Movie Notes: Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls
August 12th, 2007
Note: This is an entry in the Second Webomatica Contest: So Bad They’re Good Movies
0 stars
So Bad It’s Good Rating = -8 stars
Starring Dolly Read, John Lazar, Cynthia Myers
Directed by Russ Meyer
Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls can only be weakly described as psychedelic-musical-camp-soft-porn-satire. The wacky masterpiece was directed by Russ Meyer (admirer of top heavy actresses) featuring a screenplay written by Roger Ebert (yes, the movie critic with the up or down thumb). They were hired to create a sequel to Valley of The Dolls, a movie adaptation of a best selling book, but the author wanted nothing to do with the project. Hence the disclaimer at the start which denies any relationship to that also bad film.
The movie follows three women in a rock group that travel to Los Angeles for fame and fortune, documenting the hip, groovy, funky, heavy happenings they encounter in psychedelic late-sixties California. As with many bad films, the style oscillates wildly between genres. But this dream world – where no one blinks and is populated with big hair, bright smiles, and ample assets – I found quite hilarious.
Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls also features some memorable performances, most notably Dolly Read as singer Kelly McNamara (so wide eyed her peepers might pop out of her head) and John Lazar as the quirky producer Ronnie “Z-Man” Barzell (Phil Spector?) who yammers Shakespeare while hiding a deep dark secret.
The actresses in the movie band The Carrie Nations had no musical ability, so the songs and voice behind seem to be a combination of The Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Sandpipers, Stu Phillips, and a lady named Lynn Carey from the group Mama Lion. The result is the AM radio brand of wimpy PBS fund drive rock (horns and strings). The film’s lip synced performances are awesome, cartoony-retro cheese.
Many scenes reminded me of bad music cartoons I used to watch in the seventies – Josie and the Pussy Cats, The Archies, Scooby Doo, and the faded memory of The Brady Kids. Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls feels like a cartoon with a heavy dose of dad’s nudie mags and Robert Crumb comics. Were the seventies kiddie pic makers inspired by Ebert and Meyer? I don’t want to know.
But this is not a children’s film by any means. It contains many elements that would have been wildly offensive back in 1970 – homosexuality, ethnic diversity, abortion, drug use, and extreme violence. All this stuff is still surprising, but post The Crying Game and Pulp Fiction I found this all more darkly humorous than gut-wrenching.
Here’s my quick list of bad movie moments:
- Why on earth are credits shown over an action scene?
- Psychedelic nuttiness and hot sixties beat psychedelic music. Josie and the Pussycats! (3:06)
- Meyer: more jump cuts than Bruckheimer. I can’t make heads or tails of the really strange poetic ode to LA. (6:31)
- How not to shoot dialogue. Large hair, and Kelly’s eyes look like they’re going to pop out of her head. Does anybody ever blink? (10:22)
- A groovy party where meet the incomparable Z-Man, stoned thespian. Classic line: “It’s my scene and I’m freaking out!” The Strawberry Alarm Clock is there. (13:24)
- The birth of The Carrie Nations. This is my kind of retro schlock – girls faking it on the instruments, terrible lip sync, and overlays of the male musical producers. (29:06)
- Making it in a Rolls. Bentley. Rolls. Bentley. (39:54)
- “Listen to me hippie! I’m a capitalist I work for my living, not to suck off someone else. Up yours Ratso!” Love it. (42:57)
- Thumbs up to the ethnic diversity. (44:49)
- Dance segment in front of an old perv of the older generation. Now that music is groovy. Any explanation for the guy with the shades? (49:26)
- Oldster Porter is introduced to “smoking tea”. He puffs it like a cigar. I love the raunchy music and dejection when Mary slips into something more comfortable. Her groovy pad looks like thrift store throw up.
- Musical montage number 2 for Look On Up At The Bottom (unintentionally funny song title). (1:12:45)
- Is that a jet plane? (1:16:50)
- “Meet Randy Black – we call him The Man.” Inspired by Ali? Wasn’t that a seventies cartoon, too? (58:36)
- “You’re drunk and you’re stoned and you’re a lousy lay.” Edy Williams’ lips and teeth look like they could cut glass. I love the way the horns follow the ultimate insult. (1:01:00)
- Costume party led by Z-Man Bat-Man, Robin, and Tarzan. Askew camera angles, colored lights, drugs galore. Cue the song “The Valley of the Dolls in the corner of the sky, you are reaching for a cloud…” (1:25:00)
- Cute women getting it on. I noticed this happened in Tombs Of The Blind Dead, also. It seems when filmmakers run out of ideas, a lesbian scene comes to mind. (1:29:17)
- Man on man love scene that never gets off the ground. “How now jungle lad?” “I don’t want to know your story! You’re a stoned freak!” Z-Man calls himself “super woman” and tries to get it on with the blonde lothario in the tiger print Speedos. (1:34:40).
- Oh crap. I didn’t realize the Z-Man had a deep dark secret. Decapitation. There’s guy in a Nazi suit running around. It’s like the Scooby Doo gang hunting down Charlie Manson. (1:37:15).
- Some really strange narration explaining all the characters really were there to teach us a lesson about life. I’m not buying it – this is just a cover up for realizing your film is terrible. (1:44:28)
- Brady Bunch Epilogue. (1:47:52)
This flick may be new “so bad it’s good” masterpiece. I’d actually watch this one again. But I’m a sucker for girls with guitars and that cheesy James Bond sixties vibe. Anybody want to loan me the soundtrack?
