Bonus Episode: The Screening Room – Star 80

This week in the Screening Room, Dr. Lundy is conflicted on how he feels about Bob Fosse’s 1983 film Star 80, starring Mariel Hemingway and Eric Roberts. Plus we make a mixtape inspired by the film with songs by the J. Geils Band, the Mountain Goats, and more. Become an All Access member and get ad-free listening by visiting disgracelandpod.com.

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Speaker 1: Good people of Hollywood Land. My name is Zeth Blundie, writer, showrunner,

Speaker 1: and good doctor here at Double Elvis, and let me

Speaker 1: tell you, I know all the tricks, all the cong games,

Speaker 1: all the bullshit, and I am here with you together

Speaker 1: in the screening room our weekly episode of the pod,

Speaker 1: in which we watch a movie that has something to

Speaker 1: do with our main episode subject in themes of the week,

Speaker 1: and then we talk about it. Our subject this week

Speaker 1: was Dorothy Stratton, the model, an actress who was murdered

Speaker 1: at age twenty back in nineteen eighty and so the

Speaker 1: movie that we watched is called Star eighty. This came

Speaker 1: out in nineteen eighty three. It was directed by Bob Fosse,

Speaker 1: written by Bob Fosse, based on a Pulitzer Prize winning

Speaker 1: article from The Village Voice by Teresa Carpenter, and it

Speaker 1: stars Mariel Hemingway, Eric roberts Cliff Robertson and Roger Rees.

Speaker 1: If you are just now tuning in this week to

Speaker 1: the podcast here, and you didn't hear the Rap Party

Speaker 1: back on Wednesday, you didn't hear our fully scripted sound

Speaker 1: design dramatic episode from back on Monday. This film Star

Speaker 1: eighty tells the story of Dorothy Stratton, who again model

Speaker 1: actress from Canada. She was groomed at eighteen years old

Speaker 1: by a skeezy hustler named Paul Snyder, who would eventually

Speaker 1: become not only her manager but her husband, and after

Speaker 1: she parlayed posing nude for Playboy into a budding acting career,

Speaker 1: Paul Snyder would also kill Dorothy Stratton when she was

Speaker 1: only twenty as I said before, before turning the shotgun

Speaker 1: on himself. Prior to this film, there was a TV

Speaker 1: movie released in nineteen eighty one called Death of a

Speaker 1: Centerfold The Dorothy Stratton Story, which starred Jamie Lee Curtis

Speaker 1: as Dorothy Stratton. But Star eighty is the film that

Speaker 1: was made using the rights to Teresa Carpenter's Village Voice piece.

Speaker 1: When Bob Fosse announced he was writing a screenplay based

Speaker 1: on the Village Voice article and he planned to direct it,

Speaker 1: the TV movie was already in production. Fosse is a

Speaker 1: fascinating subject. I've been talking with Jake about him lately, incidentally,

Speaker 1: because Jake just watched that Fosse Vernon series on Hulu

Speaker 1: or Disney Plus or whatever. But Bob Fosse is never

Speaker 1: front of mine. For me, when I think about movies

Speaker 1: in movie history, when I think about nineteen seventies cinema,

Speaker 1: I don't know if it's because his background was in

Speaker 1: dance and choreography, and so my mind kind of puts

Speaker 1: him in a different bucket than the bucket I put

Speaker 1: other film directors in from the seventies and the eighties.

Speaker 1: But you know, Bob Fosse made Cabaret, which I think

Speaker 1: still has the distinction of being the film to win

Speaker 1: the most Academy Awards without actually winning Best Picture Best

Speaker 1: Picture in nineteen seventy three for films that were released

Speaker 1: in seventy two. That went to The Godfather. So if

Speaker 1: you're gonna get beat, that's the film you want to

Speaker 1: beat you. But Bob Fosse made Cabaret. He made Lenny,

Speaker 1: the film about Lenny Bruce with Dustin Hoffman. He made

Speaker 1: All That Jazz, which Stanley Kubrick, of all people, at

Speaker 1: some point said was the greatest film he'd ever seen,

Speaker 1: and then he made this. He only made five movies

Speaker 1: in his lifetime. The fifth was his directorial debut, Sweet Charity.

Speaker 1: But this movie Star eighty was Bob Fosse's last and

Speaker 1: so reevaluating him. Now, watching this film for the first

Speaker 1: time yet, this is the first time I watched Star eighty,

Speaker 1: I'm struck by the fact that he is so much

Speaker 1: more of an auteur than I've probably ever given him

Speaker 1: credit for. And I know the Bob Fosse stands are

Speaker 1: out there rolling their eyes right now, saying duh. And

Speaker 1: I also want to acknowledge that being a quote unquote

Speaker 1: quoteur does not necessarily make you a great director. I

Speaker 1: don't want to those things are not, you know, exclusive there.

