{"id":51198,"date":"2020-09-08T10:50:59","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T17:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=51198"},"modified":"2021-06-12T15:37:12","modified_gmt":"2021-06-12T22:37:12","slug":"beyond-the-valley-of-the-dolls-1970","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=51198","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;This is my happening, and it freaks me out!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-Poster-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-51201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-Poster-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-Poster-177x270.jpg 177w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-Poster.jpg 656w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nThree rock performers &#8212; Kelly (Dolly Read), Casey (Cynthia Myers), and Pet (Marcia McBroom) &#8212; travel with their manager Harris (David Gurian) to Hollywood, where Kelly&#8217;s Aunt Susan (Phyllis Davis) introduces her to wild parties led by Z-Man (John Lazar). Soon Z-Man helps the three musicians form a new band called The Carrie Nations, and tensions arise between Z-Man and Harris. Meanwhile, romantic entanglements quickly ensue: Kelly starts an affair with a hunky player named Lance Rocke (Michael Blodgett) while also seducing her aunt&#8217;s financial caretaker (Duncan McLeod) into giving her a larger portion of their inheritance; Harris is relentlessly pursued by a bosomy porn star (Edy Williams); Pet falls in love with an aspiring lawyer (Harrison Page) but strays with a prizefighter (James Iglehart); and Casey falls for a lesbian (Erica Gavin).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hollywood<\/li>\n<li>Musicians<\/li>\n<li>Rock &#8216;n Roll<\/li>\n<li>Russ Meyer Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary writes that this &#8220;cult favorite&#8221; by Russ Meyer &#8212; &#8220;about a small-town three-woman rock band&#8230; who make it big in Hollywood, the land of sex, drugs, moral corruption, and deviance&#8221; &#8212; was originally &#8220;slated to be a sequel to <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=32340\"><em>Valley of the Dolls<\/em><\/a>, but instead of expanding on Jacqueline Susann&#8217;s trashy best-seller it turned around and parodied the first film and other overblown, cliche-filled Hollywood soap operas.&#8221; However, as Peary complains, &#8220;there is nothing worse than a multi-million-dollar spoof of movies that are already self-parodies.&#8221; He expresses frustration that &#8220;when Meyer finally got his chance to make a studio picture (with 20th Century Fox)&#8230; he proved to be lazy and conservative&#8221; instead of &#8220;really inventive&#8221;, &#8220;opting to make an outrageously campy caricature-populated film rather than attempting to make a serious, solid melodrama&#8221;. Peary adds that &#8220;critic Roger Ebert&#8217;s script is smug and vulgar, and full of violence-against-female scenes (which Meyer films <em>seriously<\/em>) of the type he has crusaded against as a critic.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Peary expands upon his frustrations and disappointment with this film in his first <em>Cult Movies<\/em> book, where he starts by discussing Meyer&#8217;s two cinematic &#8220;phases&#8221; before <em>BTVOTD<\/em>: Meyer began as &#8220;King of the Nudies&#8221;, making a &#8220;fortune as the independent producer-director-cameraman-editor-writer-distributor of such cheapie harbingers of the Naked Cinema as the ground-breaking <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1353\"><em>The Immoral Mr. Teas<\/em> (1959)<\/a>&#8230;&#8221; Next he made &#8220;infinitely more ambitious&#8221; &#8220;tongue-in-cheek potboilers&#8221; that &#8220;served as the basis for the pre-<em>Beyond the Valley of the Dolls<\/em> cult: <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=51229\"><em>Lorna<\/em> (1964)<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=51256\"><em>Mud Honey<\/em> (1965)<\/a>, &#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=45979\"><em>Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill<\/em> (1966)<\/a> &#8230; and [Peary&#8217;s] favorite, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=51316\"><em>Cherry, Harry, and Raquel<\/em> (1969)<\/a>.&#8221; Peary describes this second string of films &#8212; &#8220;set in rugged terrains&#8230; [and] inhabited by sexually driven buxom beauties&#8230;, strong-jawed, no-nonsense heroes, and an assortment of religious zealots, rapists, and sweaty lowlifes&#8221; &#8212; as &#8220;essentially fake morality plays, in which the numerous sinners either repent or are punished severely.&#8221; He argues that &#8220;as skin flicks, Meyer&#8217;s 1964-1969 films were far superior to those of his competitors&#8221;, given they are &#8220;extremely well-photographed&#8221; and feature &#8220;wild, absurd visual humor, dialogue that makes no sense&#8230;, and ridiculous plot situations &#8212; while his actors play their roles straight.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Peary goes on to say that while &#8220;to many moviegoers who hadn&#8217;t seen a Russ Meyer film, <em>BTVOTD<\/em> was a revelation &#8212; a film that they (mostly college students) considered to be their own &#8216;far-out&#8217; wave length&#8221; &#8212; Peary and others realized they&#8217;d &#8220;overestimated [Meyer&#8217;s] talents&#8221;. Peary refers to <em>BTVOTD<\/em> as &#8220;really a terrible film, energetically but poorly acted by ex-Playboy bunnies Dolly Reed and Cynthia Meyers, model Marcia McBroom, and under-emoting or overemoting stars.&#8221; He points out that &#8220;cryptic jargon and Meyer&#8217;s rapid-fire editing techniques&#8221; (your head will seriously spin!) &#8220;are meant to camouflage the picture&#8217;s emptiness&#8221; &#8212; but &#8220;the holes in the script come through&#8221;. He ends his scathing review (which I essentially agree with) by noting &#8220;there is little in [it] to recommend&#8221;, and that it simply &#8220;proved that what [fans] had seen in his early films were everything Meyer had to offer&#8221;; &#8220;by choice (!), Meyer returned to making independent sex films &#8212; in the <em>Vixen<\/em> mold but not as good&#8221;, which &#8220;unfortunately [was] the milieu to which he [was] best suited.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Colorful sets<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Sets.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Sets-1024x440.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"275\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-51199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Sets-1024x440.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Sets-300x129.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Sets-128x55.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Sets-768x330.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Sets-1536x660.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Sets-604x259.png 604w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Sets.png 1651w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Far-out cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Still.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Still-1024x434.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"271\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-51200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Still-1024x434.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Still-300x127.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Still-128x54.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Still-768x325.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Still-1536x651.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Still-604x256.png 604w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Beyond-the-Valley-of-the-Dolls-Still.png 1659w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, once &#8212; but simply for its cult status and notoriety. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0065466\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/68589\/beyond-the-valley-of-the-dolls#articles-reviews?articleId=1534476\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.qnetwork.com\/review\/3745\">Q Network Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=679&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1970\/06\/27\/archives\/screen-beyond-the-valley-of-the-dollsfilm-seems-to-parody-his.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;This is my happening, and it freaks me out!&#8221; Synopsis: Three rock performers &#8212; Kelly (Dolly Read), Casey (Cynthia Myers), and Pet (Marcia McBroom) &#8212; travel with their manager Harris (David Gurian) to Hollywood, where Kelly&#8217;s Aunt Susan (Phyllis Davis) introduces her to wild parties led by Z-Man (John Lazar). Soon Z-Man helps the three musicians form a new band called The Carrie Nations, and tensions arise between Z-Man and Harris. Meanwhile, romantic entanglements quickly ensue: Kelly starts an affair&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=51198\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51198"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72801,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51198\/revisions\/72801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}