La vallée des plaisirs

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!

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.

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!

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.

There are two kinds of bad movies: 1.) the kind so awful and bad that you wonder how it ever got approved to be filmed (i.e. '95 version of SCARLET LETTER, SPICE WORLD, SPEED 2, etc.) 2.) the kind that is trying to be serious but it winds up being hysterical (i.e. BATTLEFIELD EARTH, SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND, MYRA BRICKENRIDGE). But with a Russ Meyer's film, it does have bad acting and a weak plot, that it appears to be a "bad" movie. But with it's sharp dialogue, rapid editing, good cinematography, and nice shots of women's assests, a Russ Meyer film is one to watch at a party or in the theater. I recently saw his most acclaimed film in the cinema a few weeks ago, BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. And seeing it with an audience made the film more enjoyable and entertaining than watching it at home alone. Not anything to do with the trashy Jacqulin Susan bestseller and the terrible 1967 film with Patty Duke, BEYOND is similar tale of three young female talents from Smallville U.S.A. who all go to Hollywood to make it big, and experience the cruel world of show business. There's leader red-head Kelly MacMamara (Dolly Read) on lead gituar, brunette Casey (Cynthia Myers) on rhythm and African-American Pet (Marcia McBroom) on drums. Their manager and Kelly's boyfriend is Harris Allsworth (David Gurian) a man who looks like a older version of Greg Brady. They get an offer to go to Hollywood and make it big, so they hop in their Volkswagon Bus and go on Route 66 to Hollywood (ah, the early seventies, it seemed so groovy). Once there, the four meet Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell (John Lazar) who owns and runs pretty much all of the young talent in the city. Z-Man signs the group on a contract, which means less time and involvement for Harris and Kelly. Kelly then has an affair with movie stud Lance Rocke (Michael Blodgett) a golden hair actor who thinks he's gods gift to the world. Meanwhile, Harris has an affair with porno starlett Ashley St. Ives (a very buxom and sexy Edy Williams "former Mrs. Russ Meyers). Ashley loves sex, and only wants to have sex anywhere but in the bedroom, the backseat of a Jaguar, Rolls Royce, in a boat, on the beach, etc. While Casey becomes very close and falls in love with clothing desingner Roxanne (VIXEN star Erica Gavin). And Pet falls in love with struggling law student and good guy Emerson (Harrison Page). But, Emerson has to compete with Randy Black (James Inglehart) a boxer who uses philosphies like Mahummah Ali, yet their horrible. Finally, there's Kelly's rich and friendly aunt, Susan Lake (Phyllis Davis) who is giving thoughts on marrying nice gentleman Baxter Wolfe (Charles Napier) against her attorney's Porter Hall (Duncan McLeod) advice. And the plot thickens which includes Nazis, transexuals, abortions, drugs, Martin Borman, and sex sex sex! BVD is a film that appears to be dramatic, but it's actually a funny satire. It pokes fun of those cliched stories that has young Alice going into the world of the corrupt and bad. I know that Paul Verhoven was doing the same thing with SHOWGIRLS, however, the film going public was too stupid to realize that. With such corny but funny dialogue like "I want to strap you on!" and "Up yours Ratso!" One cannot help but laugh. Seeing it in a full theater, the audience was laughing at not only the dialogue but also the scenes. With an abortion doctor wearing far sighted glasses, it shows that this film shouldn't be taken seriously. People think that Meyers was trying to be serious with this film, and he wasn't. Co-writer Roger Ebert (the same film critic Roger Ebert) admitted that BVD is just a satire of the over dramatic films of that time. If Meyers was trying to make a serious film (and I can't see that) then the mood would have been different. Meyers is know for his satire, but he's more known for his big girls. And when I say big girls I mean Double D's. He casts his women (at least the important ones) by the size of their chest, than their talent. That is why none of the actresses are that good. And the actress are already use to baring it all like Playboy models Cynthis Myers and Edy Williams. This is a cult movie that was made before the midnight showcase of the overrated ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. With the ROCKY HORROR, the audience has to yell out dialogue to make the corny dialogue in the film to be more funnier. But with BVD, all the audience has to do is just to sit back and laugh. And it's fun to watch it more than once. After laughing at the bad dialogue and hilarious events in the film, then one can oogle over the heaving beauties. I wouldn't call this Meyer's best film (that's for UP!) but I can see why Meyers picks this film as his favorite. It's because it's the first film that people don't take Meyers serious. If you're going to watch it, invite a group of people (at least five) both men and women, grab the popcorn and laugh your head off with this cult classic. **** (out of five)