Speaker 1: This is all just to say I think I've underestimated

Speaker 1: Bob Fosse, just as I think I may have underestimated

Speaker 1: Eric Roberts over the years. You know, when I was

Speaker 1: a kid growing up in the nineteen eighties, when the

Speaker 1: late eighties, when Julia Roberts became the biggest movie star

Speaker 1: in the world, it was kind of mind blowing to

Speaker 1: find out that she had a brother who was also

Speaker 1: an actor, an older brother who'd been in you know,

Speaker 1: acting for a while, which you know, is wild because

Speaker 1: at one point Eric Roberts was posed to become a

Speaker 1: much bigger star in his own right. He had this movie,

Speaker 1: he had the Pope of Greenwich Village Runaway Train. But

Speaker 1: I think that this film Star eighty was a big

Speaker 1: reason why those of us who were coming of age

Speaker 1: in the late nineteen eighties didn't know who the hell

Speaker 1: this guy was. It's because he was too good in

Speaker 1: this role. He was too good as a manipulative, shady,

Speaker 1: self serving, violent, frightened hustler. Eric Roberts has said that

Speaker 1: he was typecast as this guy for years. He has

Speaker 1: said that this movie haunted him for a long time,

Speaker 1: and it's not hard to see why. Bob Fosse shot

Speaker 1: the final scene of this film, the climactic murder suicide scene,

Speaker 1: in the house where Paul Snyder murdered Dorothy Stratton and

Speaker 1: then killed himself. Let me say that again, Bob Fossey

Speaker 1: shot the last scene of Star eighty at the crime

Speaker 1: scene where the actual crime murder suicide took place. But

Speaker 1: even more fucked up than that, Bob Fosse made Eric

Speaker 1: Roberts sleep in that house the night before they shot

Speaker 1: that scene. I don't know how much sleep Eric Roberts

Speaker 1: actually got, but imagine that. Imagine you're director orders you

Speaker 1: to stay the night in a house in a crime scene.

Speaker 1: Were not even two years prior this gruesome, horrible thing

Speaker 1: had taken place. I think someone on the production crew

Speaker 1: actually made the comment that the blood was still seeping

Speaker 1: through the ceiling. It's just horrific. Who knows if Eric

Speaker 1: Roberts would have been as good as he is in

Speaker 1: this had he not been subjected to that kind of trauma.

Speaker 1: But speaking of trauma, let's talk about Mariel Hemingway for

Speaker 1: a moment. Mariel Hemingway granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, a fact

Speaker 1: which Bob Fosse did not let her forget when he

Speaker 1: would tell her on set, quote, you come from this

Speaker 1: sick family unquote. He would tell her this to provoke her,

Speaker 1: I suppose to get something out of her creatively. But

Speaker 1: the trauma that Mariyly Hemingway had experienced up to and

Speaker 1: including this point is worth talking about. You know, a

Speaker 1: few years earlier, in nineteen seventy nine, she was in

Speaker 1: Woody Allen's Manhattan. This was her breakout role, a role

Speaker 1: that she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best

Speaker 1: Supporting Actress. This movie was shot in nineteen seventy eight,

Speaker 1: so Mariel Hemingway is seventeen years old, okay, and she

Speaker 1: plays Woody Allen's seventeen year old girlfriend in the film

Speaker 1: all Right. Woody Allen was in his early forties, and

Speaker 1: so was his character at the time. Three years before that,

Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy six, Mariel Hemingway had a smaller role

Speaker 1: in her first film alongside her older sister Margo, a

Speaker 1: film called Lipstick. And in this film, she's playing a

Speaker 1: fourteen or fifteen year old. She is fourteen or fifteen

Speaker 1: at the time, and her character is sexually assaulted in

Speaker 1: this film okay, her first film, she's her character is

Speaker 1: sexually assaulted. Her second film, she's playing a seventeen year old.

Speaker 1: She is seventeen, playing a seventeen year old girlfriend to

Speaker 1: Woody Allen's forty something dude. And then comes along Star eighty,

Speaker 1: which it must be said, marily Hemingway actually did lobby

Speaker 1: to get this role. She worked to get this role.

Speaker 1: She wanted it, but in order to take the role,

Speaker 1: she was required to get breast implants. So again, here's

Speaker 1: Maril hemingway first breakout. First movie role as a teenager

Speaker 1: involves her being sexually assaulted. Her breakout roll of seventeen

Speaker 1: is the girlfriend of a forty something perv and then

Speaker 1: her big starring role here as Dorothy Stratton requires her

Speaker 1: to get pressed implants for real, and you can't help.

Speaker 1: You cannot help, but think as you watch this film

Speaker 1: Star eighty, that Mariel Hemingway is being exploited and used

Speaker 1: in the name of male fantasy and to satisfy male ambition,

Speaker 1: much in the same way that Dorothy Stratton was exploited

Speaker 1: and used before her. How many shots of Marie had

Speaker 1: Way nude doing her playboy poses are there in this movie?

Speaker 1: Is that the point? You know? For all of Bob

Speaker 1: Fossey's brilliance, I don't know that he thought so, because

Speaker 1: Star eighty is a movie that's not about Dorothy Stratton.

Speaker 1: Actually it's about Paul Schnyder, and I'll get into that

Speaker 1: some more in a moment, but let me say this first.

