Star 80
Tags: tragedy, romantic, murder, flashback

Plot synopsis:
In 1978, eighteen-year-old Dorothy Hoogstraten is working at a Dairy Queen in her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia when Paul Snider, a brash, narcissistic, small-time scam artist and pimp, makes her acquaintance. He charms her into letting him take her to her high-school prom. Dorothy's mother is immediately suspicious of Paul, particularly his attempts to ingratiate himself with Dorothy's younger sister. At the dance, quick-tempered Paul stabs her snide ex-boyfriend with a pocketknife. Afterwards, however, he wins over Dorothy with his attention and flattery, until finally he gets her to agree to pose nude for Polaroid photographs. He then sends the pictures to Playboy, after forging Dorothy's mother's signature on an age consent form. Playboy invites Dorothy to come to Los Angeles to pose for a professional photographer.
Playboy founder and publisher Hugh Hefner is taken with Dorothy's beauty and innocence, and gives her a job as a "Bunny" at an L.A. Playboy Club. She then becomes Playmate of the Month for the issue of August 1979 under a new name, Dorothy Stratten. Paul pressures her into marrying him, which Dorothy agrees to, mostly out of gratitude. She is named Playmate of the Year for 1980, and begins an acting career with small film and television roles.
Paul begins spending money they don't have, going as far as to purchase a Mercedes with the vanity license plate STAR 80. He squanders more of her money on failed business ventures and is evermore eclipsed by Dorothy's success, making him feel dejected. Paul begins coming to the Playboy Mansion, with or without Dorothy, which annoys Hefner. At a party at the Mansion, Dorothy catches the eye of movie director Aram Nicholas, whom Hefner wheedles into letting her read for a part in his upcoming film. Paul is convinced that Aram is sleeping with her, and harasses her at home and work. He hires a private investigator to follow her, who tells him that Dorothy and Aram are indeed sleeping together. Paul then buys a shotgun.
Paul begs Dorothy for one last chance, but she insists that she is going to leave him. Disregarding Aram's plea for her to not see Paul again, she agrees to one last surreptitious meeting with her estranged husband at their house, hoping to placate him with a financial settlement. He first pleads with her not to leave him, then flies into a rage and rapes her. He picks up the shotgun and shoots Dorothy point-blank in the face, killing her. He then sexually violates her lifeless body before turning the gun on himself.

Review: See it for no other reason than Eric Roberts superb portrayal of the seven letter word usually considered vulgar meaning a stupid, incompetent or detestable person boyfriend/husband/manager of Dorothy Stratten.
Snider aches to be the big-shot, the real "Star 80" but is a failure at everything he tries---except when he gets Dorothy Stratten recognized by Playboy.
For me the most painfully sad moment in the movie came when Dorothy's mother (Carroll Baker) contemptuously tells Snider, "She never even used to go around in her bathrobe before you came along."This movie is obviously not a lot of laughs but it's still worthwhile, especially for the outstanding performance of Roberts..
Dorothy Stratten was young and lovely and kindhearted and had her whole life in front of her-it's hard to say one "enjoyed" a movie where the ending was so tragic and in this case true so I won't say that.
The 80's are fun to look back on, but living it was not necessarily great, unless you could "keep up with the Joneses".Eric Roberts is very believable as Paul Schneider, a promoter who met Dorothy Stratten (while she was a kid working at a local Dairy Queen, in Canada), brought her to Hollywood, and resented her eventual success.
Her shooting star to fame resulted in eventual tragedy.Mariel Hemingway is believable as Stratten, although the truly innocent act is a bit hard to buy.
For example, Paul Snider is portrayed as the self-destructive lover/shadow to Dorothy Stratten, but little is known about his personal history.
