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Star 80

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Star 80
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBob Fosse
Written byBob Fosse
Based on"Death of a Playmate"
by Teresa Carpenter
Produced by
Starring
CinematographySven Nykvist
Edited byAlan Heim
Music byRalph Burns
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • November 10, 1983 (1983-11-10)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12 million
Box office$6.4 million[1]

Star 80 is a 1983 American biographical drama film written and directed by Bob Fosse. It was adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Village Voice article "Death of a Playmate" by Teresa Carpenter and is based on Canadian Playboy model Dorothy Stratten, who was murdered by her husband Paul Snider in 1980. The film's title is taken from one of Snider's vanity license plates. It was Fosse's final film before his death in 1987.

The film stars Mariel Hemingway as Stratten and Eric Roberts as Snider, with Cliff Robertson, Carroll Baker, Roger Rees, and David Clennon in supporting roles. The film chronicles Stratten's relationship with Snider, their move to Los Angeles, her success as a Playboy model, the dissolution of their relationship, and her murder.

Star 80 was filmed on location in Vancouver and Los Angeles; the death scene was filmed in the same house in which the real murder–suicide took place. The film was released in the United States on November 10, 1983. It initially received mixed reviews from critics, but the performances of Hemingway and Roberts received critical acclaim. The film has been reappraised over the years and has been reviewed positively.

Plot

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Dorothy Stratten lies dead as her husband Paul Snider rants to himself about the events that led up to the present moment. The story, told through a series of flashbacks, has a linear narrative but is interspersed by Paul's rants as well as by documentary-style interviews with some of the characters.

Paul, a brash small-time scam artist and pimp, first meets Dorothy two years earlier while she works at a Dairy Queen in her native Vancouver. He woos Dorothy with attention and flattery and a romance develops, much to the displeasure of her mother.

Working under the delusion that he is Dorothy's only path to realization, Paul tries to run her life, uncovering a possessive streak in the process, and insists on being her personal manager. He convinces her to pose nude in Polaroid photographs until she sheds her initial timidity, then hires two professional photographers to take pictures of her.

These pictures make their way to Playboy magazine founder and publisher Hugh Hefner who invites Dorothy to Los Angeles for a photo shoot. When Dorothy's mother refuses to sign the parental consent form, Paul forges her signature. Hefner makes Dorothy Playmate of the Month for the August 1979 issue, provides lodging for her and gives her a job as a Bunny at the local Playboy Club.

Despite his constant infidelities, Paul is plagued by jealousy and feelings of inadequacy. He proposes marriage to Dorothy over the phone, flies to Los Angeles and alienates everyone in the Playboy Mansion with his uncouth and nervously sycophantic demeanor. Against the advice of Hefner and his associates, however, Dorothy proceeds with the marriage. They share a rented house in Rancho Park with another couple and enjoy a large social entourage, but Dorothy becomes increasingly disenchanted by Paul's possessiveness and tacky sleaze.

Dorothy is named 1980's Playmate of the Year and starts an acting career thanks to Hefner's contacts. Paul, on the other hand, feels deeply insecure after losing money on failed business ventures and being eclipsed by his wife's success. Still adamant to remain influential on her life, Paul pesters her with constant phone calls that even interrupt her fiming sessions, and becomes a fixture at the Playboy Mansion despite lacking a formal invitation from Hefner. He also uses Dorothy's money to purchase a Mercedes with a vanity license plate that reads "Star 80".

Famous film director Aram Nicholas first discovers Dorothy among the skaters at a Playboy Mansion roller disco party. At Hefner's recommendation, he casts her in his next picture, to be filmed in New York City. Paul appears to welcome this development, but in reality, his jealousy escalates and he hires a private detective to follow Dorothy in New York. The realization that the Playboy Mansion's doors are now closed for him compounds Paul's erratic obsession, unnerving his housemates in the process.

