tried to watch "Who's That Girl" last night on TCM. Couldn't get past the first 30 minutes of it. The woman can't act. The "cutesy-wootsee" character she played was cringe.

The lady's got potential, she was setting her sights

On making it in movies with her name in lights

The greatest social climber since Cinderella

Okay she couldn't act but she had the right friends

And we all know a career depends

On knowing the right fella to be stellar

Nope

What is a better movie: Desperately Seeking Susan or Shanghai Surprise?

Patricia Arquette was good in this

[quote]I tried to watch "Who's That Girl" last night on TCM. Couldn't get past the first 30 minutes of it. The woman can't act. The "cutesy-wootsee" character she played was cringe.

When Judy Holliday did the ditzy kewpie-doll shtick to which Madonna was paying homage (or copying), it seemed authentic. That was her, or at least her show-biz persona. When Madge did it, it came off forced, false. Maybe she was too well established as a pop personality.

The movies in which she's been best are the ones in which she's closest to being herself: Desperately Seeking Susan, A League of Their Own. I've actually never seen Evita, but I can believe she was fine in that.

I've heard she was great in Dangerous Game but she basically had to be abused by the director to get a good performance out of her.

R187, yes, she was very good in it and yes, the director was very harsh with her as he should have been. Madonna hates relenquishing control so it's a miracle he was able to do that. She bashed the movie when it got bad reviews and said "it was a shit film but I was good in it". Very unprofessional and classless behavior honestly. The director said he will never forgive her for how she trashed the movie once it got bad reviews.

The sad thing about it is that it sounds like if she had been more supportive of Dangerous Game as opposed to Body of Evidence, she might have been a bit more respected. Body of Evidence really fucked things up for her as she had just come out of Dick Tracy where she was passable, A League of Their Own, where she was decent, and I believe she even got decent reviews for Speed the Plow (though the little clip I saw of it online once wasn't very impressive). She was kinda building up to be a little bit less box office poison at the time and that movie ruined it.

R140 I loved that guy!

In reality if Roberta left money maker Gary for sweet and cute but non making much money Dez I’m not so sure that would lead to happiness. Blessed though they may be with love money problems are a romance killer.

Everyone was great in that movie.

Triplets

Does anyone think Madonna was overweight then?

Nah, prefer her curvy to the later body dysmorphia and sinewy arms.

She still had a pretty curvy figure in the 1989 "Cherish" music video, I noticed.

In the '90s is when she really started working out hardcore, especially post-"Erotica" when she became more feminist. They tend to eschew femininity.

Madge

Whatever happened to Susan's female bf in the movie?

Anna Levine Thomson (who played the best friend) in 2020. Yikes.

[quote]What are Madonna's best scenes in this movie?

When she’s not on screen.

[quote] In the '90s is when she really started working out hardcore, especially post-"Erotica" when she became more feminist. They tend to eschew femininity.

It was in the Ray of Light Period. She looked amazing during The Bedtime Stories and Evita periods. She was gaunt in the Ray of Light period.

I agree, look at her stomach in the Ray of Light video too. It's like she was desperate to lose the baby weight and went overboard. She really looked radiant not long after Lourdes was born when she was on Oprah. Then all of a sudden she got all stringy.

R197 here - that was from 2000, not 2020. I believe she has since retired from acting.

Those ropey yoga arms were when her looks were through

Pretty

DSS is fluff, but fun fluff. Lots of cool cameos and a great score (an early one) by Thomas Newman. And it does capture an East Village that would soon be gone.

What would you change about this movie if you could?

Just wondering.

I would add ten minutes of Aidan Quinn full frontal.

The East Village has lost all it's charm from those days. Looks like a shopping mall now.

I love the background music in it. That pounding whatever it is.

It's the best 80's movie ever.

Who agrees? If not, then what 80's movies were better?

R208, countless 80s movies were better. Too many to list.

Larry’s looking at Susan and says “God she’s gorgeous” Leslie replies “Beauty fades…” Laurie Metcalfe is fantastic in this.

Desperately Seeking Susan Seeking Susan!

[quote]Larry’s looking at Susan and says “God she’s gorgeous” Leslie replies “Beauty fades…”

Unspoken: "In 37 years, she'll look like a boiled egg with pink hair."

I wonder why her face looked so different then

Love

Great music in it

When Roberta is watching Rebecca, the part where Max De Winter is telling his new wife ‘you’ve lost that funny, lost look’ it is Roberta’s wish for herself. That she would finally lose that insecurity, that pain, that her philandering husband caused her. That someone would help her lose that ‘funny lost look’ herself.

That is the crux of her desperately seeking Susan. Susan is just the escapism she needs from the pain she is going through in her fraudulent marriage.

Madonna was the star of this movie.

I love this movie but it is a moment in time. One of the best parts about is was…”we’re going to see pop culture phenom Madonna ACT!” Although we were saturated with her videos, she still had an aura of mystery in 1985 and DSS promised to reveal another layer. It was quite a big deal and she did really well. Sadly, her acting career was all downhill from there.

I've never seen her in another movie but I will always think of Madonna as she was in Desperately Seeking Susan. She was wonderful in it.

I hate to see the way she has become. She seems to think sex is her lucky charm to youth or something. She has become another Michael Jackson in the surgeons chair. It's sad.

Someone should reach out to Susan Seidelman and tell her to release the unedited version of DSS.

It all should be released (outtakes/bloopers/etc.)!

They should have made Madonna's part bigger than Rosanna's.