Fosse shows that brilliantly cross cutting from bunch of clips of Stratten and Snider's past, in which the seeds of their volatile relationship are planted, to grow an ugly plant, fertilized on Snider's frustrations, fueling his anger that drowned them both in his whirlpool of self pity."Star 80" is along with "Lenny" the best of Bob Fosse's short but brilliant career.It surely deserves a better DVD transfer than it's 1998 Snap Case, Pan & Scan , 1.33:1, widescreen grainy look.
The story here has far more to do with Paul Snider - the sleazebag who "discovered" Dorothy, married her and eventually murdered her.There are excellent performances from the two leads in this movie.
Mariel Hemingway did a good job of developing Dorothy - from the naive, innocent and shy young waitress who's still finishing high school in Vancouver to the worldly playmate and budding film star.
The most interesting thing about this is that even though Paul is depicted as a total sleazebag, there's a certain sympathy that you feel for him as he loses Dorothy, if only because he was responsible for her success in a way and it seems that he really did love her - albeit it in that warped, obsessive, controlling and therefore unhealthy and ultimately destructive sense that so many of these stories revolve around.
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.
Star 80 tells the story of Dorothy Stratten pretty brutally and realistically!Maybe Mariel Hemingway dosen't exactly measure up to the rare beauty of Dorothy-but the actress pulls it off rather well!We the viewers are able to feel the naivety and innocence of Dorothy and how much the sleazy Paul Snider had a hold on her!The real star of the film is Eric Roberts!He brings to the role an understanding of the tortured and crazed man.We see Paul's obsession and inability to translate his love for her into anything healthy or productive!Of course the crazy and lurid Paul is incapable of loving!
The result is tragic.That's the underlying premise of "Star 80", the true-life story of the young woman, Playboy model Dorothy Stratten (Mariel Hemingway), and the young man, Paul Snider (Eric Roberts).
I thought Robertson's performance as Hefner was a little flat.While the film is mostly a character study of Stratten and Snider, it also gives us a glimpse into a ruthless and cruel Tinseltown, where dreams can easily morph into nightmares.
The low rating this film has on IMDb is due to the uncompromising and macabre story concerning the murder of playmate Dorothy Stratten by her ex-lover Paul Snider yet on a technical level, Star 80 is an example of bravura filmmaking.Eric Roberts gives a powerhouse performance, which should have been highly rewarded and Mariel Hemmingway has never been better.
In retrospect, although Eric Roberts does an Outstanding job as Paul Snyder, Mariel Hemmingway not only is Outstanding as Dorothy Stratten, she is also very beautiful & very respectful on posing like Dorothy in her photo shoots.
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.
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.
Eric Roberts' character "Paul Snider" wouldn't call it a "film"; rather, he would call it a "movie".
In the end, it's all about Roberts' Snider, who explains, "I'm such a jerk sometimes." Yup.******** Star 80 (1983) Bob Fosse ~ Eric Roberts, Mariel Hemmingway, Carroll Baker.
Mariel as Dorothy, breaks your heart in every scene, bringing forth Dorothys innocence and beauty, when some onesays domething rude to Mariel as Dorothy you want to protect her, and Eric Roberts portrays Paul Snider greatly where you dont know wheather you pity him or can't stand him.
The film is told in a documentary style, showing interviews with Mariel as Dorothy, Hugh Hefner, and many other people.
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.
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.
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.
Mariel Hemingway stars in Bob Fosse's "Star 80", a film based in part on the Pulitzer Prize winning article "Death of a Playmate", and portrays the events that led to the 1980 murder of Dorothy Stratten.
Even though Hemingway gets top billing and the film's title refers to her character, the main story falls fully on Eric Robert's shoulders, as the charismatic loose canon that "discovers" her.Roberts brings a gravitas to the smarmy, manipulative, and ultimately violent Paul Snider.
His performance is the most engaging part of the film, and unfortunately leaves the viewer wondering whether the movie is little more than a means to show the killer as a three-dimensional individual, thereby making him the only fully formed character in the piece.Hemingway plays Stratten as a one-note naive, easily victimized young woman.