Speaker 1: I loved and hated this movie simultaneously. I can't remember

Speaker 1: the last time I had this kind of feeling about

Speaker 1: a film. Star eighty is the best made dirty movie

Speaker 1: I think I've ever seen. What I mean by that

Speaker 1: is it's expertly made. But what I mean by dirty

Speaker 1: is that you feel like you have to take a

Speaker 1: long hot shower immediately after watching it. It's a film

Speaker 1: about male toxicity, about dreams that curdle into nightmares, about

Speaker 1: centerfolds and hustlers, and we're going to get into it

Speaker 1: right after this. Okay, guys, welcome back to screening room

Speaker 1: here in Hollywoodland. Doctor Lundi here with you, breaking down

Speaker 1: the nineteen eighty three film Star eighty. Okay, we know

Speaker 1: what Star eighty is about. It's about this mustache having

Speaker 1: hustler named Paul Snyder. He's in his late twenties. He

Speaker 1: meets a beautiful eighteen year old girl named Dorothy Stratton

Speaker 1: while she's working at a dairy queen in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Speaker 1: He winds her, he dines her, He gradually convinces her

Speaker 1: to take off her clothes and let him take photographs

Speaker 1: of her, and then they use those photographs to get

Speaker 1: her this opportunity to pose for Playboy magazine. They get

Speaker 1: married against the advice of Playboy's Hugh Hefner, and as

Speaker 1: Dorothy Starr continues to rise, as she parlays her model

Speaker 1: work into an acting career and begins to work with

Speaker 1: a real Hollywood director, making a real Hollywood movie, Paul

Speaker 1: quickly unravels. He is jealous, he is suspicious, he is angry,

Speaker 1: he is weak. He's also an open book and anyone

Speaker 1: can see these qualities in him and Bob Fosse, the

Speaker 1: director does not hide this. Just look at the scene

Speaker 1: where Paul goes to Dorothy's house to take her to

Speaker 1: her high school prom. Her mother basically laughs at his

Speaker 1: goofy leisure suit when he shows up, you know, and

Speaker 1: he's putting on airs by the way. He hands the

Speaker 1: mom this bouquet of roses and says, poor vou, like

Speaker 1: he's cultured or something. And then inside the house he's

Speaker 1: totally dismissed by Dorothy's brother, who can't be bothered. While

Speaker 1: he's watching TV. He sniffs out this Paul Sneyder douchebag

Speaker 1: as a poser and a liar right from the jump.

Speaker 1: Bob Fosse does not shy away from this stuff, and

Speaker 1: Eric Roberts does not shy away from going full douchebag either.

Speaker 1: He's incredible. Actually, he's like a cross between Dirk Diggler

Speaker 1: and Travis Bickle. And to drive home the Travis Bickle

Speaker 1: comp here, there's even this great moment where he's on

Speaker 1: the phone talking to Dorothy, talking to marily Hemingway, and

Speaker 1: he's sitting at a desk or a table in the

Speaker 1: bedroom or an office or whatever. But the door to

Speaker 1: this room is open. His back is to the camera,

Speaker 1: and the camera starts way down the hallway, and it

Speaker 1: slowly zooms in as the conversation unfolds down the hallway,

Speaker 1: closer and closer to Eric Roberts with his back to us,

Speaker 1: as the phone conversation continues and just gets worse and

Speaker 1: worse for him. And it really really reminded me of

Speaker 1: the scene and Taxi Driver where Robert de Niro is

Speaker 1: on the phone talking to Civil Shepherd and the camera

Speaker 1: eventually starts to pan away from him, you know, because

Speaker 1: it's too painful to watch. Here, it's like we are

Speaker 1: zeroing in on this guy's pain, although we aren't allowed

Speaker 1: to see his face because that would be too painful. Now,

Speaker 1: this brings me back to the point I was making earlier.

Speaker 1: This film is not about Dorothy Stratton. This film is

Speaker 1: about Paul Snyder. Bob Fossey even said so himself. This

Speaker 1: is not like some huge revelation here, but it's worth

Speaker 1: noting because this is a movie about wanting something, about

Speaker 1: about wanting something so bad, about having a dream, knowing

Speaker 1: you are bound for greatness, for success, for material things,

Speaker 1: for fame. And it's about how realizing that dream, making

Speaker 1: it a reality can only lead to bitterness and betrayal

Speaker 1: and madness and murder. But make no mistake about this.

Speaker 1: This is Paul's dream we're talking about. It's not Dorothy's.

Speaker 1: Dorothy repeatedly wants out. She wants to pump the brakes,

Speaker 1: she wants to cool it, she wants to leave Los Angeles,

Speaker 1: go back to Vancouver. But Paul Snyder is in the

Speaker 1: driver's seat, and it's all about what he wants and

Speaker 1: what men like him want, which is women and money

Speaker 1: and fame and power, and he will get it by

Speaker 1: exploiting and using an innocent person. I think Bob Fosse

Speaker 1: understands all this. In fact, I know he does, But

Speaker 1: it's kind of a bummer that the movie is all

Speaker 1: about Paul Schneyder in this way. It's like, let's tell

Speaker 1: this tragic story about Los Angeles, about Hollywood, about the

Speaker 1: entertainment industry, about how it's nothing but an exploitation factory,

Speaker 1: about how it chews you up and spits you out,

Speaker 1: It kills you. For fuck's sake, let's talk about Let's

Speaker 1: tell the story about this impossibly beautiful and innocent girl,

Speaker 1: this young woman who leaves her simple life in Canada

Speaker 1: for the glitz and glamour of California, only to be

Speaker 1: murdered in two years time. But you know, let's tell

Speaker 1: it from the guy's point of view, as if we

Speaker 1: don't have enough movies about male violence and male sexual pathology,

Speaker 1: as if Raging Bull hadn't just come out a few

Speaker 1: years prior, and The Shining too. I just wonder what

Speaker 1: this movie would have been like had Dorothy actually been

Speaker 1: the main character, or if a female director had made this.

