movie review broken star

Review: Broken Star

A solidly constructed riff on the kind of paranoid, B-movie thrillers that Alfred Hitchcock and Brian De Palma are best remembered for, first time feature director Dave Schwep and screenwriter David Brant’s Broken Star doesn’t reinvent or subvert genre conventions in any way, but it’s fine enough for what it is. Boasting standout performances from leading actors that have been cast somewhat against type, Broken Star balances psychologically interesting material with borderline sleazy tendencies to good effect. Like many decent, if unexceptional thrillers in the same vein, it’s easier to describe this as “effective” than “excellent.” Broken Star steals from the best, contains enough novel twists to remain interesting, and never wears out its welcome by straining the viewer’s suspension of disbelief to the point of snapping.

Markey Marlowe (Analeigh Tipton) is a fame addicted, TMZ ready starlet who believes that any attention is good attention. But following a dispute with her demanding mother (Lauren Bowles) and fame hungry younger sister (Addyson Bell), Markey is sentenced to house arrest stemming from assault and drug possession charges. To get her out of the public eye for a bit, Markey’s personal assistant and only true friend (Monique Coleman) gets the budding trainwreck a secluded place to serve out her sentence. It’s an attached home with no landline, no internet, almost nothing to read, and a barely functioning television. Living next door to her is Daryl (Tyler Labine), her landlord; a reclusive type that keeps himself since the death of his grandmother, who lived in Markey’s current dwelling. Seeking any sort of attention that she can find, Markey strikes up an uneasy friendship and understanding with Daryl. She finds the attention she craves from Daryl, but when she discovers her landlord’s secret fetish for celebrity culture, she also finds a way to potentially manipulate him into exacting revenge on her enemies.

Broken Star plays out like what might have happened if Norman Bates and Marion Crane somehow found common ground and decided to team up in their criminal endeavours, and Schwep and Brant wear their cinematic inspirations proudly on their sleeves. Every frame of Broken Star is so deeply indebted to Hitchcock and his modernist successor Brian De Palma that it tap dances on the line between homage and plagiarism. Schwep (who has a background in cinematography) has seemingly never met a voyeuristic appearing camera shot that he didn’t adore, often shooting from wide angles, backseats, or seemingly impossible vantage points. When she’s feeling lonely, Markey will don a platinum blonde wig and sun herself on the lawn. In the absence of external stimuli, Markey will turn mirrors on herself to feel less alone while she sleeps. Daryl’s home is full of surveillance equipment, including a decidedly Rear Window -esque telescope. None of this is original, and Schwep and Brant deserve some credit for not trying to be precious or obtuse about whom they’re cribbing from. These visual and narrative nods would only be opaque to anyone who hasn’t seen a Hitchcock film before, so Broken Star doubles down on embracing its own B-movie roots.

There’s also a great amount of patience in Schwep and Brant’s storytelling. Broken Star boasts a lot of casual character development before setting its actual throughline into motion. Markey’s plan to manipulate and use Daryl doesn’t take shape until around the halfway point. It’s a smart move, since neither character is exactly endearing or likable, and their plans are pretty straightforward and less than complex. Even if the viewer doesn’t like following these people, Broken Star makes it a point to formulate a considerable amount of interest in what they’re going to do next. It’s another assuredly Hitchcockian/De Palmian thing to do, but when so many lesser films have attempted similar riffs and botched even a simple trip from point A to point B, there’s something about Broken Star that strikes as novel and welcome. This kind of material, tone, and technicality has been handled far worse in the past, which makes it hard to knock Schwep’s straightforward approach.

The main reasons to watch, however, are Tipton and Labine, who play exceptionally well off each other and are clearly giving their all to roles that neither performer is often granted. Tipton has the showier part playing a woman who doesn’t know how to stop being a character and start acting like herself. It’s a difficult role to play because she’ll often have to bounce around between being a fame seeking phony and an honestly frightened, confused, and angry young woman. It’s always fascinating to watch where Tipton takes the character. Meanwhile, the usually comically cast Labine sinks his teeth into Daryl’s social awkwardness and gruff demeanor, balancing the character’s initially innocuous nature with a sense of impending danger. I’m sure Labine studied Anthony Perkins for his performance here, but his work in Broken Star certainly showcases another skill set for the actor that often goes unseen. Even when the film around them is like staring at a boilerplate, they’re always able to elevate the material.

I suppose it’s a demerit that outside of some easily taken potshots at modern celebrity culture, Broken Star never does much to set itself apart from a litany of other similarly themed and indebted, character driven thrillers. It’s not exactly a film that aims for the middle, since making a thriller in this vein and tenor comes with a high degree of difficulty. Broken Star feels every bit like a debut feature, especially in how it unabashedly leans into every genre defining convention that came before it. It’s taking liberally from difficult, ambitious filmmakers, but the film itself isn’t exactly ambitious or difficult. It’s a film so rigidly set on getting the mood and tone just-so-right that there’s little room for experimentation. And yet, Schwep and company do everything they can to make their variation on these themes into something modestly enjoyable. One could argue that there are so many bad Hitchcock and De Palma rip-offs that the bar set for Broken Star is already as low as it can go. Still, clearing a bar is clearing a bar.

