Woodyanders
Sweet and naïve college grad Anne Welles (an appealing portrayal by Barbara Parkins), ruthlessly driven and ambitious singer Neely O'Hara (a gloriously histrionic Patty Duke), and the gorgeous, but untalented Jennifer North (the stunning Sharon Tate in an especially poignant role) all seek fame and fortune in show business only to be chewed up and spit out by the decadent fast line lifestyle they find themselves caught up in.Director Mark Robson treats the trashy material with admirably misguided sincerity and seriousness, thereby ensuring that this movie delivers a plethora of unintentional belly laughs, with Neely's training/climbing-up-that-ladder montage, the supposedly racy, but actually quite ridiculously tame French "art" film screening, and O'Hara's incarceration flashbacks at an asylum rating as the definite gut-busting highlights. Moreover, the shamelessly lurid script by Helen Deutsch and Dorothy Kingsley leaves no sleazy stone unturned: We've got everything from abortion to suicide to alcoholism and homosexuality to copious amounts of excessive pill-popping all present and accounted for in the delightfully lurid narrative. The game cast give it their proverbial all: Duke overemotes to the point where you swear that she's going to implode, Susan Hayward attacks her juicy role as bitter and aging Broadway veteran Helen Lawson with deliciously venomous gusto, Tony Scotti makes a likeable impression as dashing hunk Tony Polar, and Lee Grant lends sturdy support as Tony's protective sister Miriam. William H. Daniels' glossy widescreen cinematography provides an impressive vibrant and polished look. The lovably cruddy songs hit the catchy spot, too. A complete kitschy hoot and a half.
Chrid Mann
Have been reading through the reviews here and am amazed that no one has pointed out the thing that is most weird about this film. Which is: that this film is set in 1967 and yet there is absolutely NO pop music in it. Not even in the background on the radio! And remember this is the year of the Monterey Festival, the Summer of Love, Swinging London, Pepper, Forever Changes, Hendrix (the list could go on and on).Some of the other reviewers say this film is 'pure sixties' but no, no, NO! There's a tiny nod at fashion with Parkins' up-market outfits but that's about it. There's no fab gear, no op art, no e-type jags, no mini cars or mini skirts, this is just NOT 1967!This film hasn't even tried to be 'with-it', hasn't even put any 'token' pop or rock music in. You know the kind: 'groovy' party music with Hammond organs and bongos and electric guitars and go-go girls!There IS 'music' in this film, however, a LOT of it. You can't stop it. It keeps popping up to torture you like the monster in a horror movie. Now, I dislike show music, even when it's competent, but this is BAD show music! Others have gone into detail about it so I won't repeat their comments.You can't believe that in this same year you had The Graduate with wonderful songs by Simon and Garfunkel! It's like the makers of this film were on a totally different planet - the planet of Fuddie-duddie!I did watch it all the way though (albeit noodling on the guitar the whole time) and I have to agree with nearly everyone about one thing: Sharon Tate is very sweet.Thanks for reading! Bye!
Dalbert Pringle
C'mon, now - This sensationally sleazy piece of trash from the screwy 60s really should've been a whole lot better - 'Cause, believe me, it couldn't have possibly gotten much worse.The way I see it, the frequent, unintentional laughs that occurred throughout Valley Of The Dolls (VOTD) did absolutely nothing to compensate for all of the terrible "everything else" stuff that took place in this disappointingly dumb picture.Pathetically written, incompetently directed, with certified b-grade performances all around, VOTD is, without question, a shamelessly trashy adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's shamelessly trashy novel of the same name.In a nutshell - VOTD's decidedly drab and seemingly uneventful story revolves around the ups and downs and all-arounds of 3 ambitious young beauties breaking into show biz and their inevitable "introduction" (nudge-nudge-wink-wink) into NYC society.Remembering that this is, of course, 1967 - These 3 babes, in one way, or another, always seemed to be getting themselves mixed up with all the wrong men and ending up taking all the wrong drugs, for all the wrong reasons. But, I'll be damned if they ever seemed to be getting anything worthwhile happening in their miserable, little lives, at all.Ho-Hum! What a bloody waste of talent! Trivia notes - The so-called "dolls" that are referred to in this film's title is a slang term used for barbiturates that are taken as sleep aids.Made on an estimated $5 million budget, VOTD (as of 1973) had earned itself $50 million, worldwide.To date, Jacqueline Susann's garbage novel of the same name has sold over 30 million copies, worldwide.Actor Richard Deyfuss made his screen debut in this film.VOTD is considered to be one of the top 100 "Most Amusingly Bad Movies Ever Made" - But, I'll tell you something.... I wasn't amused.
capone666
Valley of the Dolls A lot less people would be inclined to take antidepressants if they only came in the form of suppositories.Since they don't, the girlfriends in this drama pop'em by the handful.At different points in their careers, fashion model Anne (Barbara Parkins), movie star Neely (Patty Duke), and girl next door Jennifer (Sharon Tate) each become addicted to polychromatic prescription pills colloquially referred to as "dolls".Anne takes her dolls to cope with her cheating husband (Paul Burke); Neely needs them for her ego and; Jennifer pops them for depression.But the highs don't last and soon all three women must face an array of consequences, from breast cancer to suicidal to psychotic breakdown.Based on the best seller by Jacqueline Susann, this salacious cautionary tale relies on gratuitous sex and sentimental twaddle to compensate for a flaccid script.Furthermore, the real pills corrupting young women in the 1960s were the contraceptive kind.Yellow Light vidiotreviews.blogspot.com
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