Speaker 1: But you know, it's nineteen eighty three. Hollywood was not

Speaker 1: that enlightened. Yet it still isn't. In twenty twenty six,

Speaker 1: Vulture just released this list of the most the one

Speaker 1: hundred most powerful directors in Hollywood one hundred directors. There

Speaker 1: are nine women on this list, okay nine out of

Speaker 1: one hundred. There are only two in the top ten.

Speaker 1: So yeah. I say all this not to say that

Speaker 1: this film is not well made, because again, it is

Speaker 1: made incredibly well. I said it earlier and I'll say

Speaker 1: it again, it's the best made dirty movie I've ever seen.

Speaker 1: It's the best made unlikable movie I've ever seen. Maybe

Speaker 1: that's a better way to put it. It's shot by

Speaker 1: Sven Nykvist, who was mar Bergmann's longtime cinematographer and he

Speaker 1: also worked with Bergmann and seventeen year old girl enthusiast

Speaker 1: Woody Allen. It's edited by Alan him who want to

Speaker 1: Oscar for all that jazz. It's cut together in this

Speaker 1: non linear fashion. It goes back and forth from the

Speaker 1: present to the past. At times it feels like a docudrama.

Speaker 1: You have these interstitial scenes of characters being interviewed by

Speaker 1: a nameless, faceless entity. You do hear them at some

Speaker 1: point asking questions. That's a TV show host or it's

Speaker 1: a cop. But it gives this movie a raw, real feeling,

Speaker 1: a feeling that's heightened by all the sweat. Like Eric

Speaker 1: Roberts is like pump and iron in his bedroom. Justin

Speaker 1: is junk in the mirror. You know, there's the wet

Speaker 1: T shirt contest at the club, the strippers, and the

Speaker 1: Playboy mansion, and then there's the score, which is so

Speaker 1: upbeat and it seems to reflect Paul's interiority. He's this

Speaker 1: guy in the come up. He's this entrepreneur who's making

Speaker 1: big moves, he's making things happen, but he feels like

Speaker 1: scorn ay at every step, like people are out to

Speaker 1: get him, people are out to trip him up. This

Speaker 1: film has a level of slime and discomfort that is

Speaker 1: hard to watch, but at the same time, it's so

Speaker 1: watchable because it's made so well, and there are these

Speaker 1: great like match cuts, like there's a shot of Paul

Speaker 1: using a hammer to build a doghouse and then it

Speaker 1: cuts to a carpenter hammering a backdrop on a movie set.

Speaker 1: But the final ten minutes or so in particular are

Speaker 1: just really rough man just brutal. You know what's going,

Speaker 1: where it's going, You know the story first of all,

Speaker 1: and second of all, Foss has been broadcasting this carnage

Speaker 1: from the jump. You know, we've seen the blood on

Speaker 1: Paul's face from early on. But it's still so hard

Speaker 1: to sit through. I was actually trying to not watch

Speaker 1: it the last couple of minutes. It was just just

Speaker 1: so brutal. So I guess the question is, now, what

Speaker 1: do you do with a film like this ironically, perhaps

Speaker 1: I think of that old saying. You know, I read

Speaker 1: Playboy for the articles like what does one watched this

Speaker 1: movie for? What is one watched Taxi Driver for? I

Speaker 1: guess you could also ask. I think the difference for

Speaker 1: me is that this film exploits its female lead in

Speaker 1: a way that Taxi Driver does not. Bob Fossey wants

Speaker 1: to see maryel Hemingway naked. He wants to put her

Speaker 1: in as many skimpy outfits as he can. And I

Speaker 1: pose her in all these different ways and look at

Speaker 1: her and photograph her, just as Paul Schnyder did with

Speaker 1: Dorothy Stratton, just as Hugh Hefner did with Dorothy Stratton,

Speaker 1: and so on and so forth, and so recommending this

Speaker 1: movie is tough because it's not It's not like Yeah,

Speaker 1: for your next date night with your spouse, Fire up

Speaker 1: Star eighty. But it's it's expertly made. It's the work

Speaker 1: of an outeur, the under you know, the work of

Speaker 1: an underrated in my mind, at least, a filmmaker, the

Speaker 1: last film he'd ever make before he passed away a

Speaker 1: few years later. When this was released, the restep was mixed,

Speaker 1: to say the least, Eric Roberts later said that the

Speaker 1: industry didn't know how to react to it, that people

Speaker 1: were on the one hand, they were afraid to like

Speaker 1: it because it was critical of the industry, and on

Speaker 1: the other hand, they were afraid to hate it because

Speaker 1: it was so great, and it is great. It's the

Speaker 1: greatest film I don't think I can recommend, if that

Speaker 1: makes sense, A film that gets you thinking, and for me,

Speaker 1: my mind goes to a hypothetical, theoretical, metaphorical, potentially possible

Speaker 1: mixtape that we can make inspired by this movie. What's

Speaker 1: make one? Shall we? We're gonna do that right after this.

