B.A.D. Movie of the Week - Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)

Directed by Russ Meyer

Story by Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert

Screenplay by Roger Ebert

Stars: Dolly Read, Cynthia Meyers, Marcia McBroom, David Gurian, John Lazar, Michael Blodgett, Harrison Page, Erica Gavin, Phyllis Davis, Edy Williams, and Duncan McLeod

When I was preparing to do this month of watching classic movies, I saw that the noted film critic, Roger Ebert's lone screenplay credit was this movie. Holy shit! Was he on acid or something when he wrote this?

Director Russ Meyer wanted to make it clear that this movie is not a sequel to Valley of the Dolls. I don't know whose idea was to slap together this movie and give it it's title. This movie makes VotD as fucking masterpiece.

Displaying the free love movement after Woodstock, this movie tries to tell the tale of a band trying to make a name for themselves in Los Angeles. There is the lead singer, Kelly (Read) who has an on/off relationship with the band's manager, Harris (Gurian), but booze and sex get them pulled into different directions. The drummer, Petronella-- that name is terrible by the way-- (McBroom), who tried to do wright by her beau, Emerson (Page), but temptations get the better of her. Lastly there is the bassist, Casey (Myers) who is the shy one of the group that has a secret that she has not disclosed to the girls.

I did not know what to expect with this movie. I thought it was gonna be tits and ass and nothing else. It was that, but so much more. 

Women objectified. The women having their tits out for no good reason just for the director to do it. 

The "plot" was nonsensical. I did not know what the hell was happening from one minute to the next. The choppy editing did not help matters. The drastic tonal shifts were nauseating. It was musical then a drama than a comedy than a melodrama then a horror movie all of a sudden.

I know all of the celluloid closet. I knew that when their were homosexual characters in this movie that they would be of three things: a blatant fey lisping stereotype, a sexual deviant predator or a villain that dies at the end.

This movie was nonsense in every sense of the word. Just awful. I think Ebert made the right call in not writing another script.

Rating: 2/10