Star 80

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Post-film discussion with Teresa Carpenter, author of “Death of a Playmate,” the Pulitzer Prize winning story that provided the basis for STAR 80! 35mm print

Days before Halloween, Celluloid Dreams presents a very different kind of horror movie, one of the cinema’s most terrifying cautionary tales. STAR 80 recounts the real-life meteoric rise-and-fall of Dorothy Stratten (a stunning Mariel Hemingway), the shy Vancouver blonde who rose to Playboy Magazine stardom, only to be destroyed by the psychotic jealousy of her two-bit hustler husband Paul Snider (an impossibly intense Eric Roberts). Rarely screened and out of print on DVD, Bob Fosse’s still-underrated final work stands alongside All Jazz That as one of the defining films on the perils of show business.

“Four stars! An important movie. Devastating, violent, hopeless, and important, because it holds a mirror up to a part of the world we live in, and helps us see it more clearly. In particular, it examines the connection between fame and obscurity, between those who have a moment of praise and notoriety, and those who see themselves condemned to stand always at the edge of the spotlight. Like Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, it is a movie about being an outsider and about going crazy with the pain of rejection.” – Roger Ebert

• Country USA
• Rating R
• Year 1983
• Running Time 103 minutes
• Director Bob Fosse

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.