fluna1030 This movie like some others ranks as one of my favorites. Mariel Hemmingway and Eric Roberts turn in some excellent acting work in this movie. Star 80 tells the story about a young girl from Vancouver & how her sleze of a boyfriend pushes her into becoming a Playboy Playmate. In my opinion (for what it's worth), Dorothy Stratten & her beauty rivals that of my dreamgirl....Marilyn Monroe only that Dorothy is from a time period in which I was a teen in the late 70's to the early 80's ....more modern I guess. Anyways, the movie Star 80 & with its wonderful actors demonstrates how a person can become obsessed & manipulative with a very pretty girl and ...well basically go over the edge. I just recently got the DVD version after my 1st. edition VHS started to show its age so, I don't play the tape anymore. 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. Although Mariel Hemmingway has acted in many other movies, this one & Personal Best are my favorites from this actor. Yes, Star 80 is not only wonderfully acted but also hauntingly real in its storyline. If you haven't added this movie to your collection ...be it DVD or VHS, get it while it is still available. Enjoy!!

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.

entschuldigen I saw Star 80 back in the mid 80's on television. They edited a lot but it still remained potent then. I bought the movie in the 90's at local retail store. I must have watched it a dozen times. I was even more memorized by the character of Paul played by Eric. I liked how it was told from Fosse's view point about how Paul might have felt. I can see how those in the upper crowd didn't like him. His was mean, immature and just plain weird. Paul didn't really love Dorothy. He loved himself. The tragic part of this is that Dorothy loved Paul enough to be sympathy for his failures. He uses her heart only to kill her. What I like most about the film is that it shows the darker side of relationships. Anyone who is dating a Paul like character needs to see the film. It just might save their life!

JasparLamarCrabb 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. It features a career making performance by Eric Roberts. As Snider, Roberts is electrifying. He's the most sadistic screen villain since Richard Widmark in KISS OF DEATH. Mariel Hemingway is fine as Stratten, a would be actress who had an affair with the director Peter Bogdanovich. Unfortunately she's dwarfed by Roberts. So are the supporting players: Roger Rees as a very Bogdanovich-like director, Carroll Baker as Stratten's mother, and Cliff Robertson as Hugh Hefner. Director Fosse utilizes the same interview like technique he used on LENNY and it works just as well here --- Baker is particularly good and has a number of heartfelt moments. STAR 80 is flashy, fast paced and not to be missed!POSTSCRIPT: It turned out that Roberts would play the majority of his roles as he did Paul Snider. In movies like THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE and RUNAWAY TRAIN it was appropriate. In more subtle fare like RAGGEDY MAN it wasn't. Go figure!