Speaker 1: Don't go anywhere, all right, guys, we are back in

Speaker 1: the screening room in Hollywood Land here talking about Star eighty,

Speaker 1: written and directed by Bob Fossey, starring marily Hemingway and

Speaker 1: Eric Roberts. In addition to the score I mentioned earlier,

Speaker 1: the oddly upbeat score, which I've just got to think

Speaker 1: is a reflection of Paul Snyder's mind, unless they were

Speaker 1: just completely tone deaf to this thing, because it's like

Speaker 1: it's just bopping and rolling alone, like dude, But doo

Speaker 1: doo doo dute to do, you know? While all this

Speaker 1: like horrible shit is starting to happen. There are some

Speaker 1: songs in this film. There's a band at a nightclub

Speaker 1: performing Billy Joel's Just the Way You Are. The lead

Speaker 1: singer looks like a combination of all the white guys

Speaker 1: and the blues brothers bands, you know, like Mister Fabulous

Speaker 1: and Bones Malone and all those guys. There's another Billy

Speaker 1: Joel needle Drop Big Shot Maybe I think It's Big Shot.

Speaker 1: And then Rod Stewart's do you Think I'm Sexy? Plays

Speaker 1: a couple of times while Eric Roberts is tooling around

Speaker 1: in his trans am. But I want to go deeper

Speaker 1: than all that, and I want to talk about a hypothetical, theoretical, metaphorical, potential,

Speaker 1: possible mixtape that we could make and which would be

Speaker 1: inspired by this film. First of all, I don't know

Speaker 1: about any songs about mustaches in general. Eric Roberts is

Speaker 1: rocking one of the greatest cinematic mustaches in this film.

Speaker 1: The mustache basically tells you everything you need to know

Speaker 1: about this guy, tells you the he's skeezy, but it

Speaker 1: also tells you that he is highly motivated and entrepreneurial.

Speaker 1: So in lieu of thinking about songs about mustaches. I

Speaker 1: want to just rattle off real quick here, guys, some

Speaker 1: mustache rock records that have guys with mustaches on the cover,

Speaker 1: which is a favorite topic of mine for some odd

Speaker 1: strange reason, because I'm fascinated with mustaches. I can't I

Speaker 1: can grow a beard like you read about, but when

Speaker 1: it comes to a mustache, it's just not happening. I

Speaker 1: think I have mustache envy. I think that must be

Speaker 1: what's happening. So just real quick here, this is some

Speaker 1: some notable notables here mustage rock. You got Frank Zappa

Speaker 1: on the cover of Apostrophe. You've got Freddie Mercury on

Speaker 1: the cover of Queen's Greatest Hits, Joe Walsh Underwater on

Speaker 1: the cover of But seriously, folks, George Harrison, what's that record?

Speaker 1: It's kind of has like a it's an up close

Speaker 1: shot of his face and it has sort of like

Speaker 1: a greenish hue to it. He's around nature somewhere. It'sty

Speaker 1: It's not thirty three and a third. Anyways, it's that record.

Speaker 1: Ike and Tina Turner the cover of Come Together. Ike,

Speaker 1: not Tina Prince's Dirty Mind. What a mustache Glenn Frye

Speaker 1: on the coked out insert for Hotel California. Get your

Speaker 1: copy of Hotel California if you have it on vinyl,

Speaker 1: and pull out the pull out poster in the middle.

Speaker 1: It's like if cocaine was an image. It's right there.

Speaker 1: James Taylor the cover of mud Slide. Slim Joe Jackson's

Speaker 1: mustache on the cover of I'm the Man, Kick Kreole

Speaker 1: on the Coconuts, Take your pick. John Bonham on the

Speaker 1: cover of led Zeppelin two. There you go, guys, there

Speaker 1: is some mustache rock recommendations for you right there, right

Speaker 1: off the top of my head. Let's make this mixtape though, Okay.

Speaker 1: The first song that's got to go on this. One

Speaker 1: of the best songs about obsession is a song called

Speaker 1: I Want You by Elvis Costello and the Attractions. This

Speaker 1: is from their nineteen eighty six album Blood and Chocolate,

Speaker 1: was actually one of two albums that Elvis put out

Speaker 1: that year. This was the same year of King of America,

Speaker 1: the album he made with t Bone Burnett. This was

Speaker 1: notably the last album with all of the Attractions for

Speaker 1: something like eight years, I think, until he put out

Speaker 1: Brutal youth in the mid nineties. His bass player Bruce

Speaker 1: Thomas just was not really a happy camper there for

Speaker 1: a while, and he needed a break. This also brought

Speaker 1: Nick Low back in the producer's chair. Elvis had made

Speaker 1: a number of records, not just t Bone Burnett, but

Speaker 1: he made some records with some pop producers there were

Speaker 1: sort of a hot commodity in the early eighties as well.