Broken Star opens in select Canadian cinemas and on VOD on Friday, July 20, 2018.

Check out the trailer for Broken Star :

Join our list

Subscribe to our mailing list and get weekly updates on our latest contests, interviews, and reviews.

Thank you for subscribing.

Something went wrong.

We respect your privacy and take protecting it seriously

Andrew Parker

Andrew Parker fell in love with film growing up across the street from a movie theatre. He began writing professionally about film at the age of fourteen, and has been following his passions ever since. His writing has been showcased at various online outlets, as well as in The Globe and Mail, BeatRoute, and NOW Magazine. If he's not watching something or reading something, he's probably sleeping.

You may also like

Monkey man review | too big of a..., the first omen review | devil in the..., the old oak review | ken loach sticks....

Great, but Alfred Hitchcock didn’t make B-Pictures. PSYCHO was made on a B-Picture budget but certainly was not distributed as such!

I see what you’re getting at, but I would disagree. While not EVERY Hitchcock movie was a B-movie, he definitely made more than his fair share. The Birds and Family Plot are unabashed B-movies, and I would argue that Psycho is assuredly in line with B-movie standards. I think the term “B-movie” has an unnecessarily bad reputation, and that people take it far too literally. A B-movie can be a masterpiece, as Psycho illustrates. Also, the marketing campaign for Psycho (the trailer with Hitchcock coming out and explaining the movie, theatre owners not allowing any latecomers) is straight up out of the B-movie marketing playbook.

I might sound dumb asking this, and I do have several ideas about this as well, but what is the ending exactly mean? Did she die and get what she wanted? Why did they get such a big actress stay in a home like this without security guards? Was it all just a dream?

Comments are closed.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Accept Read More

Film Review: ‘Broken Star’

An actress under house arrest develops a twisted relationship with her voyeuristic landlord in Dave Schwep’s wearisome thriller.

By Nick Schager

Nick Schager

Film Critic

• ‘Big Gold Brick’ Review: Andy Garcia and Emory Cohen Clash in Leadenly Surrealistic Comedy 2 years ago
• ‘The Sky Is Everywhere’ Review: An Affectation-Overloaded YA Romance 2 years ago
• ‘The Tiger Rising’ Review: A Beastly Children’s Homily 2 years ago

“ Broken Star ” is a thriller interested in voyeurism, the camera’s affect on both subject and photographer, and the tangled relationship between art and artist, fiction and reality. What it’s not, however, is capable of processing those ideas in a manner that might be compelling, much less thrilling. The story of a starlet under house arrest who forms an unhealthy bond with her landlord, it’s a low-rent effort that’s equal parts tawdry and tedious, although more problematic for its theatrical and on-demand fortunes is the fact that, from start to finish, it makes little lucid sense.

Markey ( Analeigh Tipton ) is an actress of some apparent repute, and at the outset, she moves into a house where she’ll be living for a couple of months, due to a court sentence stemming from an ill-defined run-in with her momager Kara (Lauren Bowles) and younger sister Jade (Addyson Bell). Unceremoniously left on her own by assistant Annie (Monique Coleman), Markey discovers that her new residence was formerly inhabited by an elderly woman who just passed away. Weirder still, it’s a bifurcated abode, with the deceased’s grandson Daryl ( Tyler Labine ) living on the other side of the wall.

Working from David Lee Brant’s helter-skelter script, director Dave Schwep establishes this premise alongside befuddling montages of animal-masked individuals, Markey visiting a nightclub and prancing around the Hollywood hills, and black-and-white interview clips of her discussing the false assumptions people have about actresses, as well as her own addiction to fame. It’s all a lot of hot air compounded by avalanches of Markey’s exposition about her unhappy home life and cutthroat professional situation, and Tipton falls far short of selling it as authentic; for most of the film, her character, who’s obsessed with Marilyn Monroe and cuts herself to alleviate unhappiness and boredom, comes across as a one-dimensional lost soul. Or, more to the point, a broken star.

A locked door that leads to an attic where Markey hears footsteps at night functions as the lone mystery in “Broken Star” — and not a particularly long-running one, as the secrets housed in that room quickly come to light. Those revelations, which have to do with Daryl’s grandma and the surveillance cameras he’s installed around her place (to keep careful watch on the frail woman, of course), are absurdly obvious. Just as predictable is the twisted dynamic that develops between Markey and Daryl, predicated as it is on her angry egomania and I-want-to-be-remembered-forever self-destructiveness, and on his creepy stalker desire to film her at every turn.

