I remember years ago one day at my grandmother's and aunts house watching this TV movie one day on a snow day being off from school I believe many many years ago on TBS, and I just recently watched it again on DVD and it's a pretty good TV movie. Made in 1981 it tells the rise and fall of the late 1970's early 1980's model turned playmate Dorothy Stratten and it's rightfully called "Death of a Centerfold" The Stratten Story as this young woman would meet a violent end. The film starts in Victoria British Columbia with a young Dorothy Stratten(in a young and sexy performance from Jamie Lee Curtis)who works in a local ice creme shop and lives with her aunt. And all of a sudden it all changes for her when one day a con man and wheel dealer named Paul Snider enters the shop and offers her a deal to model. And this would put Dorothy on a path of fame and fortune out to L.A. for a rich life to live and later Stratten becomes "Playboy's Playmate of the Month". Only sadly all of this is taken away in a fit of brutal jealous rage from Paul as even his sense of obligation of marrying Dorothy was not enough for Paul. As if Paul(Bruce Weitz) couldn't have her and enjoy Dorothy's success then nobody else could either! Overall this TV film is a tragedy of a life cut short showing that fame can come with a price.

Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story (1981)** 1/2 (out of 4) Decent made-for-TV drama shows Dorothy Stratten (Jamie Lee Curtis) going from a small town waitress to the Playmate of the Year. Stratten, a natural beauty, begins her career thanks in large part to a con man (Bruce Weitz) that she meets. He manages to get her into the pages of Playboy and soon he becomes more and more possessive of the young woman. Feeling she owes him something, Dorothy agrees to marry him but things take a turn for the worse.DEATH OF A CENTERFOLD certainly isn't an award-winner as it's held up by a lot of things that usually hold these types of movies back. If you're unfamiliar with the story then this here is a decent introduction to the events but there's no question that more could have been done with Stratten's story.I think the strongest thing going for the film are some of the performances with Weitz easily stealing the picture as the controlling husband. I really thought the actor nailed every aspect of the role from the more charming moments to the ones where he slowly begins to break in regards to how much madness he can present. There are a few scenes where you pretty much see him go from hot to cool back to hot within the matter of seconds and I thought the actor pulled it off extremely well. Robert Reed also stands out in his role as a producer who takes Stratten in towards the end of her life. Mitchell Ryan is also good in his role as Hugh Hefner. As for Curtis, I thought she wasn't that strong in the lead but she manages to have a few nice moments including the final portion of the film. I thought she handled the finale quite well.Most of the flaws are typical of this type of made-for-TV movie. There's certainly no great demand for high-art so you can't expect too much drama or well-made moments. Instead of a complete story we're pretty much given the highlights of the story and of course there are the over-dramatic moments of Stratten's aunt "fearing" for the safety of her. Another weak aspect is that the direction really just doesn't stand out or create anything that we haven't seen before. Even by 1981 the type of film showing women abused were pretty much done to death and this one here doesn't do anything fresh or original with it.DEATH OF A CENTERFOLD pretty much set out to be the first movie on the market dealing with a subject that made a lot of headlines. This film was on television barely a year after Stratten was murdered so the producers at least got the film noticed while the headlines were still hot. With that said, there's certainly nothing awful about the film even though it falls well short of being anything special.

I have to say that this version is interesting, with the casting of Jamie Lee Curtis (the "Scream Queen"), one of my favorite actresses as Dorothy, although she doesn't bear much of a resemblance. Although I think that Bob Fosse's "STAR 80" is better, this version has something good going for it - the inner strength that Dorothy discovers, but she is still unable to save herself. (Maybe the fact that a woman directed it had some influence). Bruce Weitz is overbearing as Snider, but he seems a bit too old. Remember, Paul Snider was 29 when he died. This film's version of events leading up to the crime doesn't quite feel right, but no matter. It's a cut above a lot of other TV movies. But if you want something closer to the real story, watch "STAR 80". This one will do, though.

This was not only the first I'd heard about the whole Dorothy Stratten story (I was a young teen when this movie first came out), and it was also the first time I'd seen Jamie Lee Curtis in any movie (somehow I avoided seeing "Hallowe'en" until the late 'Eighties).It's a biopic about Playboy centerfold Dorothy Stratten, from her life in small town ... Washington? Oregon? ... to her rise to fame as a nude model, and her turbulent relationship with her psychotic husband. They divorced, she tried to keep away from him; her husband finally killed her and committed suicide.I seem to remember that the movie was very engaging; maybe it's just that I thought JLC was a hottie. Anyway, I thought it was really well-acted and pretty straightforward; looking back on it now, I can see that it wasn't too horribly sensationalized, an aspect of another biopic of her ("Star 80") that really turned me off.