Star 80

Starring:Mariel Hemingway, Eric Roberts, Cliff Robertson, Carroll Baker, Roger Rees, David Clennon, Josh Mostel, Lisa Gordon (II), Sidney Miller, Keith Hefner, Tina Willson, Shelly Ingram, Sheila Anderson, Cis Rundle, Kathryn Witt, Jordan Christopher, James Luisi, Neva Patterson, Robert Fields, Keenen Ivory Wayans
Director: Bob Fosse
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Legendary director/dancer/choreographer Bob Fosse may have been a consummate entertainer, responsible for popular productions on the Broadway stage, but he was also an uncompromising filmmaker who wasn't afraid to explore the dark side of humanity. After the autobiographical intensity of All That Jazz, Fosse's final film was this honest and painfully authentic biography about Dorothy Stratten, who was Playboy's Playmate of the Year for 1979 and had just begun a promising film career when her jealous boyfriend took a shotgun to her head. Fosse tackles this brutal reality head on, opening the film with the aftermath of murder and telling the story in flashback, beginning in Vancouver when slick charmer Paul Snider (Eric Roberts, in a chilling performance) discovers Dorothy (Mariel Hemingway) and makes her his ticket to fame and unearned glory. He's a loser and a user, and when Dorothy rises to success and glamour at the Playboy mansion, Hugh Hefner (Cliff Robertson, perfectly cast) urges the blonde beauty to drop her troublesome boyfriend. Jealousy and rejection push Paul over the edge, but Star 80 (the title is taken from Snider's vanity license plates) is no simple tale of male ego gone bad. Fosse explores the chasm between fame and obscurity, and the self-destructive lengths to which some people will go to bridge that gap. The film is a darker telling of the kind of story Boogie Nights would tell nearly 15 years later--both films are set in the late '70s and early '80s, and both deal with the inevitable loss of innocence in a world where innocence cannot survive. In a bleak but fascinating way, Star 80 is masterful in its refusal to look away from the tragedy of its true story. It's a farewell statement from a director who clearly understood the high cost of stardom. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Prepare to be transported to a life of glitter and brutality at the start of the 1980's.......2007-04-19

Director Bob Fosse made Star 80 in 1983, just over two years after the brutal murder of 1980 Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten at the hands of her husband/manager/wannabe-pimp Paul Sinder. The film is a gritty look at a beautiful tragedy. Modern viewers will be transported back two decades to the styles, colors, and attitudes of the late 1970's.

Stratten was a star for one short year. She was Playboy's Miss August for 1979, Playmate of the Year for 1980, enjoyed a brief acting career, and then had her life cut short by her obsessively jealous and controlling husband in August 1980. Paul Snider took the Diary Queen waitress from Vancouver, British Columbia to Hollywood to start her modeling career and worm his way into the Playboy Mansion. As Stratten's star grew brighter, Snider became more controlling, and his fits often interrupted her modeling and acting work. He was banned from sets, and after Stratten escaped to New York to film a movie by Peter Bogdanovich, she began an affair with the director and left Snider.

The film is told in flashback, opening with a blood-covered Snider talking aloud to an absent Stratten as he destroys pictures of his former wife. The viewer has no illusions about the outcome of the film and the vicious end to the life of a young starlet. On an interesting side note (not included in the film), Bogdanovich married Stratten's younger sister Louise after Dorothy was murdered.

A gritty look at a beautiful tragedy.......2007-04-19

STAR 80.......2007-01-05

I REALLY ENJOY WATCHING THIS MOVIE OVER AND OVER.I BELIEVE IT TO BE A POIGNANTLY WRITTEN SEMI-BIOGRAPHY OF A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG LADY WHO BLESSED THOSE SHE MET WITH HER GRACE AND CHARM. MARIEL HEMINGWAY SHINES BRIGHTLY WITH HER PORTRAYAL OF DOROTHY STRATTEN FROM A NAIVE TEENAGER TO A GORGEOUS YOUNG ACTRESS READY TO START HER JOURNEY THROUGH 1980'S HOLLYWOOD. ERIC ROBERTS DOES SOME SHINING OF HIS OWN AS PAUL SNIDER DOROTHY'S AMBITIOUS, SOMEWHAT LECHEROUS HUSBAND. BEING A CHILD OF THE '70S & '80S I ALSO ENJOY THE SOUNDTRACK AND SOME OF THE COSTUMES. THIS IS CERTAINLY A FILM THAT MY FAMILY AND I WILL BE ENJOYING FOR YEARS TO COME.

The Centerfold, the Pimp and the Pornographer.......2006-09-05

When I got married in Las Vegas in 1999, I chose the Silver Bell Wedding Chapel on the Strip because it offered a fun Elvis wedding. In the lobby were photos of famous people who'd also got married there (Rodney Dangerfield, sports figures) and next to the front door was a large photo of Dorothy Stratten standing outside the Silver Bell. All smiles, gorgeous, alone.
When I asked about the photo, I was told, "Yes, she got married here. Such a beautiful girl...we refuse to hang any photos of him."
The "him" whose name was never mentioned was Paul Snider, the man she married that day. He was also the monster who blew her head off with a shotgun and raped her dead body before killing himself in the summer of 1980.

