Davis earned an Oscar nomination for her performance (she lost to Shirley Booth for her work in COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA) in this tough and relentless indictment of Hollywood. However, THE STAR was far too "inside" to spark much interest outside the movie business, so this independently
made picture did poorly at the box office. Davis plays a one-time Oscar-winning actress who has fallen from favor. Having not worked for many years, she is out of money and desperate. When she approaches her erstwhile agent, Anderson, for a loan, he refuses. Davis is forced to sell her personal
belongings at a public auction to pay off her debts. For the last few years, she has helped support her sister, Baker, and Baker's husband, Alpert, and when the greedy couple discover that Davis has no cash for them, they exit quickly. Davis' heartless landlady (Riehl) then threatens to evict the
former star if she doesn't come up with the rent pronto. With the few dollars Davis has in her purse, she buys a bottle of hooch, grabs her Oscar, and gets into her car, ending up arrested for drunk driving. When this news hits the local press, no one comes to her aid at first, then Hayden shows
up. A former actor who once costarred with Davis, Hayden has given up the silver screen and now owns a successful boatyard. He has loved Davis for years, but because she was such a huge star he was afraid to tell her how he really felt. Davis' life is further complicated by her separation from her
daughter, Wood, who lives with Davis' ex-husband and his wife. Although there is no light visible at the end of the tunnel, Davis tells Wood that she is close to getting another acting job and that the money from that assignment will allow them to be together again. Finally, Hayden musters up the
courage to declare his love for Davis and to suggest that it's time she stop thinking of herself as a star. But she refuses to change her life and takes a job as a sales clerk in a department store, intending to wait out the bad publicity she's received due to her arrest and make her "comeback."
Two customers in the store immediately recognize her and begin making comments. When Davis responds by telling them off, she is sacked for her outburst. Returning to Anderson, Davis pleads with him to get her a screen test for a lead role in a movie that is being produced by Watson. Anderson
approaches Watson, who knows that Davis is far too old for the part she wants, but he recalls all of her great work and asks her to test for a small supporting role. Overjoyed, Davis plans to test for the older woman's role but to play it sexily and thus impress Watson enough to give her the role
of the ingenue. However, her screen test is a fiasco. When Davis sees the test and her almost grotesque appearance, she finally realizes that her salad days are over. Tears well up in her mascaraed eyes and she races out of the screening room to Anderson's home, where his wife, Travis, gives her
solace. Davis sleeps for a while, then awakens when she hears a party taking place. Joining the revelers, she begins talking with a young producer who tells her that he has a new project that she might be right for. It's the story of a fading actress and closely resembles her own life. Suddenly,
Davis understands that although she is an actress, she also has a life and that there is more to it than striving for fame. Leaving the party, she goes to collect Wood, then drives to the marina, where Hayden welcomes Davis when she tells him that she is finished being a star and wants the love of
a good man and the right to live her life in peace.
THE STAR would have been a much better film if all its loose ends had been gathered. As it is, the ending is too curt and too convenient to bring the tale to a close with a ring of truth. The young woman who gets the starring role in Watson's movie is Barbara Lawrence, who plays herself, and to
whom the studio had given a huge hype. In fact, Lawrence becomes THE STAR's version of Beckett's Godot, in that much of the film is taken up with the anticipation of her appearance. leave a comment
