The Star Maker

Haven't seen this since it was first shown, but have been looking for it ever since. This is twenty years old now and made for TV, but seemed ahead of itself at the time. Beautiful people, beautiful scenery, enjoyable story - this is Must See TV. Teri Copley is gorgeous! Look for it.

In this 2-part tv-movie, The Star Maker, Rock Hudson stars as the title character and a symbol of all that makes Hollywood great. He's a director, coach, mentor, talent scout, and publicity agent all in one. He finds women who are nobodies and turns them into superstars. In the process he falls in love with them, but as soon as she's larger-than-life and doesn't need him anymore, he moves on to his next creation.

At the start, Rock has Suzanne Pleshette on his arm. While at an after-party for her latest hit premiere, Rock sees Melanie Griffith crying alone in another room. He comforts her, he sees a spark in her eyes, and decides to make her a star. She needs a lot of work, and she has a lot of personal problems, so while Suzanne is on location for her next movie, he gets consumed. If you're not a Melanie Griffith fan, fear not. Rock's pattern doesn't stop with two women, and as the movie continues, many other girls vie for his signature attention.

On the surface, this movie is a big fluff piece full of beautiful women and soap opera-ish affairs. But if you like to watch movies about how movies are made, you'll like this one. Rock's character is a total pro, and while you might wonder why he pushes so hard to make these women successful, he gets results. When Melanie is nervous about her upcoming nude scene, Rock starts humming the stereotypical stripper theme and takes off his jacket. He orders every crew member to take off their clothes to make the new star more comfortable. It turns out to be the scene that makes her a star.

"On stage, you act. On film, you think." Rock says the camera is an actor's biggest critic and won't be able to hide anything. "If you lie to it or get lazy, you'll make a 35-foot fool out of yourself in front of millions of people." It's a great speech, and it's a warning for anyone who wants to be a movie star. It's not all champagne brunches and after-parties. It takes a lot of work, and sometimes it takes even more work to create a star than to become a star. To find out why, rent The Star Maker.

As scary as that sounds watching is even scarier. The story attempts to squeeze out as much T&A as possible but not even a hormone raging 13 year old could sit through this gem. Most of the acting is rote and uninspired, the director can't get enough mirror shots in, poor stock footage of Rome is followed by palatial estates looking over the San Fernando Valley and poor Rock's attempts at virile heterosexuality fall way limp. I can enjoy movies for their train wreck fascination but this is too gory. The single exception is Suzanne Pleshette who gives her usual natural performance, in even greater contrast with the stilted (and, to be fair, that's to be expected here) performances given around her. The characters are cliches, from the New York cabbie in L.A. to the brainless blonde, the scheming backstage mother to the bimbo stripper; and of course everyone wants to be in the movies. The greatest interest for me though is the four 10 out of 10 votes this thing garnered (50% of the vote!) while the next four are in the 4 range. The plot does thicken when you least expect it to... 2 thumbs?

I haven't done a review in years, but I saw this movie on YouTube. It's campy and cheesy, but it worked for me. The script is weak, but luckily, Hudson worked well with the women involved so that really helped, given the storyline! I really enjoyed Hudson in it. I bet he wasn't thrilled with the script, but he always committed to any role that he did. He was committed to the Danny character and had great chemistry with Melanie Griffith. I believed their relationship and loved the interactions between the two. I forgot how good of an actress Grffith is. She and Hudson carry the film. Susanne Pleshette looked beautiful, but her character is very under-developed and poorly written. She literally did the best with what she had. The ladies who played the mother and daughter were the weakest line. They had NO chemistry whatsoever. They were poorly cast. I think the daughter was chosen based on her looks. I would have given the movie a 7 if it wasn't for them. All and all, if you loved Rock and Melanie, The Star Maker, is a hidden gem.