Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)

[Carter Lee 26]

Directed by Russ Meyer, written by ROGER EBERT

[DRDarkeNY 0]

And absolutely worth reviewing, as a film that's either brilliant or a complete PoS, depending on what frame of mind you're in when you see it.

[RyanMiller 1]

Roger eberts best and last screenplay. I win!!

[sillstaw 414]

Well, technically it wasn't his last screenplay. He wrote a screenplay for the Sex Pistols, but the money was pulled after a day and a half of shooting. He also had a hand in the screenplay of "Up!," a later Russ Meyer film.

 

But yeah, this movie was crazy.

 

"You're a groovy boy. I'd like to strap you on sometime."

[Torgo3K 0]

You guys must review BTVOTD in honor of Ebert's passing. It has all the hallmarks of a HDTGM classic. Please, please, please.

 

Just to give some flavor, here are just some of the tags from the IMdB page:

• Drugs
  
• Lesbian
  
• Sex
  
• Band
  
• Inheritance
  
• Lawyer
  
• Multiple Stabbings
  
• Woman Shot
  
• Sword
  
• Male Rear Nudity
  
• Fictional Band
  
• Bed Spring
  
• Paraplegic
  
• Record Producer
  
• Blood Spatter
  
• Music Industry
  
• Los Angeles California
  
• Suicide Attempt
  
• Massacre
  
• Bare Breasts
  
• Nudity
  
• Erotica
  
• Female Nudity
  
• Gun In Mouth
  
• Cult Director
  
• Absurdism
  
• Controversy
  
• Put On
  
• Abortion
  
• Transvestite
  
• Comic Violence
  
• Aunt Niece Relationship
  
• Spoof
  
• Homosexuality
  
• Death
  
• Price Of Fame
  
• Campy
  
• Lesbianism
  
• Beheading
  
• Buxom
  
• Rock Star
  
• Fame
  
• Boy With Glasses
  
• Shot In The Mouth
  
• Nazi
  
• Hollywood California
  
• Killing
  
• All Girl Band
  
• Satire
  
• Melodrama
  
• Female Rear Nudity
  
• Woman Shot In The Forehead
  
• Softcore
  
• Transsexual
  
• Violence
  
• Reference To William Shakespeare
  
• Murder
  
• Couturier
  
• In Joke
  
• Butler
  
• Batman Costume
  
• Rock 'n' Roll
  
• Hippie
  
• Gigolo
  
• Topless Female Nudity
  
• Nude Woman Murdered
  
• Running Gag
  
• Triple Wedding
  

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

http://youtu.be/TH6bgJEEr34

 

Not a sequel to 'Valley of the Dolls,' but a similar kind of thing and an excuse to show breasts and piggyback off of a catchy title? This movie is an example of exploitation insanity, and a perfect time capsule of something that could only happen in the late 1960s and into 1970 (when the film was released). There's little bits of madness all over the place, interspersed with HUGE BITS of madness, nudity, and musical numbers. Plus, it would be the first time Russ Meyer would be discussed on HDTGM, and if we're willing to discuss the feminist implications of 'Spice World,' then holy crap, that guy is a whole warehouse full of cans of worms.

 

"I got a wading pool full of mayonnaise!"

"Mayonnaise!?!?"

 

"Am I interrupting something?"

"Only a little make-out session between Count Dracula and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley here."

 

I think 'North' is a great choice for an Ebert tribute as well, since that might be his most famous review, I'm just putting this one forward as a possibility since he wrote the screenplay.

[sillstaw 414]

"You will drink the black sperm of my vengeance!"

 

The fun part is that Ebert basically admitted they were making parts of it up as they went along. (The climactic shootings were supposedly added in the day they were shot, and Z-Man's big secret was thrown into the script on a whim). He answered the question of how it got made pretty well when he said:

 

Remembered after 10 years, "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.

[Scam Elliot 42]

This movie is the paragon of so bad that it is good. Written by ROGER EBERT and RUSS MEYER, this drugged out rock musical has one of the greatest shock twist endings in all of cinema. It is Neither, Niether, Ether, eIther,... It is Beyond The Valley of the Dolls.

[Chelsea Day 0]

Let's start this off by mentioning that Roger Ebert wrote this glorious piece of shit. The movie follows a group of women trying to make it as a female band but struggle to keep focused on their dream with all of the sex, drugs and various other distractions that surround them. Plus, the end of the movie is pretty wackadoodle... 

[JeffreyMcDonald 65]

Paul mentioned in the "400 Blows" episode of "Unspooled" that he's never seen this film.  OH MY!  They HAVE to do this movie.  It is so great/terrible/great!  One of my favorites and (to quote Paul) "it makes NO sense".