IMDB: Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls
Wikipedia: Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls
Rotten Tomatoes: Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls 57%
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Posted In: 0 Star Movies, Movies 0 stars, Cynthia Myers, Dolly Read, John Lazar, Russ Meyer
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Glad you enjoyed it.
I have to say that, as the submitter of this entry, I’m not a huge Russ Meyers fan overall. He made a ton of movies, and even though they share many characteristics with this one, I find most of them boring and almost unwatchable. The notable exceptions are this movie and “Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” (Faster Pussycat isn’t available on DVD, but Turner Classic Movies will be showing it on September 4th at 12:30am PT. Set your Tivos)
As a follow-up to the contest, it might be interesting to discuss what separates “bad” movies from “so-bad-they’re-good” movies. Just because a movie has a bad script, bad actors, and bad direction doesn’t necessarily make it fun (or funny). So what’s the “x-factor” that keeps us watching?
have to say I’m loving this series… bad movie reviews are always so much more fun
Ross, thanks for the recommendation. This was the first Russ Meyer movie I have seen, although I have heard of his flicks for quite some time. I’ll definitely be checking out Faster Pussycat if I can.
As for what makes a so bad it’s good flick, I’m definitely taking some notes. I think I’ll have a pretty hilarious list at the end of what seems to work for me. The x-factor might be something as simple as “sincerity” in that if you intentionally try to make a bad film that is supposed to be good, it doesn’t work as well.
Not to give away the farm – I still have a few more flicks to watch but right now BVD is looking like a tough one to beat in the contest!
just catching up on my RSS reader and saw this post….believe it or not, I was given the delux edition of this movie to review about a year ago. The interviews and the commentary add to the cheezy goodness….
I would also bet that Josie and the Pussycats was indeed modeled on this (but would have to check the date–could even be that BVoD was modeled on JatP?) Given the time frame, it’s not that unusual. Often adult ideas were scaled down for kids TV–or subtle adult humor was grafted into cartoons (think of Bulwinkle or Beanie and Cecil.) Sixties and 70′s cartoons existed in a different world–one that got not only sanitized, but then turned into nothing more than slick marketing campaigns (hence, I love The Skelator Show on YouTube…a fitting mashup of mass marketing.)
But listening to Roger Ebert talk about the film’s ending (I think it was Ebert on the delux ed) he explained the ending as a reflection of what was going on in L.A. at the time with the Manson killings. Those of us who were kids–and not living in L.A.–don’t really understand the impact of those killings on that particular world. As, I think, Ebert said, the killings signified the end of innocence (or presumed innocence) of the hippie days–and that there was, after all, a very dark side to hippieness. I think that’s what Meyer and Ebert were trying to capture at the end–although Meyer’s own confused sexualtity and love of girl-girl action consitiutes a very odd backdrop for that message. And the weird end of tale narration might have been a way to cull some sort of psychological resolution to a larger issue. Then again, maybe Meyer just had some leftover film and wanted a montage.
Tish of course you spurred me to look some stuff up. It seems the cartoon program Josie and the Pussycats debuted in 1970 but it’s based on a comic book made by the same company that did Archie. While the Josie character started in the early sixties it seems she didn’t form her band until 1969. Now the Archies definitely predate BVotD.
I find the association with the Manson murders in BVD rather jarring and a bit creepy as one of the stars of the previous film Valley of the Dolls is Sharon Tate who was one of the victims.
I’m going to watch Valley of the Dolls (which I have never seen) and ponder this a bit more!
Thanks for visiting and commenting.
oh, have fun with Valley of the Dolls! a truly strange “chick flick.” BTW, when you watch it, you may wonder why Barbara Parkinson was the star. She was quite big at the time, having played on the TV soap opera Peyton Place. She didn’t do much after VoD (well, a couple of cheezy horror flicks, one with Allen Alda (?!?!?!)) VoD was also Patty Duke’s first grown-up movie. At the time, there were many rumors that she wouldn’t have much of a career after the Patty Duke Show, even though she won an Oscar for playing Helen Keller in the Miracle Worker. She really showed them! Also, note the references to “art films.” quite humorous! I’m going to have to watch it myself and refresh my memory.
Cool, I’m excited. It arrives in my mailbox via Netflix tomorrow. Hopefully a review will follow shortly.
Aint the “long tail” of the Internet great where we can share all this obscure stuff!
Sometimes, the “bad” movies are the best ones.. anything is watchable with enough vodka..
[...] but for the purposes of this contest I declare the winner to be Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls. You can read my review, but here are some reasons why this is my new favorite terrible [...]
Great fun, a perfect party movie. Back in the 1980s some us ‘alt rock’ folks here in Christchurch, New Zealand used to repeatedly hire the video and get wrecked watching it (and ‘Apocalypse Now’, BTW). My mates in a band called the South American Question were inspired to write at least four songs suggested by BVD. The best was ‘Baxter Woolfe’, although ‘Hey, I Said Hey!’ was pretty good, too. I t got into our everyday speech and we’d go around saying stuff like ‘the lady’s made her choice, LOSER’, ‘ugly broad’ and ‘this is my happening’. The South American Question went too far when they used a picture of the Carrie Nations on a gig poster and people turned up expecting to see an all-girl band. I gotta get another copy of this.
Heh – great memories. This DVD has a remastered picture so the flick looks way better than it probably deserves. I still have to get a copy myself.
[...] winner of last year’s contest was the psychedelic-musical-camp-soft-port-satire masterpiece: Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls. Read the post to get an idea of what I’m looking [...]
[...] the notorious Manson murders. Those grisly, insane happenings seem to inspire Z-Man in the sequel Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls – a rather head scratching element of terrible taste. Poor Jennifer deserves so much [...]