It's a decent performance, but she has so few expressions and lacks any real presence that it's a wonder anyone would be so enamored with the woman she plays, and at points her performance is so familiar it feels as if she's back on the set of "Manhattan", the film she was in a few years earlier.The most misguided performance, though, is Cliff Robertson's Hugh Hefner, who brings little more than a pipe and a bathrobe to the proceedings.
It would be unreasonable to assume an actor would mimic everything about a real person, but his take on Hefner was so wrong that supposedly "Hef" himself sued after this film's release."Star 80" is certainly not the fluff of the quickly tossed together made for TV movie with Jamie Lee Curtis as Stratten, but for something that obviously had something to say about celebrity and those that struggle to gain it, it hit far short of it's mark..
STAR 80 is a scary movie alright but the truth about the killing of Paul Snider and Dorothy Stratton is even scarier.
When director Bob Fosse set out to make a movie about murdered Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten, he obviously saw much of the main plot-potential in Stratten's deranged husband/manager Paul Snider...and, distressingly, that's who he seems to identify with throughout.
A decent movie that tells the sad but true story about a brainless bimbo (Dorothy Stratten, played by Mariel Hemingway) who takes her clothes off for a living and her pimp-like, psychotic husband (Eric Roberts) who drags her from Canada to L.A. to get nude in Playboy.What I couldn't figure out was who to sympathize with.
Unfortunately, because we are all familiar with the details of the real-life story behind the Dorothy Stratten/Playboy Playmate murder case back in 1980 - "Star 80" (directed by Bob Fosse) does not offer the viewer any noteworthy surprise twists in order to keep its story interesting.Eric Roberts, as Paul Snider, Stratten's promoter, husband, and leech, put in a decidedly frenzied performance that came dangerously close to being serious scenery-chewing far too often.And, Mariel Hemingway, as Dorothy Stratten, a former Vancouver Dairy Queen employee, put in such a subdued performance that she almost became a non-entity incapable of lighting up the screen with her presence.*Note* - "Star 80" not only contains both female and male nudity, but it also features some very intense sexual situations, as well..
Secondly I hated the character of Paul Snider played by Eric Roberts.
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).
The life and death of Playboy bunny Dorothy Stratten - "Movie of the Week" style.This is sad: A young life was stubbed out and she is barely in her grave before some film producers who want to dig her up in order to bury her again!All in the name of a Hollywood quick buck.
Women that throw their clothes off and say "get some film in that camera and shoot me baby!"(Let me answer my own questions - because that would throw away one of the few threads of drama these movies-by-numbers have!)There is some good acting here and the saddest thing is that Eric Roberts (big-bad-pimp) comes out of this the best simply because he is the best actor.
What's amazing about this movie is that you actually feel for Robert's character, Paul Snider.
If you are familiar with the true story about Stratten, and if you haven't seen anything about it, the director character who Dorothy falls in love with towards the end - eventually setting off Snider - is really Peter Bogdonavitch.
As Dorothy rises up the food chain in Hollywood, getting roles in TV and in film, Paul finds himself banished from the charmed circle of Hefner's Mansion and he thereby self-destructs.
This story follows the tragic story of Dorothy Stratten from her Vancouver home, to Playboy centerfold, to the beginnings of movie stardom, then to her violent death at the hands of her estranged husband, Paul Snider.
In addition, Eric Roberts' disturbing (but authentic) performance as Paul Snider will stay with you for a long, long time.
Mariel Hemingway stars as the young and innocent Stratten, while Cliff Robertson has the role of Hugh Hefner.The final scene, filmed in the house where the murder actually took place, is very difficult to watch.
STAR 80 is Bob Fosse's stunning, no holds barred account of the life and death of playmate Dorothy Stratten and her husband Paul Snider.
But STAR 80 is actually less about Stratten than it is about Paul Snider, the small-time hustler who discovered, promoted, and married her--and then lost her through a combination of his own hysterical insecurity and her rising fame.
