Bob Fosse’s name is synonymous with music and dance, from Cabaret to All That Jazz, so Star 80, a look at the final days of murdered Playboy model Dorothy R Stratten, was something of a departure. Fosse’s other films have a certain caustic cynicism beneath the glitz, and Star 80 sees him taking potshots at the Playboy empire and Hugh Hefner specifically, as well as director Peter Bogdanovich, here recreated as a character called Aram Nichols and played by Roger Rees. Mariel Hemingway plays Stratten, with Eric Roberts as disturbed Svengali turned stalker Paul Snider, and Cliff Robertson plays Hefner himself. Stratten’s death was a tragic one, and while Fosse’s film never quite makes up its mind what it wants to say other than reconstructing events, both Hemingway and Roberts are excellent in their roles.
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