Noticing Dorothy's unhappiness with the marriage, Aram convinces her to leave Paul and they begin an affair. The private detective discovers this and advises Paul to sue Aram for enticement, in effect conflating the marriage with Paul's purported "management" of Dorothy even though the latter was only a verbal contract.

Broke, dejected and increasingly volatile, Paul correctly surmises Aram's influence on Dorothy's shift in decisions and mannerisms, but fails to accept that his marriage is effectively over. Upon her return to Los Angeles, Dorothy admits the affair, but promises Paul financial support. She agrees to meet Paul personally again to discuss divorce proceedings, despite Aram's advice to use an intermediary instead. Paul subsequently purchases a shotgun.

Dorothy and Paul meet at the Rancho Park house. Despite his pleas, she declares that their marriage and business ties are over, offers him half of her savings and tries to comfort him. Paul perceives her attitude as condescending and becomes enraged. A chaotic and reproachful interaction ensues, which culminates in Paul raping Dorothy, shooting her in the head with the shotgun and violating her corpse on a sex contraption of his own design. Paul then turns the gun on himself, and ominously proclaims his future fame before pulling the trigger.

Cast

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Production

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The idea for the project began when Bob Fosse's friend Paddy Chayefsky recommended a Pulitzer Prize-winning article about Stratten written by Teresa Carpenter that had appeared in The Village Voice. In May 1981, it was announced that Fosse was developing a screenplay, originally titled The Dorothy Stratten Story.[3] The film was dedicated to Chayefsky who died shortly after Fosse announced the film.

Mariel Hemingway believed she was ideal for the part and campaigned for it vigorously with letters, telephone messages and visits to Fosse's home. She eventually won the role after four auditions, and her casting was announced in March 1982.[3] Some in the media reported that Hemingway had undergone breast augmentation surgery to secure the part.[4] In the 2020 documentary Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies, Hemingway admits she underwent a breast-enlargement procedure before being cast, but says, "I did it for me. I wouldn't have done that because of a movie."[5] Nude photographs of Hemingway posing as Stratten appeared in the January 1984 issue of Playboy magazine.[3]

According to Fosse, he had to persuade Eric Roberts to play the role of Paul Snider, a character whom Roberts considered unlikeable. Early media speculation suggested that Harry Dean Stanton might be cast as Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, but Cliff Robertson was reported to be researching the role by visiting the Playboy Mansion. Hefner disliked his depiction in the film and sued its producers, but the suit was later dismissed. Years later in a 1998 interview, Hefner had let off on some of his dislike of the film, saying that it did not capture Stratten's essence but he did praise Roberts for "an excellent portrayal of the sick man who murdered her". The film was Carroll Baker's first Hollywood production since her 1967 return from Europe.[3] In accordance with the Stratten family's wishes, Stratten's mother is never mentioned by name in the film, and the names of her sister and brother were changed.

Director Peter Bogdanovich, Stratten's boyfriend at the time of her murder, expressed opposition to the project, arguing that Fosse "didn't know the true story." Fosse acknowledged this statement to be true but countered that the film was about Snider. Bogdanovich refused to allow his name to be used in the film and threatened to sue if he found the character of Aram Nicholas to be objectionable. He provided his opinions of the film in his 1984 biography of Stratten, The Killing of the Unicorn: Dorothy Stratten, 1960–1980, criticizing the final film's depiction of Stratten as well as her murder, but he did not pursue legal action.[3][6]

Pre-production began in Stratten's hometown of Vancouver in January 1982. Sets were created to represent Stratten's bedroom, high-school gymnasium and the Dairy Queen where she had met Snider. After Hefner refused to allow filming at his estate, an unoccupied mansion in Pasadena, California, was renovated to resemble Hefner's mansion. After the film's release, Hefner expressed disappointment, describing it as "too shallow". The film's party scenes show actual Playboy models.[3]

