More film talk, but this time it's not British.
Have you ever seen the film Star 80? I'd heard of it but never seen it as and it's currently running on TCM in the dead of night, so catch it if you can. That's what Sky+ was invented for.
It's the true story of the murder of up-and-coming Playboy model Dorothy Stratten at the hands of her control freak boyfriend/manager Paul Snider superbly played by Eric Roberts, who gets more and more awful as the film goes on. It's a great evocation of the seedier party side of New York at the end of the Seventies and scenes with Roberts trying to ingratiate himself with Hugh Hefner are edge of seat cringeful.
It's directed by Bob Fosse and you can easily imagine Roy Scheider playing the Eric Roberts character as a wiry nutjob Travis Bickle. Highly recommended.
Whatever happened to Eric Roberts? Once he was a promising actor but in later years he really seems to have vanished. Sister Julia is far more famous. Did he succumb to cocaine or something? I'm sure he can't have got through this film without doing something like that.
And as for Mariel Hemmingway who plays Stratten, she her usual underplayed self, but brings quite a believable naivety to the role, especially as she's completely manipulated by Paul Snider as her star rises and his sinks.
Anyoo, what have you been watching lately that I should know about?
