DAC Episode 289: The Random Canon #18 - Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)

As followers of the Random Canon already know, Adam and Aidan are fans of strange ‘80s-era films in which dissatisfied protagonists angle their way out of the stultifications of adulthood by vanishing into the NYC demi-monde for a night or two. I mean, who doesn’t want to pick up and hit the road with Melanie Griffith’s Lulu, as Jeff Daniels does in Something Wild? Who doesn’t want to go on an impromptu date with Rosanna Arquette’s Marcy, as Griffin Dunne impulsively decides to do in After Hours? And if you’re a desperate, Susan-seeking Rosanna Arquette, why wouldn’t you want to swap places with a pre-fame Madonna and fall in love with Aidan Quinn? I tell you, life is sweet and the people are hot in Koch’s New York.

Directed by Susan Seidelman and written by Leora Barish, Desperately Seeking Susan may be one of the most entertaining and zippy movies of the ‘80s, a screwball comedy dragged through the gutters and dance clubs of the city. As a bonus the movie also stars the long-necked and lambent-eyed Robert Joy, who would go on to have a recurring role in The Equalizer.