Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Russ Meyer at his most elegant times.

After the huge success of director Russ Meyer's VIXEN!, 20th Century-Fox knew that he was a talent to reckon with and hired him for a two-picture deal in 1970. His first film (his only good studio film) was written by Roger Ebert and was titled as a sequel to Fox's VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, an embarrassment to the studio. When this was released, it was almost as big an embarrassment. But it's an awesome film with something to please everyone. While not as sex-filled as Meyer's earlier and later works, it still works as a spoof, a drama, and an adults film.

Dolly Read, Cynthia Meyers, and Marcia McBroom play Kelly, Casey, and Pet, an all-female rock group called The Kelly Affair that start out small and make it big in Hollywood as The Carrie Nations. The story is filled with soap opera contrivances, such as various love affairs, lesbianism, drug addiction, suicide attempts, and money scandals. While some of these instances can be seen as serious drama (these girls can act, believe it or not), most of them are played to be campy, complete with cheesy soap-opera organ music in the background.

Rock 'n' Roll sluts!

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is filled with little surprises: FASTER PUSSYCAT's Haji makes a cameo in two scenes; women-in-prison movie regular Phyllis Davis plays nice Aunt Susan, Kelly's rich relative; Meyer regular Charles Napier plays Aunt Susan's fiancee; VIXEN! star Erica Gavin plays the lesbian dress designer Roxanne; John Lazar (later in SUPERVIXENS) steals the show as Z-Man, the psychotic gay manager who speaks in Shakespearean prose and goes crazy at the end, pretending he's Superwoman!; VIXEN! co-stars Michael Blodgett and Harrison Page play Lance, the money-hungry hunk, and Emerson, the black law student; sex starlet Edy Williams is luscious as Ashley St. Ives, famed pornographic movie star; and recurring character Martin Bormann makes another appearance. Pam Grier's supposed to be here, too, but I couldn't Identify her in the big crowded party scenes. But I think my favorite thing about this movie is the musical soundtrack. Fabulous performances by The Carrie Nations make me wish a soundtrack CD was readily available! While there were 2 good songs in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls has around 9! The Strawberry Alarm Clock appears performing "Incense and Peppermints" and a non-hit at a Hollywood party, too.

The 70's Musical Scene.

The scene is divided as you can see.

While Beyond the Valley of the Dolls  is not as unintentionally hilarious as the original VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, I liked it a lot better. The performances are great by all (how does Meyer get such great-looking women who can act to boot?!), the music fabulous, and the pace of the film is brisk and doesn't sag. The one sequence that went on forever was the lesbian sequence between Erica Gavin and Cynthia Meyers, which was unerotic and just dumb. I don't know how this got an NC-17 rating (there isn't very much sex). 

Overall, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is highly recommended to anyone making their first dive into the cinema of Russ Meyer or anyone who was ever in a rock band that wanted to make it. Pure fun, all 112 minutes of it! Besides, as Russ Meyer himself has stated, this is probably his best film because, it is made to appeal to several audiences rather than his usual crowd of tit-ass-bush pervs lovers. However, it can also be seen as a film that doesn't actually follow the traditional Russ Meyer style of filming, you know, it has a consistent plot, several dialogue scenes and nudity only appears when necesary (seriously)

21 Things you probably didn't know about "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"

Webbrowsing (does anyone use that verb anymore?) I found a neverending list of tasty facts about the filming of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Here a list of the most spicy facts:

1. Originally intended as a sequel to The Valley of the Dolls. Jacqueline Susann submitted a screenplay for a sequel, but when Fox found it unsatisfactory, their contract gave them the right to produce a separate version. Susann was reportedly so offended by the results that she threatened to sue 20th Century-Fox. As part of a settlement, Fox inserted the disclaimer "This is not a sequel to VALLEY OF THE DOLLS" in all advertising.

2. The violent and gory climax was not in the script. Roger Ebert and Russ Meyer came up with the idea on the day of shooting, which was based on the recent August 1969 Manson Family murders. 

a bird in a cage.