Speaker 1: I Want You is the album's only sing which is

Speaker 1: fucking crazy to me, because, first of all, the song

Speaker 1: is almost seven minutes long. It's six minutes and forty

Speaker 1: five seconds, and it's vibe can only be described as

Speaker 1: Paul Snyder esque. This is a guy who's obsessed with

Speaker 1: a woman. He's obsessed with what she does and who

Speaker 1: she sees, and how he wants her and how that

Speaker 1: desire scares him and scares her, and the soam builds

Speaker 1: and builds and builds over it's nearly seven minute run

Speaker 1: time until it reaches I mean, you're just kind of

Speaker 1: left wanting to know, or maybe not wanting to know,

Speaker 1: what happens to these people, because it just seems it's

Speaker 1: like it's like Star eighty itself. It seems like inevitable,

Speaker 1: and it's building towards something horrible that you know is coming.

Speaker 1: That's I Want You by Elvis Costello and the Attractions.

Speaker 1: All Right. The next song here on our hypothetical theoretical, metaphorical,

Speaker 1: potentially possible mixtape inspired by Star eighty is Star Star

Speaker 1: by the Rolling Stones off goats Head Soup, the nineteen

Speaker 1: seventy three follow up to one of the greatest albums

Speaker 1: of all time, Exile on Main Street. Goats Head Soup

Speaker 1: takes a lot of licks for being mid tier Stones,

Speaker 1: but I think it rules the first the first side

Speaker 1: and rules hard. Maybe the second side is not as strong,

Speaker 1: but it's really only gotten better for me as the

Speaker 1: years have gone on. I think it sounds incredible. It's

Speaker 1: produced by Jimmy Miller. I don't know how much he was.

Speaker 1: I know there's these stories about Jimmy Miller just being

Speaker 1: like out of it on drugs and not really doing

Speaker 1: much in the studio. So maybe it's produced more by

Speaker 1: by Mick and Keith than by Jimmy. But it sounds

Speaker 1: great like that the keyboard on Heartbreaker, man like, I

Speaker 1: don't think a keyboard's ever sound better than that, And

Speaker 1: I could have used the opening track from this record,

Speaker 1: Dancing with Mister D on this mixtape, since Dorothy Stratton

Speaker 1: quite literally dances with the devil Paul Schneyder in this film.

Speaker 1: But Star Star with it's recycled Chuck Berry riffage star Star,

Speaker 1: which is the name that the Stones could legally write

Speaker 1: on the album cover because Starstar is actually star Fucker,

Speaker 1: which Mick really drives home and that chorus You're a starfucker, starfucker, starfucker,

Speaker 1: starfucker star and Paul Snyder being the biggest starfucker of

Speaker 1: them all, you know, like he really wants to hang

Speaker 1: out with Telly Savalis in this movie in my Right.

Speaker 1: So Starstar by the Rolling Stones is going to go

Speaker 1: on this mixtape as well. All right, next song this

Speaker 1: is giving me like the score of Star eighty and

Speaker 1: how it is juxtaposed against the vibe and the movie vibes.

Speaker 1: This song is No Children by the Mountain Goats from

Speaker 1: their two thousand and two album Tallahassee, which is the

Speaker 1: album right before I became aware of John Darnell and

Speaker 1: the Mountain Goats. That would be two thousand and four's

Speaker 1: We Shall All Be Healed And then my Love of

Speaker 1: that band was solidified the next year with The Sunset Tree.

Speaker 1: But going back to Tallahassee to two thousand and two,

Speaker 1: No Children is like the antiest anti love song ever.

Speaker 1: It's a song that looks at codependency as like a toxin,

Speaker 1: a song that has I hope you die, I hope

Speaker 1: we both die in its refrain, and it's delivered in

Speaker 1: this up tempo, major chords, acoustic guitar and piano way.

Speaker 1: It's incredible. John Darnell has this Randy Newman quality to

Speaker 1: his songwriting. And I'm not talking about Randy Newman the

Speaker 1: film composer, but I'm talking about Randy Newman in his

Speaker 1: singer songwriter solo album mode, which is he's deadly as hell. Man.

Speaker 1: They both are. They're just they're like a dart that

Speaker 1: hits hard, dead center in the bulls eye. But John

Speaker 1: Darnell's song sound like one thing and they're about another.

Speaker 1: And unlike Randy Newman, he doesn't hide the darkness as much.

Speaker 1: It's kind of right out there in the open and

Speaker 1: in the light, and it's wild. And No Children is

Speaker 1: definitely example that if you've not heard this song No Children,

Speaker 1: you should check it out and then go listen to

Speaker 1: this Year, which is my favorite Mountain Goats song. I

Speaker 1: think Stephen Colbert shares that opinion with me. Next song here,

Speaker 1: speaking about toxins and about toxic things, we just got

Speaker 1: to get This is like the elephant in the room

Speaker 1: Britney Spears' song Toxic from her two thousand and three

Speaker 1: album in the Zone, and I'm just gonna go out

Speaker 1: here on the record guys and tell you this is

Speaker 1: my favorite Britney Spears song. I think because it sounds

Speaker 1: like she was having so much fun despite what was

Speaker 1: going on in her personal life at the time. I

Speaker 1: know that she was being controlled and manipulated and all that,

Speaker 1: but it sounds like she's just not taking herself so seriously.

Speaker 1: Like even a song like Baby Hit Me One More Time,

Speaker 1: it just sounds so self serious, and Toxic does not.

