La vallée des plaisirs

I don't know why I feel so compelled to write about this movie. I had seen "BVD" a couple of years back and recently rented it again. In one weekend, I watched it three times. I love the color, the music, the whiz-bang editing, the campy dramatics...it would be a true classic if not for one thing: the distasteful, disastrous ending. "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" is soft-core auteur Russ Meyer's drug-drenched, sex-soaked parody of "Valley of the Dolls," the film based on Jacqueline Susann's best-selling novel of the same name. Whereas "Valley of the Dolls" is unintentional camp, "BVD" is intentional camp. It lampoons the southern Californian "scene" in the late '60's by relating the adventures of the three members of a girl band who find fame and fortune in Hollywood. "Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll" is the main theme here; the secondary theme is "voluptuous, scantily-clad starlets displaying miles of cleavage." (This is, after all, a Russ Meyer film!) Those discriminating viewers seeking insightful social commentary, three-dimensional characters, and plot twists that actually make sense had better look elsewhere. The plot concerns the previously mentioned trio of female rockers and their escapades in La-La Land. Pet, Kelly, Casey, and Harris, the band's manager (and Kelly's boyfriend) make it to Los Angeles after a two-minute montage of them groovily singing their way across the country. Kelly is reunited with her long-lost aunt who takes the girls to a wild, swingin' party at the home of Ronnie Barzell, a rock promoter; Barzell enthusiastically signs the band to a contract after they do an impromptu performance for his guests. All of this miraculously occurs within six hours of their arrival in L.A. (Screw schlepping around town submitting demo tapes; this is the way to become a rock star.) Having achieved overnight fame, our busty, lusty heroines then confront the Dark Side Of Success, finding themselves quickly entangled in various soap opera-ish sub-plots.

The Suff I Liked: The acting: good, not great, but great acting would only detract from a movie like this. As the three female leads, Dolly Read (Kelly), Cynthia Myers (Casey), and Marcia McBroom (Pet), are, if nothing else, energetic and certainly gorgeous to look at. No, they're not accomplished thespians, but then Russ Meyer chose his actresses more for their cup sizes than their emoting skills. The performances I particularly like are those of John LaZar as flamboyant Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell, Phyllis Davis as Kelly's kindly Aunt Susan, and Edy Williams as, hilariously, oversexed porn star Ashley St. Ives. The music: some great, late-'60's style rock songs. Does anybody out there know if there is a soundtrack available? Meyer's visual flair: This is one of the most colorful, most visually frenetic films that I have ever seen. Meyer will perhaps be remembered more for his abilities as cinematographer and editor than as director. Almost every frame is jammed with vibrant, sharp color and the whole show zooms along at such a feverish pace that you're left breathless.

The Stuff I Didn't Like: As I said before, my problem with this movie is the ending. I won't give it away, except to say that it is repellent, gratuitously violent, and so dark and brutal as to be completely out of sync with the gaudy, campy scenes that precede it.

My suggestion - skip the last 15 minutes or so, and just enjoy the long, riotous bacchanal that comes before.

One of the all-time great cult films, BVD is an energetic, imaginative parody of Valley of the Dolls and other such dippy Hollywood melodramas. Our three lusty, busty heroines are the members of an all-girl pop group. From one trailer: "Dolly Read is Kelly, the singer. Cynthia Myers is Casey, the swinger. Marcia McBroom is Pet, the soul sister." Whoa! Anyway, our trio of sexy supervixens move out to Hollywood, get discovered immediately, and are thrown into a whirlpool of pill addiction, alcoholism, lesbianism, abortions, depression, double crosses, crippling injuries, lots of violence, and lots of sex. All of this is played with a deceptively straight face, with the wild comedy arising from the ludicrousness of the soap-opera situations. One particularly sudsy moment is even accompanied by swelling daytime-TV organ music! There are obvious jokes, which are spirited and very funny, and even some sly references to Valley of the Dolls (a character named Miriam, the Warwick Court Apartments). The ending has to be seen to be believed, and even then....

The acting is very good (though Dolly Read's natural British and fake American accents are openly battling throughout), with top prizes taken by John LaZar as freaked-out record mogul Z-Man and Edy Williams as voracious porno queen Ashley St. Ives. The women, sporting big hair and thick false eyelashes, are all incredibly beautiful, and Russ Meyer lovingly captures them in neon-bright color. The editing and camerawork are fast-paced and super-stylish, as usual with Meyer. The soundtrack is excellent.

A groovy, sexy, X-rated look at L.A. back when it was cool!

Trivia: The reason this X seems so mild is because it was intended for an R! Meyer did prepare a more explicit version, but when this tamer cut was X'd, Fox elected to distribute it instead of the racier print. The video box says NC-17 because Fox has a policy against never releasing an X-rated tape. Of course, an X in 1970 did mean 17 and over, whereas it now means 18 and over. HUGE chasm there!

I liked this movie but I was prepared, having read about it extensively before seeing it. From the soundtrack to the camera and editing tricks to the performances, I liked it all. My only problem was the middle part of the movie which concentrated on the personal troubles of the band, sort of dragged. Only when John Lazar came back did the movie pick up and I guess I'm in the minority because I liked the ending. Mainly, because it took the outrageous flavor from the beginning and went even farther. The casting was especially noteworthy. Normally, people who can't act really bother me but watching all of the Playboy playmates trying to act serious while spouting out hilariously clichéd dialogue (I can only hope that Roger Ebert and Russ Meyer weren't trying to write authentic dialogue) was very funny. Special note must be given to the drummer trying to pretend that she could really play. Only Lazar came off as a real actor and he tackled his role with gusto. It is a shame to see that he has never really done anything worthy of his talents after this. Having seen this film only once I don't know how it would hold up after repeated viewings but I can say it is worth seeing at least once.

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!!!