3. In the original script, the Susan Lake and Baxter Wolfe characters were called Anne Welles and Lyon Burke.

4. The character of Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell was based loosely on legendary record producer Phil Spector. While neither Russ Meyer nor Roger Ebert had ever met Spector, they were told by acquaintances of his that they'd caught his essence very well.

5. Two women wear costumes in the film inspired by another hit production of 20th-Century-Fox, Batman.

6. Budgeted at a modest $900,000 (approximately $4.5 million in today's dollars), the film grossed ten times the amount in the US market, qualifying it as a hit for the beleaguered 20th Century-Fox. Though tame by modern standards, "Dolls" was slapped with an "X" rating, and there was much negative publicity generated by the fact a major studio had allowed a "pornographer", Russ Meyer (labeled "King Leer" by the mainstream press at the time) to make a Hollywood film under its aegis. Grace Kelly, who was a member of the board of directors of Fox, was outraged and lobbied to have the studio's contract with Meyer terminated. After his next Fox film, The Seven Minutes flopped at the box office (possibly due to its LACK of nudity and titillation), the studio terminated its relationship with Meyer. He never made another film for a studio. 

Funky music comes out of funky sex.

7. Director Russ Meyer once said he considers this film to be his "most important".

8. While frequently touted as Pam Grier's film debut (she received an on-screen credit and a photo of her in a party scene was prominently featured in a 1970 Playboy layout on the film), her role in the film is non-existent and she can't even be spotted as an extra.

9. During a bedroom scene, Kelly wears the same flimsy red nightgown worn by heroines of at least two earlier Russ Meyer pictures (Vixen! and Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers!).

10. This film is listed among The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide.

Twat to twat.

11. The outfit that Kelly borrows from her Aunt Susan to wear to the party at the beginning of the film is the one-piece pants suit that Sharon Tate wore in The Valley of the Dolls. Sharon wears it in the scene where she is watching Neely on television and Tony comes home to tell her (and sister Miriam) that the studio has dropped his option. Sharon is also wearing it (sans the metal link belt Kelly will add) in the photo on the cover of the Valley of the Dolls soundtrack LP. 

12. The Robin costume worn by Casey was actually one of the costumes worn by Burt Ward on the "Batman" TV series. 

13. According to Roger Ebert's audio commentary on the DVD, 'Russ Meyer' was unaware that this film would get an X rating. Roger says that Russ would have added more nudity and sex to the film if he knew beforehand.

 

14. This title was released a week before 20th Century Fox's other X rated film Myra Breckinridge. 

15. The Strawberry Alarm Clock did the soundtrack for this film, and the band's only real big hit "Incense and Peppermints" can be heard in the first party scene. 

16. It took Roger Ebert six weeks to write the screenplay. 

17. According to Roger Ebert's audio commentary, Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell's pad was a set originally to be used in Myra Breckinridge. 

Cum filled woman.

18. Russ Meyer wanted June Wilkinson to play the role of Ashley St. Ives, a part that ultimately went to studio contract player Edy Williams (who, interestingly, wound up marrying Meyer). 

19. In an oft-seen publicity picture of the three female leads posing on a bed, Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers and Marcia McBroom wear same outfits worn (respectively) by original Valley Of The Dolls stars Sharon Tate, Patty Duke and Barbara Parkins in similar bed publicity shot used in ads and soundtrack album cover of first film. 

20. The theme song was re-recorded by Josie Cotton and released on the CD 'Invasion Of The B-Girls.'. Russ Meyer threatened to sue Cotton if she put any of his title-songs on her CD, but died before he could follow through. Josie says that she didn't mean to steal from Meyer, but that she is a fan and it was meant as an homage to his work. 

I'm so happy I made it to a Russ Meyer movie!

21. According to screenwriter Roger Ebert, the Z-Man's secret was not thought of until late in filming, and tacked on at the last minute. While fans feel that the secret is hinted at in the film's dialogue, Ebert says it's only coincidence. 

And last but not least, here's the movie trailer, & see you in the next post: