Mariel Hemingway portrays Dorothy Stratten, famous model who marries a lunatic played by Eric Roberts. He will stop at nothing to dominate her life and career, and it all ends with tragic circumstances. The last 10 minutes are quite possibly the saddest scenes I have seen in a movie.

The Australian DVD is thankfully presented in its original widescreen presentation (and anamorphic too) unlike the American pan and scan version.

I'm surprised Mariel Hemingway's career didn't take off because she is an exceptional actress.

If however you are looking for a great film, you have hit the jackpot! Fosse's writing is amazing and is carried off by some excellent acting. Eric Roberts balances one challenging role. As the husband/manager living off his wifes fame and popularity, he comes across as a second rate Ike Turner. The man is a slime and you still manage to find some sympathy for him. Watching his behavior his fascinating, and we have seen his like in one form or another. One who portrays what he thinks a rich and glamourous life style is by spouting off ham-handed dialouge and wearing tacky clothes who doesent realize the joke is on him. When finally does, it ends with tragic results. I've not been a big fan of Roberts until this movie.

Hemingway is also very effective as the centerfold with the heart of gold. The contrast of her and Roberts works nicely. She may not be the smartest person but at least she knows who she is. Her flaw is that she tries to please everyone and that of course also leads tragically.

The only flaw to this film is it's production value. Many would argue that it was 1983 when the movie was made, but it still has the feel of a after school special. There really is no style to the film. Just point and shoot film. If Fosse was looking for a documentary syle, he succeeded better with "Lenny" which I also reccomend. "Star 80" is a good one!

Mariel Hemingway gives the performance of her career as Stratten, capturing the mixture of wholesome beauty and vulnerability that so many of Stratten's acquaintances described. 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. Eric Roberts is simply bone-chilling in the role; it is a performance that should have earned him an Academy Award. The supporting cast is equally fine, with Cliff Robertson and Carroll Baker as Hugh Hefner and Dorothy's mother respectively. 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. The style serves him very well, for the film quickly develops such intensity that at times it becomes extremely difficult to watch. As it progresses, the story itself becomes a metaphor for hedonism of the 1970s surging into the 1980s: a poisonous mixture of superficial appearances, selfishness, user-mentalities, and disposability. As viewers, we are trapped in a count-down to death, unable to alter a single misstep in Stratten's final days and horrified by the inextoriable drift toward violence. The final ten minutes of the film are certainly among the most powerful, disturbing, and upsetting ever put to film.

STAR 80 proved too unpleasantly real for box office success. This is not an "entertaining" film. But it is a brilliantly done film, one undimmed by the passage of twenty years--and one that, sadly, will likely be as valid twenty years from now as it is today. Strongly recommended.