Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

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Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Directed by	Russ Meyer
Produced by	Russ Meyer
Written by	Story: Russ Meyer Roger Ebert Screenplay: Roger Ebert
Starring	Dolly Read, Edy Williams, Erica Gavin, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, John LaZar, Michael Blodgett
Editing by	Russ Meyer
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	June 17, 1970
Running time	110 minutes
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$1,000,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a 1970 film starring Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Erica Gavin, Edy Williams, Marcia McBroom, John LaZar, and Michael Blodgett. It was directed by Russ Meyer, and co-written by Meyer and Roger Ebert. Despite its title, it is not a sequel to the novel or film versions of Valley of the Dolls, but a satirical pastiche inspired by the original. Upon initial release it was given an X rating by the MPAA; in 1990 it was re-classified as NC-17.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is the first of two films produced by independent filmmaker Meyer for 20th Century Fox (it was followed by The Seven Minutes), and one of three films that film critic Ebert co-wrote with Meyer. Ebert has written that Beyond the Valley of the Dolls "seems more and more like a movie that got made by accident when the lunatics took over the asylum."

The film's plot concerns the adventures and misadventures of an all-female rock band called The Carrie Nations (after temperance advocate Carrie Nation), who fall under the spell of a flamboyant, evil record producer (modelled after Phil Spector) named Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell (John LaZar). Other significant characters include Lance Rock (Michael Blodgett), a gigolo; Ashley St. Ives (Edy Williams), a pornographic actress; Roxanne (Erica Gavin), a rapacious lesbian clothes designer who pursues The Carrie Nations' bass player Casey (Cynthia Myers); and Harris (David Gurian), the ill-fated boyfriend of the Carrie Nations' lead singer Kelly (Dolly Read).

In 2001, the Village Voice named the film #87 on its list of the 100 Greatest Films of the Century.

In 2006, a two-disc special edition DVD was released by 20th Century Fox.

[edit] Cultural influence

The camp style of Beyond The Valley of the Dolls has influenced the films of John Waters and the Austin Powers series, which paid homage by having Austin utter one of Beyond's signature phrases, "This is my happening and it freaks me out!".

The film has influenced a number of rock bands favoring a camp-trash aesthetic, such as:

• The New York Dolls, whose name was an homage to the film.^{[citation needed]}
• The Murderdolls, who named an album after the movie, "Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls,"
• Scissor Sisters singer Ana Matronic and Tito el Boludito, who covered a song from the film. ^{[citation needed]}
• Dialogue from the movie in which Porter Hall says, "They were living in a single room ... I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn that all four of them habitually smoked marijuana cigarettes--reefers!" is played in ska-punk band Sublime's cover of "Smoke Two Joints". This line also appears in early prohibition era campaigns against marijuana, including Reefer Madness.
• The video for the song Pull Shapes by The Pipettes parodies a scene from the movie.

[edit] Trivia

• Originally intended as a sequel to Valley of the Dolls, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was instead revised as a spoof of the original. Fox added a disclaimer in the opening credits. The original Valley of the Dolls character names "Anne Welles" and "Lyon Burke" were changed to "Susan Lake" and "Baxter Wolfe", respectively.

• According to Roger Ebert, the violent climax was inspired by the Tate-LaBianca murders perpetrated by the Manson Family. Valley of the Dolls star Sharon Tate was among the victims of the Manson Family murders.

• According to Ebert, the film grossed ten times the amount of its budget in the U.S. On the DVD commentary, Ebert suggests that executives at 20th Century Fox were embarrassed by the film's success, and that the studio "really missed the boat" by not circulating the film during the heyday of midnight movies.

• Patty Duke (Neely in the 1967 Valley of the Dolls film) referred to Beyond the Valley of the Dolls as a "low-budget skin-flick" in a 1970 episode of Playboy after Dark.

• The film is often referred to as "BVD".

[edit] External links

• Beyond the Valley of the Dolls at the Internet Movie Database
• Beyond the Valley of the Dolls review by Roger Ebert
• Fan Site

The films of Russ Meyer

The French Peep Show (1950) • The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959) • This Is My Body (1959) • Eve and the Handyman (1960) • Naked Camera (1960) • Erotica (1961) • Wild Gals of the Naked West (1962) • Europe in the Raw (1963) • Heavenly Bodies! (1963) • Skyscrapers and Brassieres (1963) • Lorna (1964) • Fanny Hill (1964) • Mudhoney (1965) • Motorpsycho (1965) • Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965) • Mondo Topless (1966) • Common Law Cabin (1967) • Good Morning and... Goodbye! (1967) • Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers! (1968) • Vixen! (1968) • Cherry, Harry & Raquel! (1969) • Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) • The Seven Minutes (1971) • Blacksnake (1972) • Supervixens (1975) • Up! (1976) • Who Killed Bambi? (1978) • Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens (1979) • Pandora Peaks (2001)