Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Blistering performances.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Released in 1970 and directed by Russ Meyer, "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" satirizes the previous film, scripted by none other than Roger Ebert. It stars Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers & Marcia McBroom as an all-girl rock band, who move to Los Angeles to make it in the music biz. The group is so well-received that they turn the head of eccentric rock producer Z-Man (John Lazar) who becomes their Svengali-style manager and changes their name to The Carrie Nations, all to the consternation of their small-time manager, who's a Greg Brady lookalike (David Gurian). Can the girls survive the pitfalls that come with the debauched rock lifestyle? The cast is killer, highlighted by the three protagonists, especially the underrated Read. Also worthy of note, besides those cited above, are Michael Blodgett, who's character takes an interest in the singer (Read); Phyllis Davis as her hip aunt; Edy Williams as an oversexed porn star; Erica Gavin who takes a dubious interest in Myers' character; Duncan McLeod as the aunt's sleazy & greedy financial adviser; Charles Napier as her former-beau; Henry Rowland as Z-Man's employee who (I guess) likes to dress-up as a Nazi; and Harrison Page & James Iglehart who vie for the attentions of the foxy drummer (McBroom).The movie telegraphs right out of the gate that it's a joke and not to be taken seriously, like the first film (at least, like they TRIED to do with the first film). The best thing about "Beyond" is that it's the absolute apogee of the late 60s (being shot in '69) and everything that went with it — the overindulgence in drugs, "free" sex, libertine parties, go-go dancing, rock and general debauchedness. There are several noteworthy women, with cutie Read the arguable frontrunner. Also, some of the tunes the band plays are actually good and catchy. All these factors make for a fun, entertaining flick, which explains how it quickly became a cult film.Yet its quality is brought down by needless nudity and tame sex scenes that strapped it with a NC-17 rating and limited its access to the masses, not to mention its general appeal, which could've been easily avoided by wisely trimming down a few scenes. There's also too much fruity twaddle for my tastes and the "story" seems to be just one "wild party" after another, which gets redundant. Still, "Beyond" is the undeniable pinnacle of late 60's flicks, even though it can't be taken seriously for a moment, which is actually fitting.The film runs 109 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles, California.GRADE: B-

Valley of the Dolls was a famously rubbish 1967 relationship drama, dead earnest in its execution. So naturally this 1970 follow-up is a raunchy sex comedy directed by Russ Meyer and penned by the late film critic Roger Ebert. Valley starred Sharon Tate, who along with four others would be murdered by the Manson family in 1969. The fact that this homicide forms the basis of Beyond's insane bloodbath ending tells you all you need to know about the approach Meyer and Ebert are taking with this remake/sequel.Dolly Read plays Kelly, the lead singer of an up-and-coming all-girl pop-rock band, which heads to LA to meet Kelly's aunt, Susan (Phyllis Davis), and hopefully meet with her $50k inheritance. But Susan's adviser, Porter (Duncan McLeod), has his eyes on the money and dismisses Kelly and co as kinky hippies. While this battle is waged, the girls live up to Porter's title, boozing and bonking their way through a series of parties, while their new svengali, Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell (a lascivious John Lazar), sidelines their existing manager Harris (David Gurian), changes the band's name, and shamelessly promotes them for himself."All uptight about tomorrow and hanging onto yesterday," moans Randy Black (Jim Iglehart, channelling a low-rent Mohammed Ali); "all that matters is now." Combining counterculture energy with cheapo raunchiness, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls boldly and ruthlessly satirises the Love Generation.The story begins with a road trip promising boundless opportunity and free-spiritedness, but ultimately the girls' desires are parochial and shallow: sex and wealth. It takes a genuine tragedy to wake Kelly up to what's really important – as the needless narration only too clearly spells out in the end: "Those who only fake must be prepared to pay the highest price of all." Throughout, the aesthetic is pure gaudy music vid, edited like some kind of hangover flashback, especially in the party scenes, hopping back and forth between scraps of crazy cat dialogue from hedonists self-medicating on booze and weed and downers. ("Dolls" is a slang term for the latter.) When Z-Man is showing Kelly around her first party, he introduces her to a whole cast of characters, defining their uniqueness as if they all have a special part to play in maintaining the Free Love myth.But individualism taken to its endgame is dangerous, and Kelly's indulgence of her desires is precisely what ends up hurting those around her. Harris's old-fashioned monogamous romanticism is incompatible with the wild world into which he follows Kelly. His old world values leave him not only isolated but assumed to be gay. In the end he is metaphorically de-sexed, embodying a deeper, less possessive love, one equally free.I'm making the movie sound like a Freudian bore but it's quite the opposite. It totally indulges and hyperbolises the excesses of the period, and it's packed with frank-yet-harmless sex and nudity, as well as a host of awesome driving pop songs you've heard somewhere before. The whole cast plays it straight, because that's how satire should work – and also because Meyer never let the cast in on the joke. It works perfectly: Casey's (Cynthia Meyers) pregnancy revelation is pure soap brilliance.Long before the final reel you'll be well entrenched in the joke, revelling in the film's breathless pace, blinding colours, and ridiculously intricate wordplay. Z-Man's climactic actualisation of his medieval king persona is the zenith of excess. As he beheads his subject we hear the 20th Century Fox theme. It's the icing on one of the most subversive cakes in mainstream cinema history.

