ChikPapa Very disappointed :(

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

zuhairvazir Over the weekend I found myself rummaging through my collection - once again - for a Bob Fosse flick and voila, two films popped out as if God Himself gave the DVDs a push from below.This brilliant film is the story of a Playboy Centerfold intricately shown to us by veteran director Bob Fosse. Dorothy Stratten, a naive, young, wholesome beauty from Vancouver, British Columbia is discovered by a small time night-club promoter and part time pimp, Paul Snider. They move in together and he takes pictures of her to send to Playboy. Fosse's direction is tenfold. Here we see the libertine culture in a direct collision course with greed and the lust to be 'someone'. Snider wants to be known as Stratten's manager and husband (yes, they get married much to Hefner's dislike) more than anything in the world. He wants to buy new cars and clothes with her money, hang out with the stars at 'The Mansion' and above all get comforted by the feeling that he owns Stratten. Look in his eyes when he is rejected by high society. That look deserves all the awards in the world.Fosse does not confuse us or makes us ask questions. We see Snider, a role that is performed almost perfectly by the great Eric Roberts, throwing tantrums; admiring himself in the mirror and soaked with jealousy at many points throughout the film. The year after this film was made, Roberts went on to team with Mickey Rourke to make one of the finest films to come out of Hollywood, 'The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)'.There is a sense of chaos around snider, which Roberts holds on to with filial piety throughout the film. He drives the film with his over-the- top dress sense, his brilliant facial expressions and his entire body movement, which if studied carefully gives away a lot about the character. He emphasizes each word he speaks and if we didn't know who he was, even we would fall for the smooth talking erstwhile pimp. However, we know who he is; history tells us who he is therefore from the word go (when they meet) the screen is brimming with tension and discomfort. Mariel Hemingway throws in a lovely performance herself, albeit a tad- bit forlorn, even when she's having fun - but you see the conflict is right there. Stratten cannot enjoy the fame under Snider's omnipresent shadow. We see the rise and then the descent, as if in fast forward of a promising young, voluptuous woman and who, towards the end starts getting calls from Hollywood and even gets small parts in 'Buck Rogers' and is picked by Peter Bogdanovich for his new movie. Overall, the film packs a punch and is quite unpleasant to watch, specially when you know how it ends.The orton set design and immaculate camera work give the film an edge over other genre specials, and then there is Eric Roberts who is currently consigned to oblivion, but then showbiz is brutal, see what it did to him.Great film and a must watch.

evanston_dad 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

kellyadmirer 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.

Catcaio STAR 80 is a scary movie alright but the truth about the killing of Paul Snider and Dorothy Stratton is even scarier. Paul Snider grew up in Vancouver, B.C. in an apartment complex called Dolphin Court located in Kerrisdale, a higher class neighbourhood. He was pretty much a normal kid, played with all the other children in the complex, Frannie, Janice, Carol, the Nusant, kids, some kids who later became highly distinguished in their fields and some who were never heard of. like me. I remember we would sit around Richard's parents TV watching Maggie Muggins and Tom Terrific and Mighty Manfred the wonder dog. What was strange to me was that Paul would climb to the top of the slide at the playground in the center of the apartment complex and look down at me and yell " Penny! Penny!" I wasn't afraid of him I just remember he seemed to be crying out for help. My mother told me that Penny had been his little sister and was killed in an accident. His mother had told my mother that it had not been long since she had died and Paul was missing her.I suppose I looked like her.Not until years later did I learn from my mother that Paul had stabbed me in the back of my neck with a pair of sheers he had found in the basement. No details were ever given for how it happened or why.That was around 1956, Ever since my mother told me that I have wondered what could have happened. When I heard on the radio decades later, that Paul Snider had killed himself and Dorothy Stratto and then saw the movie I know something was all wrong.I now know what. I just have to put a few middle missing pieces together before I can see the whole truth. I am getting close.