Themes: Crimes of Passion, Rise and Fall Stories, Domestic Abuse
Main Cast: Mariel Hemingway, Eric Roberts, Cliff Robertson, Carroll Baker, Roger Rees
Release Year: 1983
Country: US
Run Time: 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Director Bob Fosse's fact-based tale of Playboy centerfold Dorothy Stratten's short life and gruesome death focuses less on Stratten (played by Mariel Hemingway) than on her husband/manager, sleazoid pornographer and all-around failure Paul Snider (Eric Roberts, ideally cast). He sees the young beauty as his meal ticket and sets out to pimp her in the adult entertainment business. He marries her and appoints himself her career manager; soon after, she attracts the attention of Playboy executives and wins a spot in the magazine. As her success increases however, so does Snider's alienation as he finds himself left out in the cold. His jealousy begins to consume him; she spurns him on the advice of her new friends; he goes berserk and confronts her. The same murder-suicide inspired the made-for-television Death of a Centerfold. This was choreographer/filmmaker Bob Fosse's final film. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
Review
Undeniably powerful but also intensely disturbing and difficult to take, Star 80 is a film that seems to want to make a statement but also can't seem to decide what that statement should be. Director-screenwriter Bob Fosse is to blame for this indecisiveness, but also deserves credit for much of the film's impact. The film has the same visual confidence that marks his best work, with editing by Alan Heim that is a key ingredient in the film's effectiveness. Fosse captures a riveting, full-bodied performance from Eric Roberts. Rarely has an actor so willingly committed himself to creating such an unlikeable, alienating character. If anything, Roberts does his job too well. His performance overpowers the film (as the real man overpowered the life of Dorothy Stratten), giving it a center that is so repulsive that most viewers will feel alienated. Had Fosse the writer been as skillful as Fosse the director, he might have found a way of making this work, but too often the script seems to come down on Snider's side, making the viewer feel, in some strange way, complicit in his actions. The script also gives short shrift to Stratten, making her less realized, especially in Mariel Hemingway's vacant performance. Ultimately, despite the considerable skill and talent of the director and male lead, Star 80 is too off-putting to be the important film it wants to be. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
David Clennon - Geb; Josh Mostel - Private Detective; Lisa Gordon - Eileen; Sidney Miller - Nightclub Owner; Keith Hefner - Photographer; Tina Willson - Bobo Weller; Shelly Ingram - Betty; Sheila Anderson - Exotic Dancer; Cis Rundle - Meg Davis; Kathryn Witt - Robin; James Blendick - Gunseller; Norman Browning - 1st Detective; David Cameron - Paul's Party Guest; Lonny Chin - Playboy Mansion Guest; Jordan Christopher - Peter Rose; Stuart Damon - Vince Roberts; Robert Fields - Director; Budd Friedman - M.C.; Deborah Geffner - Billie; Mariska Hargitay; John Horn - Nightclub Owner; Paul Jabara; Stanley Kamel - Nick; Terence Kelly - Charlie; James Luisi - Roy; Neva Patterson - Playboy Executive; Robert Picardo - Interviewer; Stacey Toten - Paul's Party Guest; Tracy Vaccaro - Playboy Mansion Guest; Erica Yohn - Interviewer; Bobby Bass - 1st Hood; Ernest Thompson - Phil Wass; Keenen Ivory Wayans - Comic; Don Granberry - Bartender; Lorraine Michaels - Paul's Party Guest; Fred Pierce - Head Butler; David W. Rose - Assistant Director; Liz Sheridan - Makeup Woman; Paul Ryan - Radio Announcer; Robert Perault - Actor; Hagan Beggs - 2nd Detective; Gilbert B. Combs - Hood
Credit
Michael S. Bolton - Art Director, Jack Gammon Taylor, Jr. - Art Director, Grace Blake - Associate Producer, Lynne Carrow - Casting, Albert Wolsky - Costume Designer, David W. Rose - First Assistant Director, Wolfgang Glattes - First Assistant Director, Bob Fosse - Director, Alan Heim - Editor, Ralph Burns - Composer (Music Score), Billy Joel - Songwriter, Ralph Burns - Songwriter, Michael Tronick - Songwriter, Tony Walton - Production Designer, Sven Nykvist - Cinematographer, Kenneth Utt - Production Manager, Kenneth Utt - Producer, Wolfgang Glattes - Producer, Anne McCulley - Set Designer, Kimberley Richardson - Set Designer, Henry Millar, Jr. - Special Effects, John Thomas - Special Effects, David Ronne - Sound/Sound Designer, Bob Fosse - Screenwriter, Teresa Carpenter - Short Story Author
The fictionalized director Aram Nicholas is based on Stratten's real-life lover, Peter Bogdanovich. Hugh Hefner sued the producers of the film because he did not like the way he was portrayed, perhaps in part because the article the film was based on suggested that Stratten was as much a victim of Hefner and Bogdanovich as she was of Snider. Hefner also later sued Bogdanovich for the negative portrayals in Bogdanovich's book about Stratten, The Killing of the Unicorn. In a later interview in 1998, Hefner stated that he still disliked the film on account that it was a poor portrayal of Dorothy Stratten, although he did commend Eric Roberts for "an excellent portrayal of the sick husband who murdered her".
Star 80 is not the first movie to be based on the murder of Dorothy Stratten. In 1981, there was television film Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story in which Jamie Lee Curtis portrayed Stratten and Bruce Weitz portrayed Paul Snider.
The film received a mixed reception upon release. The Washington Post called it "Bob Fosse's latest stylish stinker." Gene Siskel placed the film on his top ten list of the best films of 1983, taking into account that the film was very unpleasant to watch. It was generally agreed, however, that Eric Roberts gave a startlingly impressive performance as Snider. [1]Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars.[2]