With slicked-back hair and a graying beard that makes him look like every other stock cinematic deviant, Daryl casts lots of fidgety downward glances while fawning over Markey, who walks around in revealing underwear at which director Schwep and cinematographer Tyler Maddox are all too happy to stare. Rather than generating heat, those images just underline the desperation of this movie, which charts a one-way course to limp torture-porn territory. Rife with scenes embellished with “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and flashy aesthetic gimmicks, the film imparts nothing meaningful about celebrity ambition and fandom, except that it’ll drive you mad — which can also be said about its finale, which seems designed to leave viewers scratching their heads.

Reviewed online, Stamford, Conn., July 18, 2018. Running time: 90 MIN.

• Production: A Gravitas Ventures release of a Kandoo Films production. Producer: Howard Barish. Co-producer: Michael Nell.
• Crew: Director: Dave Schwep. Screenplay: David Lee Brant. Camera (color, widescreen, HD): Tyler Maddox. Editor: Kelly McCoy. Music: Josh Peck, Donny Dykowsky.
• With: Analeigh Tipton, Tyler Labine, Lauren Bowles, Monique Coleman.

More From Our Brands

The sephora spring sale is here, and these are the deals our editors think are actually worth shopping, numarine just delivered 3 new explorer yachts at once, direct nil payments could be final nail in amateurism’s coffin, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, curb your enthusiasm series finale takes a page from seinfeld — but did larry suffer the same fate as jerry, verify it's you, please log in.

Letterboxd — Your life in film

Forgotten username or password ?

• Start a new list…
• Add all films to a list…
• Add all films to watchlist

Add to your films…

Press Tab to complete, Enter to create

A moderator has locked this field.

Add to lists

Where to watch

Broken star.

2018 Directed by Dave Schwep

Fame is to die for

Abandoned by her friends and family and with her career in jeopardy, starlet Markey Marlowe is sequestered in a duplex with a reclusive landlord who just may be more dangerous than she is.

Lio Tipton Tyler Labine Lauren Bowles Monique Coleman Natasha Loring Alex Lombard Josh Davis Addyson Bell Scott Hamm Duenas Kevin Ross Silvia Tovar Ben Moroski

Director Director

Dave Schwep

Producer Producer

Howard Barish

Writer Writer

David Lee Brant

Editor Editor

Kelly McCoy

Cinematography Cinematography

Tyler Maddox

Kandoo Films

Alternative Title

Little Star

Releases by Date

• Theatrical limited

20 Jul 2018

Releases by country.

90 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Björn ★★½

It's not that the story itself isn't good, it's just made boring due to a dull execution. There are many fascinating aspects to the story and yet it's drawn out and overly dramatic while it could have been thrilling and emotionally involving. Solid performances make a large part of it bearable. Lio Tipton is doing a good job, getting a lot out of her performance despite the enormous pacing issues. Even though there is some decent writing concerning its characters, the plot doesn't quite maintain a compelling energy throughout its relatively short runtime. Tipton's performance and overall appearance make the overall experience far better than it has any right to be, making it feel like an okayish movie, even. And…

Review by alex ★★

the concept of a hot ex-child star charming a reclusive weird guy into making her personal snuff film fantasies come to life is SO next level but this movie really did not allow itself to realize its full potential. we were SO close.

Review by Jerome1994 ★½

The fact I’m not giving this a full review speaks for itself, the movie does nothing different that many other thrillers have done, it’s terribly paced, terribly written and poorly acted. Outside the filming and a few moments this movie really falls on it’s face...give this one a pass. 

Review by Rich Trash🗑️ ★★½

Broken Star is so close yet so far to perfection. The concept is out of the box, a washed-up actress on house arrest wants to make something that will make a Hollywood legend. Of course, she goes down the path that no one has taken before instead of being a good actress in good movies or shows. No, she talks to a lonely guy who is obsessed with her to do her vengeful bidding. The violent depths that this guy will go for her are just awe-inspiring. This is pure horror territory and clumsily detours into torture porn for a brief moment or two.

The movie takes a few odd turns and the ending is up for interpretation but I have my opinions on how it ended. There are more than a few great shots and angles. This also starts sort of like an erotic thriller but quickly takes a side step in another direction without looking back.

Review by Keith Adams Jr. ★★ 3

Quickie Review  A blind late night watch after watching the latest episodes of “American Gods” and “Now Apocalypse”, this psychological thriller is as uneventful and toothless as they come. Analeigh Tipton plays Markey Marlowe, a troubled starlet who’s been placed on house arrest after trouble with the law and is sequestered at a house, where her neighbor is a landlord (Tyler Labine) who seems to keep to himself and maybe more dangerous than she is. The movie wants to go for thrills but when it does happen, it’s less thrilling than what you would expect. Sure, Tipton & Labine are effectively creepy but ultimately their performances are not enough to keep the film afloat and not effective enough to achieve what it was trying to accomplish. Broken Star is available to stream on Hulu but only watch if you’re in need of background noise or if you’re a Analeigh Tipton completist (if there’s such a thing like that).

