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The Star Maker

 The Star Maker
type
TVTItem
 The Star Maker
label
The Star Maker
 The Star Maker
page
TheStarMaker
 The Star Maker
comment
The Star Maker (L'uomo delle stelle) is a 1995 film from Italy directed by Giuseppe Tornatore.Joe Morelli is a talent scout for an Italian film studio. At a date which seems to be the early 1950s (the production of 1951 film Quo Vadis is mentioned), Morelli is criscrossing Sicily, looking for fresh new faces for the movies. He stops in small towns that were already poor before the war and are even poorer now, giving screen tests with the camera he carries in the back of his truck. Anyone who wants to try out can memorize a few lines from Gone with the Wind and get a chance at stardom—for the low, low price of 3000 lira (Joe has to get the film negative developed, after all).Joe is, of course, a con man. There isn't even any film in his camera, which is eventually revealed to be stolen. But the desperately poor people of Sicily flock to him anyway, including Beata, a heartbreakingly gorgeous teenager who thinks Joe will make her dreams come true.
 The Star Maker
fetched
2023-06-29T04:27:54Z
 The Star Maker
parsed
2023-06-29T04:27:54Z
 The Star Maker
processingComment
Dropped link to CallBack: Not a Feature - ITEM
 The Star Maker
processingComment
Dropped link to TheMafia: Not a Feature - ITEM
 The Star Maker
isPartOf
DBTropes
 The Star Maker / int_1bbb76bc
type
Abandoned Area
 The Star Maker / int_1bbb76bc
comment
Abandoned Area: The rich lady and her husband give Joe a lift and take him to a deserted, bombed-out ruin of a town. The lady says that her husband is a prince and the whole town used to be his. They are lying and they routinely use bombed-out towns as the backdrops for their cons.
 The Star Maker / int_1bbb76bc
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_1bbb76bc
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_1bbb76bc
 The Star Maker / int_28e79337
type
Stepping Out for a Quick Cup of Coffee
 The Star Maker / int_28e79337
comment
Stepping Out for a Quick Cup of Coffee: Joe is being taken to jail by Marshal Mastropaolo when their car is stopped by the Mafiosi, who want revenge on Joe. After realizing that there's no way to get out of it, the marshal suggests to the detective with him that it might be good if they strolled over to the inn they just passed and get some coffee. Joe takes a brutal beating.
 The Star Maker / int_28e79337
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_28e79337
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_28e79337
 The Star Maker / int_311bcac6
type
Beard of Sorrow
 The Star Maker / int_311bcac6
comment
Beard of Sorrow: Joe has a beard after he's released following two years in jail.
 The Star Maker / int_311bcac6
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_311bcac6
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_311bcac6
 The Star Maker / int_319e4a2f
type
Even Evil Has Standards
 The Star Maker / int_319e4a2f
comment
Beata offers Joe this, saying that she'll service him sexually if only he will get her out of her backwater town and make her an actress. Even Evil Has Standards, though, and Joe refuses.
 The Star Maker / int_319e4a2f
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_319e4a2f
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_319e4a2f
 The Star Maker / int_3318a1cb
type
Distant Finale
 The Star Maker / int_3318a1cb
comment
Distant Finale: The denouement takes place two years later, after Joe is released following a stint in jail.
 The Star Maker / int_3318a1cb
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_3318a1cb
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_3318a1cb
 The Star Maker / int_3cf10fcf
type
*Click* Hello
 The Star Maker / int_3cf10fcf
comment
*Click* Hello: How Joe is greeted by three bandits, with a rifle stuck to the back of his head as he's taking a pee.
 The Star Maker / int_3cf10fcf
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_3cf10fcf
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_3cf10fcf
 The Star Maker / int_43a831db
type
Epic Tracking Shot
 The Star Maker / int_43a831db
comment
Epic Tracking Shot: A scene early in the film starts with a man getting a bath as he practices the lines from Gone With the Wind. The camera then goes on a three-minute tracking shot through the snaking streets of the town, into and out of the main square, into and out of a barbershop and other places, ending in another square where the old men are freely ad-libbing fanciful dialogue from the movie.
 The Star Maker / int_43a831db
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_43a831db
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_43a831db
 The Star Maker / int_466ccbb4
type
Gayngst
 The Star Maker / int_466ccbb4
comment
Gayngst: Joe notices that Vito, the man sitting in front of his camera, has put on lipstick for the screen test. Vito then pours out his soul, telling Joe how much it sucks to be a gay man in small-town 1950s Sicily. Later there's a call back when Joe meets Vito on the bus and Vito says that Joe gave him the courage to leave his village and go to the big city.
