Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Ever since I showed interest and sympathy for the more bizarre efforts in cult cinema, people have been recommending me to check out the oeuvre by director Russ Meyer. This peculiar director and scriptwriter is often named the maestro of American Cult cinema.Unfortunately, his movies are pretty hard to find (at least where I'm from) and they rarely ever receive a decent release on DVD. After finally having purchased Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, I can fully second the statement that Russ Meyer truly is one of a kind and certainly a director to check out entirely. Perhaps the weirdest thing about this film is that it was co-written by the respected and Pulitzer price-winning critic Roger Ebert! This - usually - very harsh critic joins the Meyer-madness here gladly.

I doubt Meyer's typical style will appeal to many people but for the more developed cult-fans, his colorful tale of 'Hollywood Vixens' is a true joy to observe! You might as well call it the definition of cult! It has everything: from bizarre and extremely eccentric characters over subtle (and less subtle) humor to explicit violence, sexual images and drug abuse. Wild parties are thrown in this film and offensive orgies are held.you can't imagine it yourself wild enough and Meyer adds it to his movie. Some of the biggest taboos are taken care of here shamelessly, like Nazis, drag queens, lesbians, unfaithful behavior and even abortion!! Keeping in mind this film was shot in 1970, this is a pretty remarkable achievement to say the least. BTVOTD also has a terrific soundtrack and pretty likeable acting performances. The leading girls do a pretty good job in making themselves believable, even though they're rather inexperienced. Needless to say they're stunning beauties in the first place.Especially Cynthia Meyers in the role of Casey! She's a true cult-Goddess and a wet dream for many men.yours truly included. BTVOTD ends with a truly absurd and explosive finale that easily can be considered as one of the weirdest twists in cinema history ever! Yet, I'm very careful in recommending this film to a large public. chances are that you'll be very disgusted by this movie or even loath it terrible. Therefore, I only recommend it if you're used to seeing quite an amount of weirdness already and you're not too quickly offended.

This film is a necessity for anyone with a sense of humor.

Anyone who doesn't think it was intentionally funny needs to sit back and groove baby. Some of the dialog seems to have been influenced by Dragnet '69 (which by the way is a much dirtier sounding title than BVD), The only other example of such painfully "hip" dialog. The use of Wonder Woman, and Robin the Boy Wonder at the end was too cool for words.

See it now!!!

Based on a lot of the reviews posted here, it's obvious that satire isn't truly understood by many. This is surprising when it comes to "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls," because this film is way over the top when it comes to mocking the ridiculous, "tell-all" melodramas like "Peyton Place" and "Valley of the Dolls," which were so popular in the late 1950's and 60's. Just the plot alone is absurd - a "shocking" morality tale about an all girl rock band making it big in Hollywood and facing corruption by drugs, fame, and sexual predators of the lesbian and transsexual variety. Couple this outrageous story with a script sparkling with the cliched "hip lingo of 1960's youth" (penned by a young Roger Ebert, who must have gotten a huge kick out of having his characters use phrases like `You're a groovy boy, I'd like to strap you on sometime' and utter words like `groovy' and `dig' with heart rending earnestness), a ridiculously fetching sound track (I happily own one of the very few surviving copies on CD - only 1000 were ever made), a bevy of buxom, big-haired, Playboy bunnies who can barely act, and the uniquely stylistic camera work of soft-core porn master Russ Meyer, and what we have is a film that is so intentionally bad that it defies fantastic. This movie is supposed to be bad, it was designed that way. That's where the genius lies. There has never been and can never, ever be a film as phenomenal as "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls." This isn't just my opinion - it's a fact!

This movie really tested my patience and I went to see it after Ebert waxed poetic about it in a two page article in the Sun Times. It's not enjoyable camp like Rocky Horror and it really says or adds nothing to the original Valley of the Dolls. It's just dumb and wears thin very quickly.

Russ Meyer's most lavish production is still jaw dropping, and still beyond comparison. BTVOTD is the ultimate camp film that, unlike Valley of the Dolls, is knowingly campy, deliberately absurd, never comes down to earth, and achieves a non stop contact high. Beyond description, it must be seen to be believed. A rapid fire, mind-rending parody of virtually every genre and cliché squeezed into a 2 hour film which hasn't aged a bit and has seen its reputation grow since its initial release in 1970. The songs, dialog, direction, editing, music, and acting all provide endless amazement every time I see it. In the 30 plus years since its release nothing else comes close to the experience of this film. Even more than The Rocky Horror Picture Show, BEYOND is a true audience film with so many lines and scenes that viewers have memorized. BEYOND is and was ahead of its time, and remains essential viewing.