Star 80 (1983)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Excellent but underrated film

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

The whole message of this movie is that you will kill to protect the thing you love most. Noah Baumbach and Jennifer Jason Leigh? It makes me wonder if that cocaine - laced achohol drink mickey my maternal Uncle Billy Hagood slipped Mommy had something to do with my existence. Back to movie. Eric Roberts kills Dorothy Straten because he can't have the thing he loves most, his life in the form of Dorothy Straten, carry on in the world of the rich people elite, Hollywood, Playboy Magazine, sports, and any form of record label music, without him. Eric Roberts, as an actor in this movie, is obivously anti-semitic,(like me, outside of writing this, this is not an act, I honestly am), and has low self-esteem, again, as an actor in this movie, as seen with the scene in this movie with the African-American woman. Eric Roberts poisons himself with a lethal overdose of love, dying in this mortal world of ours as an actor in this movie. Will Eric Roberts as an actor in this movie, after death as an actor in this movie, go to Yaweh's Heavenly Kingdom or Lucifer's Hell? Only Yaweh knows. It is not for us mortals to judge any mortal, whether in a movie, a play, a book, music, or in our true selves as mortals in this world we call Earth. Only Yaweh.

Star 80 (Bob Fosse, 1983) – based on the true story of tragic fated Playboy's Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten, played by Woody Allen girl (REALLY a girl, anyone who's seen Allen's Manhattan would agree =/) Mariel Hemingway. It follows the story of how Stratten came to meet her murderer: her husband Paul Snider, played by Julia's big brother, Eric Roberts. Directed by Bob Fosse, whose films' like Cabaret and All That Jazz I've loved in the past for their decadent depictions of love, sex and show, the film starts by showing us the decay and the progress of Snider's anger, as he one day meets Dorothy and starts seeing her as an opportunity for success. What Fosse achieved in Cabaret and All That Jazz so effortlessly was that the flow of those films seemed invisible: they're both rather lengthy, they're both kind of raunchy, yet the energy in which he brings into his actors and into his direction make it all look so easy. Unfortunately, this is not the case for this film. Often we see the story fractured by interviews of people who knew Dorothy or Paul, trying to tell us things we're kind of already seeing in the film by these small character's reactions. By this Fosse seems willing to capture a documentary feel into the film, but it just seems unrealistic, not to mention some of the dialogues of these faux-interviews just come out so unnatural, and the saddest of all, it breaks the rhythm of the film considerably, which like I've already said seems to be Fosse's forte. Another glaring flaw in the picture seems to be some sort of unintentional sadism in the way the story's being told: rushedly shot only 3 years after the incident, the decision of filming the tragic climax in the same department where the real Dorothy Stratten was murdered, are often very obvious aspects the film never tries to hide even though it should, and the result just seems exploitative, and for the audience, downright unpleasant. But if the film does excel in some departments, it's in the acting: Mariel Hemingway rises above the script's lazy decision of never showing why Dorothy cares so much about the schlub, and with limited subtle stares and soft voice makes us understand that perhaps despite the uneasiness Paul provokes on her, there's an understanding and sympathetic feelings that make her try to handle the situation as long as humanly possible. On the other hand, and with an entirely different style of acting, there's Eric Roberts, who despite the screenplay's attempts to show the guy's situation in a sympathetic manner, never gives in into clichés and just shows Paul Snider's inner demons with such a pathos and in such a convincing way that he achieves a coldly truthful, honest, yet effortlessly transparent portrayal of this pathetic, sleazy man. All in all, a rushed, lazy and unpleasant project about a story that should have never been told, but that works as an acting showcase for both its stars just perfectly, they're the reason to at least give the film a try. Rating: C

The slimy underbelly of the entertainment industry and the destruction that so often comes along with fame was a theme that lurked behind every movie Bob Fosse made, and it's at its most obvious and aggressively nasty in "Star 80." Eric Roberts plays Paul Snider, a sleazy hood who discovered Playboy centerfold Dorothy Stratten and then murdered her and himself in an obsessive rage. It's a heartbreaking, violent and disturbing story on many levels; however, the saddest thing about it is that Stratten wouldn't be worth making a movie about if she hadn't been murdered in the first place. What does that tell you about the lure of celebrity?Roberts gives a fierce performance as Snider -- he was a very good and almost completely overlooked actor. Mariel Hemingway plays Stratten, and she's rather vapid, which is all the role really requires. Fosse was not able to keep his cynicism and bile at bay, and so while the movie is accomplished, it's also downright unpleasant to sit through. It's as nihilistic as "All That Jazz" but without the flashy production numbers to add some variety.Grade: B

Some films are light and breezy. Others are full of explosions and booming sound effects. Still others are romantic and dreamy.This isn't any of those kinds of films. From the very start, the film makes clear that this is a tragic story - true story - of need and manipulation with an ending that was almost inevitable. It is more a character study than anything else, at how taking people out of their element can change them, either by raising them up or by destroying them. Both of which happen here."Star 80" works because it has two fantastic performances at its core. Eric Roberts just dazzles as small-time hustler Paul Snider, who stumbles on a gorgeous small-town girl played by Mariel Hemingway and manages to transform her into a major celebrity (Playboy Playmate and neophyte actress Dorothy Stratten). Roberts was wonderful at this stage of his career, and he draws you into his character to the point where you understand him and his crazy actions. Just about anybody can empathize with some part of the twisted Snider-Stratten story, despite the bizarre antics of Snider.Hemingway, with her brilliant "aw, shucks" performance, shows how being too passive can draw out the worst in certain people. Which is not to pin any blame on Stratten - the story shows that her only error was to trust Snider for too long.It would be easy to write Snider off as simply a cold-blooded killer with no redeeming qualities, but this film rises above that. Snider is a snake and ultimately a killer, but he's also a man who on his own dime builds an elaborate cage for a friend's dog. Snider winds up pining for Stratten - perhaps she was more than just a meal ticket to him? But Roberts also conveys the torment of a man who managed his protégé to stardom, only to face the bitter reality that it is her success, not his. A lover cast aside, to be left with nothing while he thinks she is ascending the golden steps of fame without him - yes, we come to understand Snider's motivations very well. It's a fascinating role reversal, for the stereotype is of the successful man casting his wife aside for something better - and here we have the opposite. No matter how loathsome Snider may be, and how much he may have deserved getting dumped, that is the underlying tale here. The tragedy lies in how he deals with it.It's difficult to find fault with this film, but I will say that the role of Stratten's mother, played by Carrol Baker, seems a bit false. The part as written has all the earmarks of 20-20 hindsight, and that goes for the roles of the brother and Hugh Hefner, too (why Hefner sued about his characterization is beyond me, he comes off probably better than anyone else in the film). If Stratten's mother really had tremendous misgivings about her daughter going off to LA to live with Snider, why did she sign the necessary papers? And why aren't we shown any scenes of momma visiting her daughter, or even calling her - what did she do, sign away her right to be her mother, too? And did Dorothy even HAVE a father? Maybe a little parental influence could have helped matters. No, the film is a little thin there, which is understandable but leaves some lingering questions.A fantastic film showing the sleazy and sometimes tragic side of "success." For mature audiences only.