But the film goes beyond offering exceptional performances in a tragic story of promising youth cut short.Director and writer Bob Fosse begins his story with Stratten's death and then presents the history of the Stratton-Snider relationship in a semi-documentary style through flashbacks and flash-forwards.
A small-time promoter, Paul Snider (Roberts) of low-taste runs across a shy, nice-looking waitress, Dorothy Stratten (Hemingway), in Vancouver and decides she'd make a good property, so he does what small-time promoters do.
The ending is tragic.The writer and director, Bob Fosse, uses a technique similar to the one he used in "Lennie," a series of interviews with people who knew Snider and Stratten.
STAR 80 is Bob Fosse's dark recreation of the relationship between PLAYBOY centerfold/starlet Dorothy Stratten and her Svengali/husband Paul Snider, who ended up murdering her out of resentment, bitterness, and jealousy.
Fosse's unique eye with a camera lends itself quite admirably to this dark tale about the teenage dairy queen employee (Mariel Hemingway) who meets a charismatic but sleazy player named Paul Snider (Eric Roberts)and according to this screenplay, somehow manages to get her to let him be her date for her senior prom and pose nude for pictures in the privacy of his bedroom, which he ends up submitting to PLAYBOY and from there becomes her manager as he takes her from Vancouver to Hollywood, but as Dorothy becomes famous, she clearly doesn't need Paul in her life and the more she attempts to wrest herself from his iron grip, the more unhinged he becomes.
The fact that this story is a true one just makes it all the more depressing to watch and Fosse has a way of giving the whole film a very voyeuristic feel...as if we're watching private scenes we are not supposed to see.
The brief life and sad end to beloved Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten is chronicled in this very sordid film, the swan song for its director Bob Fosse.
The acting is first-rate from all concerned, and while the film may be hard to watch at times (especially the finale), it does resonate very strongly after it's over.The troubling relationship at the core of "Star 80" is tinged with tragedy from the beginning; Dorothy's worried mother (Carroll Baker) fears the worst when her lovable, trusting, naive daughter (wonderfully played by Mariel Hemingway) is seduced by small-time hustler and big-time dreamer Paul Snider (Eric Roberts).
The excellent ensemble also includes Cliff Robertson as Hugh Hefner, Roger Rees as filmmaker "Aram Nicholas", and David Clennon as friendly doctor "Geb" (with supporting roles and bits for the likes of Josh Mostel, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Liz Sheridan, and Robert Picardo), but it's Roberts who impresses the most as a fundamentally scummy jerk whose actions you never ever condone but whom you do grow to understand (Laurence Fishburne accomplished the same sort of thing playing Ike Turner in "What's Love Got to Do with It" 10 years later).All in all, this is a well done drama that ultimately may be too dark for some people to take.Dorothy's story was also told in the TV movie "Death of a Centerfold" starring Jamie Lee Curtis.Eight out of 10..
Bob Fosse somehow is attracted to stories about people who have inner demons, be it Lenny Bruce or a version of himself in All That Jazz or here with Paul Snider.
The story of the beautiful, innocent Dorothy Stratten and her slimy, sleazeball husband/manager Paul Snider feels almost voyeuristic in this Bob Fosse film.
One complaint that I do have is that the story focuses so much on Snider, and I understand that he is an important character (and brilliantly portrayed by Eric Roberts), but the term "STAR 80" refers to Dorothy, and this should be, more or less, her story.
I think the scene where snider asks the actor "bad scripts huh?" is something that eric roberts could ask himself about some of the rest of the movies that he's been in.
Unfortunately, in ignoring any complexity this story had to have had, the filmmakers made a mediocre biopic that has not stood the test of time very well.Eric Roberts plays Paul Snider, the small time hustler who discovers, weds, and eventually murders Dorothy Strattan, with so much sleaziness that his performance becomes distracting and difficult to take seriously.