I remember seeing this in the cinema when I was 8 or 9. Madonna and NY just seemed so cool and Get Into the Groove is still my favourite song of hers. I loved her styling, her hair when she wore a scarf with a bow as a headband (I remember Boy George wearing his hair like that in a poster on my wall). I didn't really like her makeover for True Blue, although the songs for the album were good.

But I idolised her in the DSS era and already had pirated Bali cassettes (which I treasured) of her earlier stuff and never really felt like that after. To see her as she is now is tragic. Still grasping for attention, disfigured by PS, probably surrounded by enablers, just churning out remixes of her old songs. I was even shocked when a niece wanted the Hard Candy album when it came out. AFAIC, her last good track was Beautiful Stranger.

R222, what did you think of the Live To Tell/Shanghai Surprise look?

[quote]It was quite a big deal and she did really well. Sadly, her acting career was all downhill from there.

Madonna played herself in this film, that's not acting. That's why she failed as an actress. She has zero range.

She did great in Dangerous Game. But apparently she needs to basically get whipped to turn out a good performance.

224, there are plenty of successful actors who do pretty much the same thing again and again.

Madonna’s issue is that she usually can’t give up the control needed in order to lose herself and give a good performance.

This movie was perfect...who agrees?

Madonna was gorgeous then

Aidan Quinn made me realize some shit about my love of dick when I saw this movie.

Such a shweet, lively Irish piece of ass.

Congratulations on getting around to watching a 40 year old movie in 60 years of life, OP.

Aidan Quinn really was so gorgeous in this film. Definitely my type.

Madonna owned this movie

Quinn is one of those people who have had a really good career yet still seem undervalued. He was astonishing on the stage as Chris in All My Sons a few years after DSS, and there are movies in which he's done acting that may not have been showy enough for awards but was special anyway. I'm thinking particularly of his performance as little Elijah Wood's father in Avalon (1990).

Movie would have been better if it was longer.

Great movie

If you liked Rosanna in this (or After Hours), I recommend checking out Baby Its You, the John Sayles movie she starred in.

Vincent Spano is simply divine in it, darlings.

I can't believe Madonna didn't get offered better movie roles after this.

Good going stranger

Susan

I was 17 and 2 hot 2 b believed (HA) when I saw this movie in the theater with a guy I was crazy about. So every time I watch this movie it brings back great memories. It's one of my favorites and Madonna was never as charming again.

The dirty blonde hair with streaks in it was her best look. I thought she never looked as good once she went full blonde. I also liked her more zaftig, I didn't like when she got the veiny yoga arms

Except for when she was on tour, I don't think she was constantly vascular/buff looking until the Ray of Light era. She constantly looked emaciated and pale-as-fuck in that time period. I saw her interview with Oprah recently and she looked so haggard.

her legs were very muscled in Open Your Heart

How does the Bluray of this movie look?

[quote]I can't believe Madonna didn't get offered better movie roles after this.

Why would she have been offered better roles? In this film, Madonna was essentially playing herself. Madonna doesn't have true acting chops. Have you seen her other films, she was terrible in all of them.

Years ago, a friend gave me a free ticket for her Broadway debut in that Mamet play, sorry stans, she cannot act for shit.

Ah, that's right, Speed-the-Plow. Madonna was the first Karen. Alicia Silverstone, Elisabeth Moss, Lindsay Lohan, and Rose Byrne were some later famous ones.

Here ya go, R44.

Beautiful Madonna

I love this film. It was so fun.

Omg, I still love this movie.

R13, no BS comparison. Streisand was a terrific comic actress. Owl and the Pussycat, Doc… and had a pretty successful career in film. Madonna not at all.

Did Madonna have the biggest role in this movie and did she receive top billing?

Addicting movie

One of those movies that you can watch 500× and never get bored with it.

Best movie ever

I've never cared for Rosanna Arquette but Madonna was entertaining.

The poster/s above who keep stating that Madonna should have been given more screen time than Arquette have no idea how films are structured or how storytelling works.

They sound just like Studio Executives.

DSS was definitely Madonna's most natural acting performance. As many people have stated in this thread, she was essentially playing herself, which is partly why. But I also agree with those saying that she could never let go of her control and show vulnerability after this. Almost every role after DSS you can tell she is thinking through her lines and very self-conscious of her performance, which just breaks suspension of disbelief.

Some exceptions to this are Dick Tracy, where she delivers a very good performance and the comic book aspects of the film kind of help her, because it isn't a refined drama where the cracks would more easily show. Evita she was also good in, but similar to Dick Tracy, the fact that it's a musical helps. There are a few scenes that don't have music and were added to the film where her acting limitations are laid bare.

I would argue that she was always damaged goods in Hollywood, where acting is concerned, after Who's That Girl. There were chances for redemption (like Dick Tracy), but these were almost always followed by terrible mistakes like Body Of Evidence. Following up the triumph of Evita with The Next Best Thing was the final mistake, and I am pretty sure Swept Away was only possible because of her marriage at the time.

In music videos, Madonna has always seemed very much at home and a "natural." It's a shame she didn't get the opportunity to do more musical films, like Evita, but she had aged out of a lot of roles by the time those came back into style in the 2000s.

DSS is a great little movie that makes.me nostalgic for old New York, my childhood in the 80s, and Madonna back when she hadn't let the fame totally corrupt her.

Who got the most screen time from most to least out of everyone in the cast of DSS?

Time for a rewatch

“No, muchachos, no!”

Troll 6019 was busy on this thread.

Loved this movie.