 The Star Maker / int_466ccbb4
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_466ccbb4
featureConfidence
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 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_466ccbb4
 The Star Maker / int_4e3d253b
type
Downer Ending
 The Star Maker / int_4e3d253b
comment
Downer Ending: Joe is released after a two-year prison term, and is absolutely penniless, with his truck but with absolutely nothing else. Worse, he learns that Beata went insane. He tracks her to an asylum and finds that she is locked in a permanent Thousand-Yard Stare, unable to recognize him, believing that her Joe is dead.
 The Star Maker / int_4e3d253b
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_4e3d253b
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_4e3d253b
 The Star Maker / int_4fa3a61f
type
The Barnum
 The Star Maker / int_4fa3a61f
comment
The Barnum: Joe, who tools around Sicily in his truck, convincing the desperate, gullible poor people of the countryside that he is a talent scout who will make them movie stars. Later, Joe gets his comeuppance when he is conned by a well-dressed couple claiming to be an Impoverished Patrician and his wife. They steal all the money that Joe has bilked from his customers.
 The Star Maker / int_4fa3a61f
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_4fa3a61f
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_4fa3a61f
 The Star Maker / int_5dd7c88e
type
Nature Adores a Virgin
 The Star Maker / int_5dd7c88e
comment
A mother wants Joe to give her daughter Anna a screen test, but she has no money to pay him, so she has sex with him instead. It gets even darker when the mom says that if Joe can get Anna a movie contract, "I'll let you be her first."
 The Star Maker / int_5dd7c88e
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_5dd7c88e
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_5dd7c88e
 The Star Maker / int_7a0374eb
type
Impoverished Patrician
 The Star Maker / int_7a0374eb
comment
Later, Joe gets his comeuppance when he is conned by a well-dressed couple claiming to be an Impoverished Patrician and his wife. They steal all the money that Joe has bilked from his customers.
 The Star Maker / int_7a0374eb
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_7a0374eb
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_7a0374eb
 The Star Maker / int_823c6e3e
type
Large Ham
 The Star Maker / int_823c6e3e
comment
Large Ham: Several of Joe's victims. Brigadiere Mastropaolo, the cop who dreams of stardom and claims to have translated Othello into Italian, gives a particularly hammy recitation of some lines from Dante's Inferno.
 The Star Maker / int_823c6e3e
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_823c6e3e
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_823c6e3e
 The Star Maker / int_8591611a
type
Shameful Strip
 The Star Maker / int_8591611a
comment
Shameful Strip: Beata has to pull her dress up and let the gross tax man see her naked so she can get the money for Joe's screen test. She later tells Joe that it's not the first time she's done it.
 The Star Maker / int_8591611a
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_8591611a
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_8591611a
 The Star Maker / int_8797239c
type
Bait-and-Switch
 The Star Maker / int_8797239c
comment
Bait-and-Switch: The first shot of the film has a nervous young man being brusquely ordered to turn his head for a left profile and a right profile, then a full facial shot. Is he being booked after arrest? No, he then recites a dramatic monologue—he's doing a screen test for Joe.
 The Star Maker / int_8797239c
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_8797239c
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_8797239c
 The Star Maker / int_8ec0abf
type
The Voiceless
 The Star Maker / int_8ec0abf
comment
The Voiceless: Joe gives a screen test to a Shell-Shocked Veteran who has not spoken for over a decade, since he came home after fighting for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. The man struggles to get words out, then delivers a patriotic poem, in Spanish, about his old regiment.
 The Star Maker / int_8ec0abf
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_8ec0abf
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_8ec0abf
 The Star Maker / int_94b3e515
type
Cock-a-Doodle Dawn
 The Star Maker / int_94b3e515
comment
Cock-a-Doodle Dawn: How does the audience know that Joe stayed up all night playing poker? Because it's light outside and a crowing rooster can be heard.
 The Star Maker / int_94b3e515
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_94b3e515
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_94b3e515
 The Star Maker / int_9597a894
type
Sexual Euphemism
 The Star Maker / int_9597a894
comment
Sexual Euphemism: Beata is desperate to go away with Joe. Offering him all sorts of sexual services, she says "I'll draw your milk" and reaches for his crotch. Joe refuses.