Review by Kevin Falk ★½

There’s a scene in this where the main character puts on a wig and literally starts acting like her deceased grandmother to her audience of one. Later on she instructs her neighbor to scalp one of her former friends and literally kill her sister all so she can stay in the limelight....  And yet we’re suppose to find her neighbor to be the creepy one. Damn this was weird.  Grade: D+

Review by 🧀 Almer ★½

Yep, you need something more than two damaged folks in a tacky old house.

Review by Carlos Lee ★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

More like "Broken Movie". Wtf with ending? There was no payoff for a very slow movie.

Review by acarelock ★★

Review by camille ★★★

i honestly don’t know how i feel ab this

Review by Momofcamden ★½

Cool concept - poor execution & strange ending.

Review by ljennif ★★★★

I can't really explain why I liked this movie so much. It was quiet and unsettling but there was an odd kindness and connection. I've always liked Lio Tipton (from way back on AMTM) and she does a really nice job here. There's not a ton that happens but i found it engrossing.

Select your preferred poster

Broken Star

Where to Watch

Lio Tipton (Markey) Tyler Labine (Daryl) Lauren Bowles (Kara) Monique Coleman (Annie) Natasha Loring (Sydney) Alex Lombard (Becky) Addyson Bell (Jade) Scott Hamm Duenas (Papparazi) Ben Moroski (Paparazzi #2) Joshua Davis (Nick)

Dave Schwep

Abandoned by her friends and family and with her career in jeopardy, starlet Markey Marlowe is sequestered in a duplex with a reclusive landlord who just may be more dangerous than she is.

Recommendations

Advertisement

April 8, 2024 Good Burger 2

April 6, 2024 someone like you, april 3, 2024 wylie writes’ two-on-one with jeremy lalonde and dax ravina, march 31, 2024 canadian film fest ’24: daughter of the sun, march 29, 2024 canadian film fest ’24: place of bones, wylie writes, movie reviews, broken star.

July 20, 2018 Mark Barber 1 Comment

Filed Under Reviews

The central character in Dave Schwep’s Broken Star is a young actress fallen from grace: a drug-addicted, manipulative monster.  Markey Marlowe ( Crazy, Stupid, Love’s  Analeigh Tipton) – a character and name that sounds like it’s come right out of a 1940s film noir – is placed on house arrest, with her only company being reclusive landlord Daryl (Tyler Labine of Mountain Men ), whose grandmother has recently passed away.  Over time, Marlowe manipulates Daryl into attacking those who she feels wronged her.

A key point in Broken Star is Schwep’s voyeuristic nature: there are cameras everywhere throughout the house, allegedly and initially placed to keep an eye on his late grandmother.  When Markey discovers them, the usual female objectification associated with voyeurism is inverted, as Marlowe takes advantage of it for her own personal revenge.

Although Broken Star has a few interesting commentaries on voyeurism, attention, and celebrity, it never completely succeeds at attaining the psychological complexity it strives for, and its questionable gender politics leaves it open to easy criticism (including the same critical gestures that were made towards, for example, Gone Girl ).   The performances by Tipton and Labine are noteworthy.  Tipton succeeds at creating a hammy, attention-driven fallen star who, sometimes to the film’s detriment, comes off as cartoonishly villainous.  Labine’s sad, lonely landlord comes off as more realistic and less heavy-handed, although both ultimately work with the film’s overall atmosphere.

Broken Star is hardly new territory, and combines familiar themes with the kind of complex aesthetic that is so familiar to independent psychological dramas.  Despite this, the concept is generally well-executed and provides some interesting ideas on the gender dynamics at play in voyeurism.

Do You Tweet? Follow These Tweeple:

Mark Barber:   @WorstCinephile

Related Posts

TIFF 2023: ‘I Don’t Know Who You Are’

The New Kid

Wylie Writes @ TIFF ’18

Readers comments (1).

Videos within videos within videos but did any of it really happen?

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

Movie Review: ‘Broken Star’

by RedCarpetCrash | Jul 18, 2018 | Featured , Movie Reviews , Movies | 0 comments

Review by James Lindorf

It was announced earlier this year that Gravitas Ventures had acquired the distribution rights to Broken Star. This psychological thriller is the first film from Kandoo’s new slate of six to eight low budget films, aimed at developing undiscovered talent. Broken Star was helmed by first-time feature film director Dave Schwep, written by newcomer David Brant, and stars Analeigh Tipton (Two Night Stand; Warm Bodies) and Tyler Labine (Super Troopers 2; Tucker and Dale vs Evil). Gravitas will release Broken Star in theaters and on VOD July 20th.