Speaker 1: Toxic just sounds loose, you know, loose without any pretense.

Speaker 1: And it's got the bond esque guitar, it's got the

Speaker 1: exotic strings. It's just, you know, it's just it fucking rules,

Speaker 1: all right, don't come at me about this Toxic by

Speaker 1: Britney Spears. It's going on the mix, all right. Next

Speaker 1: song here on our mixtape. Four Star eighty is the

Speaker 1: song Centerfold by Jay Giles Band from their nineteen eighty

Speaker 1: one album Freeze Frame. This is when the Jay Giles

Speaker 1: Band got their glow up, as it were, and went

Speaker 1: from a killer bar band to a pop sensation. I

Speaker 1: guess you could argue it happened in the record before

Speaker 1: this with Love Stinks. But this, of course is the

Speaker 1: classic song about the guy who's checking out a NUDI

Speaker 1: mag and he's shocked to see his high school crush.

Speaker 1: Is there his angel in the centerfold? Shockingly? I guess

Speaker 1: I didn't know this until today. This is Jay Giles

Speaker 1: Band's second to last album nineteen eighty one, and it's

Speaker 1: also their last album with Peter Wolf, which listen, I

Speaker 1: gotta get I gotta air this out here. Jay Giles

Speaker 1: Band used to trip me up, like the name, like, oh,

Speaker 1: Jay Giles, he must be the singer, right no, no, no, no,

Speaker 1: the singer is Peter Wolf. Oh okay, cool, So Jay

Speaker 1: Giles he must be like the harmonica play then right, no,

Speaker 1: no no, that's magic dick. Oh okay, Then who the

Speaker 1: fuck is Jay Else? He's the fucking guitar player? Like

Speaker 1: what the hell? Man Anyways, this song in Freeze Frame

Speaker 1: and Love stinks. They gave Young Zeth here the wrong

Speaker 1: impression about the Jay Giles Band, because you know, I

Speaker 1: don't want to be that guy. But their early shit rules.

Speaker 1: Their stuff from the seventies, back when Peter Wolf would

Speaker 1: say things in his songs like scramble my eggs, honey,

Speaker 1: just ask Jake's oldest kid and he knows what's up?

Speaker 1: All right, centerfold by the Jay Giles Band. All right,

Speaker 1: let's get one more song on here for this hypothetical, theoretical, metaphorical,

Speaker 1: potentially possible mixtape, and I'm gonna use here This song

Speaker 1: by Brian Adams called the Best was Yet to Come?

Speaker 1: Do you guys know about this? This is the closing

Speaker 1: track from his album Cuts Like a Knife back in

Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three. This is the record rate before Summer

Speaker 1: of sixty nine and the reckless album like Totally Blew

Speaker 1: Him Up. But this song was written for Dorothy Stratton.

Speaker 1: Brian Adams dedicated the song to her, Brian Adams fellow Canadian.

Speaker 1: My copy of that album, I just looked at it

Speaker 1: quickly to see if he wrote anything about Dorothy Stratton

Speaker 1: in the liner notes and he did not, but his

Speaker 1: fan club address at the time was in Vancouver, so

Speaker 1: I'm guessing he's a fellow Vancouver ing in what a

Speaker 1: Vancouver people call themselves. Do we have any Vancouver listeners

Speaker 1: out there? I know we've got a few. At least

Speaker 1: give me some inside baseball on Brian Adams and Dorothy

Speaker 1: Stratton and Michael Boubley and that great Jeff Buckley song

Speaker 1: and all that. If you've got some Vancouver dirt for me,

Speaker 1: hit me up and let me know. And if you've

Speaker 1: got any additions for this mixtape, songs about centerfolds and

Speaker 1: toxic masculinity and mustaches and the exploitation factory that is Hollywood,

Speaker 1: get at me six one seven nine oh six six

Speaker 1: six three eight. You can send me an email at

Speaker 1: Disgrace Lampod at gmail dot com. And while you're doing that,

Speaker 1: I'm gonna pause real quick, but stay put, all right.

Speaker 1: I'll be right back right after this. Okay, guys, it's

Speaker 1: doctor LUNDI back with you here in the screening room

Speaker 1: in Hollywood Lands, and it's just about time for me

Speaker 1: to get out of here. I'm curious, though, if you

Speaker 1: guys have seen Star eighty before. I've actually heard from

Speaker 1: a few of you already in preparation for this episode.

Speaker 1: A few of you have seen this before, one of

Speaker 1: which basically said, good luck. You don't know what you're

Speaker 1: in for, but you know, I don't know. That's again,

Speaker 1: this is like the best movie that I that I'm

Speaker 1: not sure I would recommend to anybody. I don't know,

Speaker 1: because you recommend it, and then people watching it are

Speaker 1: like this and you're into this shit, like you're kind

Speaker 1: of fucking weirdo like you you like watching this fucking

Speaker 1: toxic dude unravel and this woman exploited, and you just

Speaker 1: like watching Mario Hemingway naked. Like anyways, let me know,

Speaker 1: maybe maybe you watched this for the first time like

Speaker 1: I did this week, and you've got thoughts six one

Speaker 1: seven nine oh six six six three eight. You can call,

Speaker 1: leave a voicemail. You can just use your fingers and

Speaker 1: send me a text. Roger Ebert gave this four out

Speaker 1: of four stars when it came out. His bro Gene

Speaker 1: Siskel named it one of the ten best films of

Speaker 1: nineteen eighty and meanwhile, Pauline Cale despised it. She said

Speaker 1: it was about quote the degradation of everything and everybody unquote.

