Released two years after the tragic incident, Star 80 is clearly more refined and superior one of the two feature movie made about the story of Dorothy Stratten.

This time around the ground work is well made and both Mariel Hemingway and Eric Roberts portray the characters faithfully. Hemingway has that innocent small town girl look and feel to her and Roberts gets much deeper to the Snider’s persona of a small time crook with his sickly fixation to make it big.

Roberts’ stellar performance encapsulates Snider not only as an unlikeable and possessive creep, but also as a man struggling with his sense or inferiority and there are many scenes you can’t help but to feel sorry for him, even knowing what he did in the end.

The tragic story of Dorothy Stratten, the playmate and a star on the rise deserved to be told the right way – and Star 80 does just that