Young starlet Markey Marlowe (Tipton) is sentenced to 30 days of house arrest along with a temporary restraining order. Lucky for her, she has a great assistant who was able to find an open portion of a duplex, away from prying eyes. Once in her “home away from home” without her cell phone, access to the internet, no visitors, and with nothing to read but the encyclopedia and bible, the young star quickly beings to suffer from cabin fever. When she reaches her breaking point, she turns to the only person she can, her reclusive landlord. Daryl (Labine) is a shy middle-aged man more comfortable alone in his home than he is interacting with the world. It takes him nearly half the movie before he willingly even makes eye contact with Markey. Once they make their initial breakthroughs, their particular afflictions begin feeding into the other’s, leading the pair into a disastrous spiral.

For their first outing, I would say that Kandoo hit a solid double. It wasn’t out of the park, but it was a near miss that should give the creative team plenty to be proud of. Brant’s script is full of elements of voyeurism, exhibition, obsession, and depression, while taking a dig at both Hollywood culture and the family life of child actors. Not to be outdone, Schwep made many smart decisions with the shot selection, pacing, and music throughout the film. He walks you to the edge while building tension, typically leaving it to the viewer to imagine the dangers that lurk below.

I think what kept this film from being a potential smash hit was the acting. I am a Labine apologist, and have been following his career for years, so I may be a bit biased when I say I think he gave a slightly more consistent performance. While his performance wasn’t award worthy, he was fine as the unstable neighbor who lives to serve while watching the world through a lens. Tipton, on the other hand, had her ups and downs. Some scenes were terrific, and others were distractingly flat. Another downfall is in the overly ambiguous ending.

Overall, Schwep and Brant presented a solid film worth your time while displaying a ton of talent for a pair of newbies. However, when it was over, I was more excited about their next project than watching this one a second time.

• Recent Posts

• Book Review: ‘Happy Medium: A Novel’ By Sarah Adler - April 8, 2024
• Book Review: ‘Extinction: A Novel’ By Douglas Preston - April 8, 2024
• WinA Copy Of The Book ‘An Enchanting Case Of Spirits: A Novel’ By Melissa Holtz - April 7, 2024

Broken Star

Cast & crew.

Markey Marlow

Tyler Labine

Monique Coleman

Lauren Bowles

Natasha Loring

Information

© 2018 Little Star Productions, LLC

Accessibility

Copyright © 2024 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

Internet Service Terms Apple TV & Privacy Cookie Policy Support

Broken Star

In Theaters: July 20, 2018 (limited)

VOD: July 20, 2018

1h 30m | Thriller

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Monkey Man Link to Monkey Man
• The First Omen Link to The First Omen
• The Beast Link to The Beast

New TV Tonight

• Chucky: Season 3
• Mr Bates vs The Post Office: Season 1
• Fallout: Season 1
• Franklin: Season 1
• Dora: Season 1
• Good Times: Season 1
• Beacon 23: Season 2

Most Popular TV on RT

• Ripley: Season 1
• Sugar: Season 1
• 3 Body Problem: Season 1
• A Gentleman in Moscow: Season 1
• We Were the Lucky Ones: Season 1
• Parasyte: The Grey: Season 1
• Shōgun: Season 1
• The Gentlemen: Season 1
• Manhunt: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Ripley Link to Ripley
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

100 Best Free Movies on YouTube (April 2024)

Pedro Pascal Movies and Series Ranked by Tomatometer

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

TV Premiere Dates 2024

New Movies & TV Shows Streaming in April 2024: What To Watch on Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, and More

• Trending on RT
• The First Omen
• Play Movie Trivia

The Broken Star

1956, Western, 1h 22m

Rate And Review

Super Reviewer

Rate this movie

Oof, that was Rotten.

Meh, it passed the time.

It’s good – I’d recommend it.

So Fresh: Absolute Must See!

What did you think of the movie? (optional)

You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.

Step 2 of 2

How did you buy your ticket?

Let's get your review verified..

AMCTheatres.com or AMC App New

Cinemark Coming Soon

We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.

Regal Coming Soon

Theater box office or somewhere else

By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie.

You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.

The broken star   photos.

Deputy Marshal Frank Smeed (Howard Duff) guns down an innocent Mexican who was about to deliver a huge sum of gold to a land tycoon, then makes off with the loot and covers his tracks by claiming that the man he shot was a dangerous criminal. Deputy Marshal Bill Gantry (Bill Williams) is charged with investigating the matter to ensure that his close friend Smeed was in the right. When he gets too close to discovering the truth, the crooked deputy tries to make Gantry his next victim.

Genre: Western

Original Language: English

Director: Lesley Selander

Producer: Howard W. Koch

Writer: John C. Higgins

Release Date (Theaters): Sep 20, 1957  original

Release Date (Streaming): May 1, 2020

Runtime: 1h 22m

Distributor: United Artists

Production Co: Bel-Air Productions Inc.