Speaker 1: She's not wrong, and neither is Roger Ebert ying and

Speaker 1: Yang Man. It's my take is like dead center in

Speaker 1: between Pauline Cale and Roger Ebert. I guess so again,

Speaker 1: let me know where you fall. Six one seven nine

Speaker 1: oh six six six three eight. We're going to do

Speaker 1: this again next week, next Friday here in the screening room.

Speaker 1: We're going to talk about I actually don't know yet.

Speaker 1: I'm debating between a few. It's going to involve Robin Williams, though,

Speaker 1: I know that because that's who we are featuring in

Speaker 1: our archives slot on Monday. That'll be our fully scripted

Speaker 1: and sound design episode on Robin Williams, coming at you

Speaker 1: right here in this feed on Monday. Robin Williams, who

Speaker 1: passed away on August eleventh, which August eleventh, which is

Speaker 1: a few days ago, back in twenty fourteen. It's been

Speaker 1: twelve years now, which seems crazy to me. Twelve years

Speaker 1: without Robin Williams. Maybe that's why the world is so

Speaker 1: messed up these days because Robin William's not here. And

Speaker 1: then again on Tuesday, in our sisters show Disgraceland, our

Speaker 1: episode on the Alman Brothers and how they got mixed

Speaker 1: up with the so called Dixie Mafia. This was a

Speaker 1: previously exclusive episode for Disgraceland All Access members, which is

Speaker 1: the thing we used to do, and we've been gradually

Speaker 1: releasing these previously exclusive episodes into the wild as it were.

Speaker 1: So don't miss that episode on The Alman Brothers on

Speaker 1: Tuesday in Disgraceland. And speaking of all Access, disgrace Land

Speaker 1: All Access members over on Patreon not only get ad

Speaker 1: free listening of all Hollywood Land and Disgracelane episodes, but

Speaker 1: they also get to check out our monthly video podcast,

Speaker 1: This film should be Played Loud. This is co hosted

Speaker 1: by Yours Truly and Jake Brennan. It's all about the

Speaker 1: greatest music from some of our favorite movies, movies like

Speaker 1: Do the Right Thing, Goodfellas, High Fidelity, The Big Lebowski,

Speaker 1: Train Spotting, Boogie Nights. Those are but some of the

Speaker 1: episodes we have in the can already there for you

Speaker 1: on Patreon you can watch rate now. We have a

Speaker 1: brand new episode coming out on Liquorice Pizza in less

Speaker 1: than two weeks. We've got much more in the works.

Speaker 1: We're really having a good time with the show and

Speaker 1: I want to thank everyone who is a member of

Speaker 1: Disgrace Land All Access on Patreon for supporting us and

Speaker 1: for supporting the show. If you guys aren't a member yet,

Speaker 1: check it out Disgrace lampod dot com right there on

Speaker 1: the homepage there's more info. There's a link for you

Speaker 1: to sign up. You can do a free trial right now.

Speaker 1: We're running a promo too that if you subscribe as

Speaker 1: a sound in Fury Tier member the sound in Fury

Speaker 1: Tier there's a couple of tears. Is the video tier

Speaker 1: in which you can get this film should be played loud.

Speaker 1: You can get like a twenty percent discount. I think

Speaker 1: off a monthly or an annual subscription right now, but

Speaker 1: that's only lasting until the end of the month basically,

Speaker 1: so you get to how are you gonna do that soon?

Speaker 1: All right? I hope you guys have a terrific weekend

Speaker 1: lined up. Maybe there's a movie in your future. Against

Speaker 1: my better judgment, I do want to go see the

Speaker 1: Spider Man movie in the theater. I just have a

Speaker 1: thing with Spider Man. It's just been you know, he's

Speaker 1: been my guy for a long time. I love John Barenthal,

Speaker 1: and I want to check this out, So anyways, that

Speaker 1: might be my future this weekend. I hope you guys

Speaker 1: have something cool lined up. If you see something cool,

Speaker 1: if you see something, say something, tell me about it

Speaker 1: six one seven nine oh six sixty six three eight

Speaker 1: and let me know him. Perhaps I will play read

Speaker 1: your message on the Wrap party next week. Until then, though,

Speaker 1: I'm going to leave you guys here with this. This

Speaker 1: is what America was watching at the movies in November

Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three, the month that Star eighty was released

Speaker 1: in theaters. Number one, Never Say Never Again, directed by

Speaker 1: Irvin Kirshner. Number two, The Big Chill directed by Lawrence Ksten.

Speaker 1: Number three Richard Pryor Here and Now directed by Richard.

Speaker 1: Number five, Christmas number four, All the Right Movies By

Speaker 1: directed by Michael Chapman. Number six, Number five direct Deal

Speaker 1: the Century directed by William free Kiss. Number six, The

Speaker 1: Dead Zone directed by David Crone. Number seven, Christmas Story

Speaker 1: directed by Paul k Quit Talking and Start Mixing,