Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)

Three girls come to Hollywood to make it big, but find only sex, drugs and sleaze.

Director:

Russ Meyer

Writers:

Roger Ebert (screenplay), Roger Ebert (story)

Stars:

Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dolly Read	...	Kelly Mac Namara
Cynthia Myers	...	Casey Anderson
Marcia McBroom	...	Petronella Danforth
John Lazar	...	Ronnie (Z-Man) Barzell (as John La Zar/John LaZar)
Michael Blodgett	...	Lance Rocke
David Gurian	...	Harris Allsworth
Edy Williams	...	Ashley St. Ives
Erica Gavin	...	Roxanne
Phyllis Davis	...	Susan Lake
Harrison Page	...	Emerson Thorne
Duncan McLeod	...	Porter Hall (as Duncan Mc Leod/Duncan McLeod)
James Iglehart	...	Randy Black (as Jim Iglehart)
Charles Napier	...	Baxter Wolfe
Henry Rowland	...	Otto
Princess Livingston	...	Matron

Storyline

This film is a sequel in name only to Valley of the Dolls (1967). An all-girl rock band goes to Hollywood to make it big. There they find success, but luckily for us, they sink into a cesspool of decadence. This film has a sleeping woman performing on a gun which is in her mouth. It has women posing as men. It has lesbian sex scenes. It is also written by Roger Ebert, who had become friends with Russ Meyer after writing favorable reviews of several of his films.

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Plot Keywords:

friendship | satire | cult film | drugs | band | 

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Taglines:

This is not a sequel. There has never been anything like it!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music

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Certificate:

NC-17

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Goofs

When 'Z-Man' drops Lance Rocke's severed head, it breaks in half when it hits the floor.

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Quotes

Kelly MacNamara: Come on, man. I doubt if you'd recognize a hippie. I'm a capitalist, baby. I work for my living, not suck off somebody else.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: Disclaimer: THE FILM YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE IS NOT A SEQUEL TO "VALLEY OF THE DOLLS." IT IS WHOLLY ORIGINAL AND BEARS NO RELATIONSHIP TO REAL PERSONS, LIVING OR DEAD. IT DOES, LIKE "VALLEY OF THE DOLLS" DEAL WITH THE OFT-TIMES NIGHTMARE WORLD OF SHOW BUSINESS BUT IN A DIFFERENT TIME AND CONTEXT.

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Alternate Versions

All the UK cuts were finally waived by the BBFC for the 2003 DVD release.

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Connections

Spoofed in When Nature Calls (1985)

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Soundtracks

Incense and Peppermints
(uncredited)
Written by John S. Carter (uncredited) and Tim Gilbert (uncredited)
Performed by The Strawberry Alarm Clock

User Reviews

"Beyond the Valley of the Dolls/In a corner of the sky..."

One of the all-time great cult films, BVD is an energetic, imaginative parody of Valley of the Dolls and other such dippy Hollywood melodramas. Our three lusty, busty heroines are the members of an all-girl pop group. From one trailer: "Dolly Read is Kelly, the singer. Cynthia Myers is Casey, the swinger. Marcia McBroom is Pet, the soul sister." Whoa! Anyway, our trio of sexy supervixens move out to Hollywood, get discovered immediately, and are thrown into a whirlpool of pill addiction, alcoholism, lesbianism, abortions, depression, double crosses, crippling injuries, lots of violence, and lots of sex. All of this is played with a deceptively straight face, with the wild comedy arising from the ludicrousness of the soap-opera situations. One particularly sudsy moment is even accompanied by swelling daytime-TV organ music! There are obvious jokes, which are spirited and very funny, and even some sly references to Valley of the Dolls (a character named Miriam, the Warwick Court Apartments). The ending has to be seen to be believed, and even then....

The acting is very good (though Dolly Read's natural British and fake American accents are openly battling throughout), with top prizes taken by John LaZar as freaked-out record mogul Z-Man and Edy Williams as voracious porno queen Ashley St. Ives. The women, sporting big hair and thick false eyelashes, are all incredibly beautiful, and Russ Meyer lovingly captures them in neon-bright color. The editing and camerawork are fast-paced and super-stylish, as usual with Meyer. The soundtrack is excellent.

A groovy, sexy, X-rated look at L.A. back when it was cool!

Trivia: The reason this X seems so mild is because it was intended for an R! Meyer did prepare a more explicit version, but when this tamer cut was X'd, Fox elected to distribute it instead of the racier print. The video box says NC-17 because Fox has a policy against never releasing an X-rated tape. Of course, an X in 1970 did mean 17 and over, whereas it now means 18 and over. HUGE chasm there!

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 June 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$900,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1