This week on The 80s Movie Podcast, host Edward Havens continues his retrospective on the films of director Susan Seidelman with a look back at her biggest commercial success: Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), the stylish downtown comedy-mystery that helped turn Madonna into a pop-culture phenomenon and cemented Seidelman as one of the defining female filmmakers of the 1980s. Starring Rosanna Arquette as a bored New Jersey housewife swept into Manhattan’s bohemian underground after a case of mistaken identity, the film captured the fashion, music, and free-spirited energy of downtown New York at the height of the MTV era. Edward explores the fascinating production history behind Desperately Seeking Susan, from Madonna’s then-exploding music career and the film’s unexpectedly sharp feminist perspective to how Seidelman brought authentic 1980s New York culture to the screen. Plus: why the movie became a fashion touchstone, how its influence can still be felt in later stories about women reinventing themselves, and why many fans consider it one of the smartest, and coolest, cult movies of the decade.