Sound Mix: Mono

Cast & Crew

Howard Duff

Deputy Marshal Frank Smeed

Conchita Alvarado

Bill Williams

Deputy Marshal Bill Gentry

Douglas V. Fowley

Indian Agent Hiram Charleton

Henry Calvin

Thornton W. Wills

Addison Richards

Marshal Wayne Forrester

Joel Ashley

John Pickard

Lesley Selander

John C. Higgins

Howard W. Koch

Aubrey Schenck

Executive Producer

Paul Dunlap

Original Music

William Margulies

Cinematographer

John F. Schreyer

Film Editing

Critic Reviews for The Broken Star

Audience reviews for the broken star.

There are no featured audience reviews for The Broken Star at this time.

Movie & TV guides

Play Daily Tomato Movie Trivia

Discover What to Watch

Rotten Tomatoes Podcasts

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Broken Star

When a deputy marshal murders a henchman, steals the racketeer money he is holding, and claims self defense, the head marshal orders an investigation to find the truth. When a deputy marshal murders a henchman, steals the racketeer money he is holding, and claims self defense, the head marshal orders an investigation to find the truth. When a deputy marshal murders a henchman, steals the racketeer money he is holding, and claims self defense, the head marshal orders an investigation to find the truth.

• Lesley Selander
• John C. Higgins
• Howard Duff
• Bill Williams
• 8 User reviews
• 3 Critic reviews

• Deputy Marshal Frank Smeed

• Conchita Alvarado

• Deputy Marshal Bill Gentry

• Hiram Charleton

• Thornton Wills

• Marshal Wayne Forrester

• (as Wm. 'Bill' Phillips)

• (uncredited)

• Posse Member

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

[Frank claims he shot Alvarado in self-defense]

Deputy Marshal Bill Gentry : Rustler?

Deputy Marshal Frank Smeed : Suspicion of. Tried to kill me with this.

Deputy Marshal Bill Gentry : What happened then?

Deputy Marshal Frank Smeed : Guess.

Deputy Marshal Bill Gentry : Tried to dry gulch ya?

Deputy Marshal Frank Smeed : Nope. Face to face showdown.

Marshal Wayne Forrester : He jumped you first?

Deputy Marshal Frank Smeed : Mm-hmm.

Marshal Wayne Forrester : [dubious] Self-defense, huh?

Deputy Marshal Frank Smeed : Yessir! Self defense.

• Soundtracks I Hate You Lyrics by John C. Higgins Music by Paul Dunlap

User reviews 8

• Mar 26, 2007
• April 1956 (United States)
• United States
• Gegen das Gesetz
• Old Tucson - 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona, USA
• Bel-Air Productions
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 22 minutes
• Black and White

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

Broken Star (2018) Stream and Watch Online

Watch 'Broken Star' Online

Want to behold the glory that is ' Broken Star ' in the comfort of your own home? Searching for a streaming service to buy, rent, download, or watch the Dave Schwep-directed movie via subscription can be difficult, so we here at Moviefone want to do right by you. Below, you'll find a number of top-tier streaming and cable services - including rental, purchase, and subscription choices - along with the availability of 'Broken Star' on each platform when they are available. Now, before we get into the fundamentals of how you can watch 'Broken Star' right now, here are some specifics about the Kandoo Films thriller flick. Released July 20th, 2018, 'Broken Star' stars Lio Tipton , Tyler Labine , Lauren Bowles , Monique Coleman The movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 30 min, and received a user score of 50 (out of 100) on TMDb, which assembled reviews from 13 respected users. Curious to know what the movie's about? Here's the plot: "Abandoned by her friends and family and with her career in jeopardy starlet Markey Marlowe is sequestered in a duplex with a reclusive landlord who just may be more dangerous than she is" 'Broken Star' is currently available to rent, purchase, or stream via subscription on Showtime, fuboTV, Apple iTunes, Google Play Movies, Vudu, YouTube, VUDU Free, and FILMRISE .

Popular Thriller Movies

Movie Reviews

Follow Moviefone

Movie trailers.

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors.

Now streaming on:

Films like “Unbroken,” and the Laura Hillenbrand book on which it’s based, capture something we all hope is true about ourselves—that we too are unbreakable. That when faced with horrendous, life-threatening situations, we would respond in similar fashion to Louis Zamperini, finding a new well of courage within ourselves and surviving the unimaginable. It is the resilience of the human spirit that has drawn us to films based on true stories again and again to experience pain and triumph in the relative comfort of a movie theater seat.