Principal photography began on July 6, 1982, in Vancouver and continued for four months, including four weeks in Vancouver and 12 weeks in Los Angeles, and finished three days ahead of schedule.[3]

Star 80 is the second film based on the murder of Stratten, preceded by the 1981 television film Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story, with Jamie Lee Curtis as Stratten and Bruce Weitz as Snider.[7]

Release and reception

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The film opened in 16 theaters in major U.S. cities on November 10, 1983,[8] grossing $233,313 on its opening weekend. Warner Bros. planned to release the film to more theaters for the Christmas season and to give it a wide release in time for the next Academy Awards ceremony. Eventually, the film grossed $6,472,990 in the United States and was shown at a peak of 502 theaters in early 1984.[9] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Star 80 holds an approval rating of 81% based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10.[10] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[11]

Critical reception to the film was generally mixed,[3] but it was praised for Hemingway's and Roberts's performances. The film has been reappraised over the years and has been reviewed positively. Roberts won the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.[12] Fosse was nominated for the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival.[13] Star 80 marked Fosse's final film as director before his death in 1987.

The film was screened out of competition at the 34th Berlin International Film Festival.[13] The Washington Post called it "Bob Fosse's latest stylish stinker".[citation needed] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune placed the film on his list of the 10 best films of 1983, but acknowledged that the film was very unpleasant.[14]

Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert awarded the film four out of four stars and deemed it an "important movie".[15] Appearing with Siskel on an October 1986 edition of The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, Ebert said that Roberts should have been nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Star 80. Ebert coined the phrase "Star 80 syndrome" after claiming that Gary Oldman's performance as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy (1986) was snubbed for the same reason as was Roberts': "Hollywood will not nominate an actor for portraying a creep, no matter how good the performance is."[16]

Accolades

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Award Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear Bob Fosse Nominated [13]
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Best Actor Eric Roberts Won [17]
Golden Globe Awards Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama Nominated [12]
New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Actor 3rd Place [18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Star 80 at Box Office Mojo
  2. ^ "4 Takeaways from Andrew Goldman's Never-Before-Heard Peter Bogdanovich Interview for 'The Originals'". Los Angeles. January 18, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Star 80 (1983)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  4. ^ Sacco, Tim (July 28, 1983). "That's Entertainment!". The Des Moines Register. p. 13D.
  5. ^ Wolf, Danny (director) (August 18, 2020). Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies (Motion picture). United States: Plausible Films.
  6. ^ Bogdanovich, Peter (1984). The Killing of the Unicorn: Dorothy Stratten (1960–1980). New York: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 978-0-688-01611-1.
  7. ^ "Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story". TV Guide. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  8. ^ "Star 80". Warner Bros. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  9. ^ "Star 80 (1983) – Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved May 22, 2025.
  10. ^ "Star 80". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  11. ^ "Star 80". Metacritic.
  12. ^ a b "Star 80". Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
  13. ^ a b c "1984 Programme". Berlin International Film Festival. Archived from the original on February 15, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
  14. ^ "The Best of 1983", Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, 1983.
  15. ^ Ebert, Roger (November 10, 1983). "Star 80". The Chicago Sun-Times – via RogerEbert.com.
  16. ^ Ebert, Roger (October 17, 1986). "Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel". The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers. Season 1. Episode 7. Fox Broadcasting Company. Fox Entertainment Group. I tell you who definitely won't be [Oscar] nominated – and should be, and that's a young British actor named Gary Oldman, who plays Sid Vicious – the punk rocker – in Sid and Nancy. And he's going to fall prey to the Star 80 syndrome, which is why Eric Roberts wasn't nominated: Hollywood will not nominate an actor for portraying a creep, no matter how good the performance is...He [Roberts] should have been nominated.
  17. ^ "Past Award Winners – Boston Society of Film Critics". Boston Society of Film Critics. Archived from the original on October 8, 2014. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  18. ^ "Star 80". Mubi. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
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