Star 80 is a 1983 biographical drama about the life and death of Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten, who is murdered by her controlling husband Paul Snider, who later kills himself. The film was the last to be directed by Bob Fosse and stars Mariel Hemingway, Eric Roberts, and Cliff Robertson.
The story begins with Paul (Roberts), a small-time hustler, wooing 18-year-old Dorothy (Hemingway) after meeting her working at a Dairy Queen. Seeing her as a meal ticket as well as a lover, he has a professional photographer take nudes of her and sends them to Playboy. After getting a positive response the couple moves to Los Angeles, where Hugh Hefner (Robertson) gives Dorothy a job as a bunny and eventually names her Playmate of the Year for 1980.
Paul convinces Dorothy to marry him, but before long she's fallen in love with a film director who casts her in one of his movies. Dorothy's attempt to divorce him finally leads to the confrontation that ends in both their deaths.
Tropes seen in the film:
- Adaptational Name Change: It's never mentioned in the film that "Dorothy Stratten" was a stage name shortened from her full name, Dorothy Hoogstraten. Her and her family are only ever referred to as "the Strattens".
- Author Avatar: Bob Fosse made Paul Snider the main character in the film because he identified with his character the most. Fosse even told Eric Roberts that when he played Snider, he was really playing himself if Fosse had not been successful in show business.
- Based on a True Story: Fosse adapted the screenplay directly from a Pulitzer Prize winning Village Voice article investigating Dorothy's life and death.
- Downer Beginning: The movie already starts with Dorothy dead and Paul ranting about what led to this point, before flashbacks start.
- Downer Ending: The murder mentioned up above.
- Foregone Conclusion: The murder/suicide was still recent news in 1983, so most viewers knew how it would end.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Just as Paul points the shotgun to his head, the film cuts to black while the blast is heard.
- I Love the Dead: Paul molests Dorothy's body after killing her. (He also did it before killing her.)
- If I Can't Have You…: One of the better-known real-life examples.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The director for whom Dorothy left Paul was actually Peter Bogdanovich, but for legal reasons he's called Aram Nicholas in the film. The names of Dorothy's siblings are also changed, and her mother is left unnamed.
- No Name Given: The real Dorothy Stratten's mother asked the producers to withhold her name from the film, so she's only listed in the credits "Dorothy's Mother".
- Pity Sex: Dorothy offers this to Paul at their final meeting, but this just enrages him.
- Playboy Bunny: Justified, as Dorothy actually was a Playboy bunny.
- Private Detective: Paul hires one when he suspects Dorothy of cheating on him with Nicholas.
- Stage Name: A mild example, as Playboy shortens Dorothy's surname from the unwieldy Hoogstraten.
- Vanity License Plate: The film's title comes from a vanity plate that Paul gets in honor of Dorothy's being named 1980 Playmate of the Year.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Dorothy. She dreams for a very bright future coming her way, which sadly never happened.
- Yandere: Paul at the end, of course, but the warning signs start to come earlier, such as when he stabs Dorothy's ex-boyfriend with a pocket knife.