 The Star Maker / int_9597a894
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_9597a894
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_9597a894
 The Star Maker / int_a0797fb3
type
Stunned Silence
 The Star Maker / int_a0797fb3
comment
Stunned Silence: A public square in a small town is filled with bustle and noise, even as Joe, using the megaphone on his truck, promises them a chance at fame and riches. When he says that movie stars make "a hundred million" (lira) a year, the square goes silent as everyone turns to look at him.
 The Star Maker / int_a0797fb3
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_a0797fb3
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_a0797fb3
 The Star Maker / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 The Star Maker / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out Joe gives his marks lines from Gone With the Wind to memorize for their screen tests. Joe claims to have an autographed photo from Vittorio De Sica. He also claims to have worked on the film La Terra Trema.
 The Star Maker / int_c75df49a
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_c75df49a
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_c75df49a
 The Star Maker / int_ccfc0535
type
Letting Her Hair Down
 The Star Maker / int_ccfc0535
comment
Letting Her Hair Down: Joe can already tell that Beata is gorgeous but he is really bowled over when he unpins her hair, prior to her screen test, and her long locks fall down.
 The Star Maker / int_ccfc0535
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_ccfc0535
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_ccfc0535
 The Star Maker / int_d3d94018
type
Girls with Moustaches
 The Star Maker / int_d3d94018
comment
Girls with Moustaches: Beata is introduced shaving the upper lip of an elderly nun. Her life is not a happy one.
 The Star Maker / int_d3d94018
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_d3d94018
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_d3d94018
 The Star Maker / int_d45c0b86
type
Refuge in Audacity
 The Star Maker / int_d45c0b86
comment
Refuge in Audacity: Joe is ambushed by three bandits, the Badalamentis, who demand his money and his stuff. Not only does he talk his way out of it by giving them screen tests, he manages to get them to pay him 1500 lira!
 The Star Maker / int_d45c0b86
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_d45c0b86
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_d45c0b86
 The Star Maker / int_d80e9526
type
Sex for Services
 The Star Maker / int_d80e9526
comment
Sex for Services: A mother wants Joe to give her daughter Anna a screen test, but she has no money to pay him, so she has sex with him instead. It gets even darker when the mom says that if Joe can get Anna a movie contract, "I'll let you be her first." Beata offers Joe this, saying that she'll service him sexually if only he will get her out of her backwater town and make her an actress. Even Evil Has Standards, though, and Joe refuses.
 The Star Maker / int_d80e9526
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_d80e9526
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_d80e9526
 The Star Maker / int_dcbe8a6e
type
Chekhov's Gunman
 The Star Maker / int_dcbe8a6e
comment
Chekhov's Gunman: Brigadiere Mastropaolo, the policeman who stops Joe on the road and at first seems to be suspicious, but then asks for a screen test. Near the end of the film Mastropaolo, who has been promoted to Marshal, pops up again, and arrests Joe for fraud.
 The Star Maker / int_dcbe8a6e
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_dcbe8a6e
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_dcbe8a6e
 The Star Maker / int_e73f6217
type
Feet-First Introduction
 The Star Maker / int_e73f6217
comment
Feet-First Introduction: Fancy high-heeled shoes as Joe is under his car trying to fix it introduce the princess, who offers to give Joe a lift and tow his car. She's a con artist.
 The Star Maker / int_e73f6217
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_e73f6217
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_e73f6217
 The Star Maker / int_f19e8a55
type
Bad "Bad Acting"
 The Star Maker / int_f19e8a55
comment
Bad "Bad Acting": Many examples of professional actors playing characters who are bad actors giving hammy performances.
 The Star Maker / int_f19e8a55
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_f19e8a55
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_f19e8a55
 The Star Maker / int_f75cf3bd
type
Terrible Interviewees Montage
 The Star Maker / int_f75cf3bd
comment
Terrible Interviewees Montage: One scene is a montage of all the locals doing Joe's screen tests. A couple of farm boys confuse left and right when Joe asks for their profiles. A man takes his moment in front of the camera to deliver a fascist speech, and gets booed by the onlookers. Another man uses his moment in front of the camera to brag about how good he is in bed.
 The Star Maker / int_f75cf3bd
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_f75cf3bd
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
The Star Maker / int_f75cf3bd
 The Star Maker / int_name
type
ItemName
 The Star Maker / int_name
comment
 The Star Maker / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Star Maker / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Star Maker
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The Star Maker / int_name
 The Star Maker / int_name
itemName
The Star Maker

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The Star Maker
hasFeature
Films of 1995–1999 / int_c832a81b
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
Sexual Euphemism / int_c832a81b
 The Star Maker
hasFeature
Stepping Out for a Quick Cup of Coffee / int_c832a81b