Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)

Director:

Susan Seidelman

Writer:

Leora Barish (written by)

Release Date:

29 March 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Drama

Tagline:

Roberta is desperate to be Susan. Susan is wanted by the mob. The mob finds Roberta instead...

Plot:

A bored suburban housewife, seeking adventure to her life, accidentally gets hit on the head, wakes up with amnesia, and is mistaken for a free-spirited New York City drifter named Susan.

Plot Keywords:

New York | Housewife | Jacket | Amnesia | New York City

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Rosanna Arquette	...	Roberta Glass
Madonna	...	Susan
Aidan Quinn	...	Dez
Mark Blum	...	Gary Glass
Robert Joy	...	Jim
Laurie Metcalf	...	Leslie Glass
Anna Levine	...	Crystal
Will Patton	...	Wayne Nolan
Peter Maloney	...	Ian
Steven Wright	...	Larry Stillman D.D.S
John Turturro	...	Ray
Anne Carlisle	...	Victoria
José Angel Santana	...	Boutique Owner (as Jose Santana)
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Street Vendor
Richard Hell	...	Bruce Meeker

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | New Zealand:M | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

8th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Camel withdrew a sponsorship of $5,000 because of the scene where Dez (Aidan Quinn) tells Roberta (Rosanna Arquette) that she "should stop smoking".

Goofs:

Continuity: Susan/Madonna wore pants with silver pockets when walking in NYC and followed closely by Roberta, but the next take after having met Jimmy her black pants are different and without silver pockets.

Quotes:

Leslie: I can't believe the two of you are eating in the middle of a crisis like this.
Gary: We're nervous, what do you want...
Leslie: Then take a Valium like a normal person.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Behind the Music: Madonna (#2.1)" (1998)

Soundtrack:

HAIL! HAIL! THE GANG'S ALL HERE

Enjoyable

Rosanna Arquette has a secure life with her hot tub salesman husband, but she wants more. Susan, who lives by her wits and has men paying her way, has a boyfriend who travels a lot with a band, so they keep in touch through the personals. Arquette sees the ad 'Desperately Seeking Susan,' and, being curious about Susan's life, she shows up at the meeting place listed in the ad. Later she follows Susan around and, when Susan wants a pair of boots but can't afford them, she sells her favorite jacket. Arquette buys the jacket (which has the key to Susan's bus station locker), copies Susan's hairstyle, and places her own ad telling Susan to come to the designated meeting place. This time, she intends to return the key to Susan, but this is when things get crazy. This time, Susan's boyfriend thinks she is fooling around, and he sends a friend of his, a movie projectionist, to check up on her. Susan sees Arquette with an associate of a mobster Susan dated shortly before the mobster's suspicious death. Before she can meet Arquette, she gets arrested for not paying her cab fare. Arquette bumps her head in a fall and loses her purse. When she comes to, the projectionist, seeing her hair and the jacket, believes she is Susan. Arquette can't remember her other life, so she goes along with the story. Susan shows up at the bus station and finds her stuff missing from the locker, and she believes Arquette and the mobster's associate are out to get her. Arquette gets to live her fantasy, while her husband doesn't know what has happened to her. It's an enjoyable story. Arquette is adorable, especially when she thinks she is Susan. Madonna is a natural as a street-smart bimbo. It's hard to believe this is her first major movie role.