“Unbroken” opens with a powerfully staged and shot sequence of aerial combat that surprisingly defines the film's strengths and weaknesses over the next two-plus hours. The attention to detail as Zamperini (Jack O’Connell), Russell ‘Phil’ Phillips ( Domhnall Gleeson ) and Hugh ‘Cup’ Cuppernell (Jai Courtney) spin their plane around and take aim at the enemy feels accurate. There’s a weight to the gunfire and a fragility to the aircraft itself that conveys that these people were always a more-accurate gunsight away from tragedy. And yet there’s something wrong here too. The sunset on the horizon looks like a painting. The clouds are perfectly placed for visual impact. The little drop of blood on Zamperini’s forehead can’t hide his movie star looks or movie star make-up. Everything feels accurate in its staging, and yet also not quite genuine. It's Hollywood, old-fashioned movie accurate. And despite O’Connell’s instant charisma (the guy is going to be a MASSIVE star), this feeling never leaves “Unbroken”—the sense that we’re watching human suffering that looks too pretty and too refined to convey its intended impact.

Louis Zamperini should have become a household name for his athletic ability. The “Torrance Tornado” was a US Olympic athlete whose career was cut short when he joined World War II as a bombardier. Even in country, Zamperini is seen training, pushing himself right at the moment that most people would give up. He is the kind of runner who hangs back, and only makes his move when everyone has reached the point of exhaustion. Of course, this is a character trait that will serve him well during the nightmare he’s about to endure.

Zamperini and two other men, including Phil, survive a plane crash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They barely make it long enough to board a raft, where the conditions of hunger, dehydration and heat exhaustion take their toll. These scenes are remarkably well-staged and executed by director Angelina Jolie and her team. They’re the best in the film, the moments in which we can feel Zamperini’s increasing desperation and likely death. They have a focus, fragility and purpose that the second half of the film lacks.

That begins when Zamperini is captured after 47 days adrift, and forced into horrific conditions and hard labor in Japanese Prisoner of War camps. Here, Jolie simply fails to convey the danger and what’s truly at stake. “Unbroken” starts to go through the motions of history recreation instead of real character drama, and while I have loved Roger Deakins ’ work in the past, it’s too “pretty” here, covering every shot in that vague beige of WWII memory, which never allows us to put ourselves in Zamperini’s speedy shoes. If we can’t feel the urgency of his plight, we won’t have the same emotional response to it as we would with more blood, more dirt, and just more danger. It becomes something we watch instead of something we experience. There's a difference.

The relative disappointment of “Unbroken” has nothing to do with Jack O’Connell, a truly gifted actor who has emerged as a fully-formed movie star with this, his even better work in “ Starred Up ,” and next year’s great “’71.” He may not be a household name yet. He will be. In fact, he’s so good that one wishes Jolie asked more of him. Gleeson also deserves praise for taking a smaller role and making it memorable. He too is an actor really worth watching. “Unbroken” could be a film that we look back on as an early entry in the careers of major stars.

Because the disappointing thing is we won’t really look back at the film itself on its own merits. It’s one of those inspirational Hollywood dramas about which there isn’t anything "overtly wrong" with it. It’s well-cast, it looks great, it has that intense centerpiece in the raft, and it certainly conveys a true story worth telling. And yet I keep coming back to that beautiful sunrise that opens the film. It’s just too damn pretty.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

Now playing

In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon

Clint worthington.

Girls State

Sleeping Dogs

Space: The Longest Goodbye

Marya e. gates.

Carol Doda Topless at the Condor

American Dreamer

Carla renata, film credits.

Unbroken (2014)

Rated PG-13 for war violence including intense sequences of brutality, and for brief language

137 minutes

Jack O'Connell as Louis Zamperini

Takamasa Ishihara as Mutsuhiro 'The Bird' Watanabe

Garrett Hedlund as John Fitzgerald

Jai Courtney as Hugh 'Cup' Cuppernell

Domhnall Gleeson as Russel Allen 'Phil' Phillips

Finn Wittrock as Francis 'Mac' McNamara

John Magaro as Frank A. Tinker

Alex Russell as Pete Zamperini

Luke Treadaway as Miller

• Angelina Jolie
• Richard Lagravenese
• William Nicholson

Director of Photography

• Roger Deakins

Latest blog posts

​Criterion Celebrates the Films That Forever Shifted Our Perception of Kristen Stewart​

The Estate of George Carlin Destroys AI George Carlin in Victory for Copyright Protection (and Basic Decency)

The Future of the Movies, Part 3: Fathom Events CEO Ray Nutt

11:11 - Eleven Reviews by Roger Ebert from 2011 in Remembrance of His Transition 11 Years Ago

In one of L.A.’s largest cash heists ever, burglars steal as much as $30 million from vault

• Show more sharing options
• Copy Link URL Copied!

In one of the largest cash heists in Los Angeles history, thieves made off with as much as $30 million in an Easter Sunday burglary at a San Fernando Valley money storage facility, an L.A. police official said.

The burglary occurred Sunday night at a facility in Sylmar where cash from businesses across the region is handled and stored, said L.A. Police Department Cmdr. Elaine Morales.

The thieves were able to breach the building as well as the safe where the money was stored, Morales said. Law enforcement sources said the burglary was among the largest in city history when it comes to cash, and the total also surpassed any armored-car heist in the city.