With my Russ Meyer marathon having unintentionally stopped in its tracks after viewing writer/directing auteur Russ Meyer's over looked title Black Snake for the IMDb boards Horror Challenge last year,I decided to celebrate my 9th year of being on IMDb,by taking a look at Meyer's ample epic.The plot:Visiting her aunt Susan Lake after manager Harris Allsworth has sent fledging all-girl Rock band The Kelly Affair up to LA,lead singer Kelly MacNamara is shocked to discover that Lake is planning to give her a third of her inheritance in a will.Fearing that he is about to lose out on a huge piece of cash,Lake's financial adviser Porter Hall attempts to stop Lake's plans by calling MacNamara and her band a bunch of 'dirty hippies'.Ignoring Hall's less than helpful advice,Lake tells MacNamara that along with the inheritance,she is also going to try and get The Kelly Affair to reach the top of LA's Rock scene.Getting introduced to a wild and extremely flamboyant manager/Rock producer called Ronnie 'Z-Man' Barzell,the band dump Allsworth as they set out to use all of Barzell's links in the industry.Renaming themselves The Carrie Nations,the band find their rise to fame to be matched by an increasing prescience of 'hangers-on' which leads to the group finding out how low the highs can go,as they go beyond the valley of the dolls.View on the film:Making his major studio debut,co-writer/ (along with Roger Ebert)director Russ Meyer shows an amazing determination to not soften his distinctive style for a major studio.For the film's eye-catching appearance,Meyer creates an irresistible fizzy atmosphere,with Meyer making the surprisingly good Rock songs (written by Stu Philips) scatter across the screen as Meyer brilliantly using dazzling colours,whip-pans and razor sharp editing to show the dizzy good times that the band experience.Bringing The Carrie Nation down to earth,Meyer uses muted colours to show the darkening of the bands lives,with Meyer entering into some unexpected proto-Slasher regions,which are met by Meyer breaking a large number of taboo's during the Nation's down with large dollops of overly- exaggerated charm .Whilst he appeared to be far too up-tight in his reviews for other movies which took a wonderful overly exaggerated approach to serious subjects,writers Roger Ebert and Russ Meyer reveal themselves to be a winning combo who are able to perfectly mix super sweet melodrama with off-beat 'women's pictures' shavings and delightfully bonkers slices of Slasher Horror. Making very good thumb nail impressions of each of the band members,the writers take a great kaleidoscope approach with the bands rise to fame,as Meyer & Ebert showing all of the wild and deranged frolics to be something which leads the band dazed,and very confused.Crashing down to earth,Meyer and Ebert pair up The Carrie Nations moments of doom with hilarious whip-smart one liners,which gives even the title's most dramatic moments a real Pop sensation.Shown as a group who has travelled up and down every dusty road,each of the beautiful Carrie Nations members give superb performances which compliments each of the different elements the other band members bring to the film.Taking on lead singer duties, the very pretty Dolly Reed gives a tantalising performance as MacNamara,with Reed giving hitting high-kicks as the band reach their heights,which are countered by Reed showing MacNamara's real unease at how to pull the band out of the doom that they are sinking into.Joining Reed,the stunning Marcia McBroom gives a fantastic performance as Petronella 'Pet' Danforth,with McBroom showing the joy fade away from 'Pet's' face,as the band start to relies the valley that they have entered.

I started off hating this film. An exploration of male/female relationships set during the 1960s party scene, I found it alternating between bouts of cheesy singing and dull conversation. The characters irritated me and the script (by none other than film critic Roger Ebert) felt outlandish.But nonetheless I kept watching. Or rather, something kept me watching. I started getting to know the intriguing characters, and then I realised I was hooked. It's barely reminiscent of a Russ Meyer movie - despite focusing on sexual relationships there's little smut or nudity - but it has style to spare. The ending is both shocking and hilarious and comes totally out of left field. Odd, yes, but compelling with it.