STAR 80 is the unflinching movie about the life and horrible death of Dorothy Stratten. It's written and directed by Bob Fosse (he'd turned the same dazzling but bleak eye on his own life in 1979's ALL THAT JAZZ) and it feels at time exactly like a documentary. I believe the source material was a Village Voice article by Teresa Carpenter called "Life & Death of a Centerfold."

Mariel Hemingway has always been a competent actress but I didn't feel that she was beautiful enough to be Dorothy Stratten. I hate to say that. To be fair, I'm not sure any woman could've done Dorothy justice. If you've never seen her, do a web search or something. She really was one of the most naturally magnificent examples of beauty I've ever seen. I used to look at her pictorials and marvel at every curve on the woman.
I know Ms. Hemingway had a breast enhancement prior to the role--but I kept thinking of the real thing(s) and it (they) were distracting. Sorry. Everything about her--eyes, lips, hips, legs, everything--looked like finely-crafted perfection.

I don't remember if Eric Roberts was nominated for anything, but he definitely deserved some award for committing to film the most realistic depiction of a complete and utter scumbag up to that point. That Fosse could include scenes that even made Snider somewhat sympathetic--how far would you go to find fame?--makes the movie that much more powerful and even numbing.

Much was made at the time of the perfect casting of Cliff Robertson as Hugh M. Hefner. Robertson had been involved in a huge money scandal at Columbia Pictures and offers for roles quickly dried up for a while until Fosse cast him as Hef. A great move as well as a brave one. (Robertson went on to work more, most recently as Spider-man's Uncle Ben in that blockbuster franchise).
Plus, he's a great Hef.

Look fast for a young Keenen Ivory Wayans as a young comic and Liz Sheridan as a makeup girl (she went on to play Jerry Seinfeld's mom on "Seinfeld" and she's also claimed to be one of James Dean's lovers!).

This is a much better film than BOOGIE NIGHTS and WONDERLAND (both of those were based on the sordid life of John Holmes, a biography still waiting for a honest treatment as far as I'm concerned). Check it out.

By the way, the Silver Bell Wedding Chapel burned to the ground a couple of years ago. I don't know if the picture of Dorothy Stratten went with it.

An unnerving, haunting film.....Eric Roberts gives a devastating performance..........2006-08-01

I went to see this film in the theatre literally a dozen times and over 20+ years I've watched it on VHS/DVD probably two dozen more times. With the exception of the films of James Dean and David Cronenberg's "Dead Ringers", I don't believe I've obsessed over any other films to the degree that I did with "Star 80". Admittedly, the film's subject matter is an awful thing to become fixated by, but it's haunting power and the terrible beauty of Eric Roberts' performance was & is a pretty potent combination. I remember being quite shaken and virtually unable to speak coming out of the movie theatre the first time I saw it. I spent the next several weeks chasing it all over central PA, from theatre to theatre, and dragging along anyone I could find to go with me.

Mariel Hemingway brings a spooky stillness to her portrayal of Dorothy Stratten, almost like a celluloid lullaby....which turns, contrary to Dorothy's best efforts, into her worst nightmare by the time the thing is over. She's almost too gentle & innocent and it's painful to watch the film knowing the gruesome ending to Dorothy Stratten's life. A unique, career-defining performance. The combination of Ms. Hemingway's performance and the flawless, sensitive direction of Bob Fosse give the film it's cushiony, dream-like layers.

The absolute centerpiece of the film is Eric Roberts' gut-wrenching, devastating performance as Paul Snider, Dorothy's starmaker/husband/killer. This was the first time I had ever seen Eric Roberts so it was very easy for me to not let his characterization be spoiled by recognizing the actor. Again, with the exception of James Dean, I have NEVER been so flabbergasted over an actor's performance as this. Why he wasn't nominated for and WIN the Best Actor Oscar is something I'll never understand. To this day, when I see the film I still feel deeply conflicted watching this character: he's the epitome of the sleazeball that everyone dislikes instantly but turns so pathetic that it's difficult not to feel some sympathy for him as a human being....but just when you're wishing someone would offer a helping hand, the brutal climax of the film hits like a tidal wave.

Eric Roberts got deeply into Paul Snider's head and it must have been a punishing experience. For the brutalization to his nervous system, Mr. Roberts has left us with a film role that will retain it's shockingly profound power as long as there are movies. Too bad there's no extras with the DVD; I'd love to hear Mr. Roberts recollections of playing this role.

The last 10 minutes of the film are incredibly powerful; they are also very disturbing and may leave you in stunned silence.
I personally consider "Star 80" to be a true classic and hope it will someday be rediscovered and re-evaluated as such; there's a direct line from the "Golden Age" of movie making in the 70s to this film. It's a difficult film to get out of your mind and actually grows more powerful with repeated viewings.

"Star 80" gets my absolute highest recommendation, but with it's sensitive subject matter and shockingly gruesome climax, please be advised the film is not for everyone.

Average customer rating:

Star 80

Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000GAKBI0
Release Date: 2005-09-20

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