Mystery surrounds the break-in.

Sources familiar with the investigation told The Times that a burglary crew broke through the roof of the Gardaworld building on Roxford Street to gain access to the vault. But it is unclear how they avoided the alarm system.

Neighbor heard odd noises amid heist of up to $30 million from Sylmar vault

Days after thieves stole as much as $30 million from a security company vault in Sylmar, residents and workers piece together details of the crime.

April 5, 2024

The Canada-based security company has not responded to requests for comment.

The operators of the business did not discover the massive theft until they opened the vault Monday. An ABC-7 TV news helicopter video showed a large cut on the side of the building covered by a piece of plywood.

Authorities were alerted, and detectives from the LAPD’s Mission Division station responded to the crime scene to gather evidence.

A law enforcement source confirmed to The Times there was an effort to breach the side of the cash-holding building in addition to the roof. At least one alarm was triggered during the crime, but it was not connected to local law enforcement, according to a source familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Brink’s heist mystery: Questions about a timeline that ‘doesn’t make any sense’

A 298-mile drive in 2 hours and 4 minutes? The chronology described in a legal filing and law enforcement documents has added to the mystery surrounding the multimillion-dollar jewelry heist from a Brink’s truck.

Sept. 16, 2022

Further adding to the intrigue is that very few individuals would have known of the huge sums of cash being kept in that safe, according to law enforcement sources.

The break-in was described as elaborate and suggested an experienced crew who knew how to gain entry to a secure facility and go unnoticed.

Scott Andrew Selby, co-author of “Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History,” said that the theft has “all the markings of a really well-thought-out job” that was done by a “professional crew,” adding that based on other major heists of this nature, it is likely that the thieves had some inside intelligence.

He said investigators will be “looking around the globe for crimes with a similar M.O.”

As to whether the money is traceable, Selby said it depends on whether there are records of serial numbers or the cash that was collected is already in circulation. It is hard to hide ill-gotten gains and launder traceable bills, he said.

“As technology progresses and the world gets small, there are a lot of ways you can mess up and get caught,” Selby said. “With touch DNA, the slightest mistake can expose the identity of a member of the crew, leading authorities to eventually identify their associates.”

An FBI spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday night that the agency and the LAPD are investigating the theft.

A federal source said investigators were trying to complete a full accounting of the missing cash, but said it could be the largest cash heist in L.A.’s history.

The prior largest cash robbery in Los Angeles was on Sept. 12, 1997, with the theft of $18.9 million from the former site of the Dunbar Armored facility on Mateo Street. Those behind the incident were eventually caught .

Sunday’s theft comes nearly two years after the multimillion-dollar heist of jewelry from a Brink’s big rig at a Grapevine truck stop.

As much as $100 million in jewels and valuables was taken from the truck.

These are the 5 best L.A. heist movies

Our film editor picks a handful of gems shot in Los Angeles that define the crime film, including classics by Michael Mann, Sofia Coppola and Quentin Tarantino.

March 14, 2024

In that case, thieves made off with the goods at 3 a.m. on July 11, 2022, taking more than 20 large bags stuffed with jewelry, gems and other items that the Brink’s tractor-trailer had been transporting to the L.A. area from the International Gem and Jewelry Show in San Mateo.

The heist occurred during a 27-minute window in which one driver slept in the vehicle’s sleeper berth and another ate a meal at the Flying J, a sprawling truck stop just off Interstate 5’s sinuous Grapevine in Lebec, Calif.

That crime remains unsolved.

Since a burglary crew broke through the reinforced roof of a Laguna Niguel bank and blew a hole in the safe more than four decades ago, it’s been extremely rare in Southern California for thieves to break in from above.

But a decade ago, rooftop bandits breached a series of banks in strip malls across the San Gabriel Valley. They stole at least $16 million before five were caught by the major crimes unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Last July, a burglary crew broke in through the roof of a wine specialist in Venice, making off with about 800 bottles worth about $600,000 — one of the biggest crimes in California wine history .

More to Read

The perfect heist? Inside the seamless, sophisticated, stealthy L.A. theft that netted up to $30 million

April 6, 2024

Thief who finagled luxury hotel room keys admits to brazen diamond necklace heist

April 2, 2024

Burglars reportedly hit Paul Pierce’s L.A. home, make off with $100,000, luxury watches

March 19, 2024

Start your day right

Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

Richard Winton is an investigative crime writer for the Los Angeles Times and part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2011. Known as @lacrimes on Twitter, during almost 30 years at The Times he also has been part of the breaking news staff that won Pulitzers in 1998, 2004 and 2016.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Dying to see a superbloom this spring? Look no further than Los Angeles International Airport

A solar eclipse is happening today in California. How to get the best view

10 injured and 30 displaced in Covina apartment fire

April 7, 2024

20 Pomona College protesters arrested after storming, occupying president’s office