Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) ****

 

1967's “Valley of the Dolls” is the definition of a hot mess. The story of three young women who go to Hollywood, only to have their dreams fade into a nightmare of sex, drugs, and fame is so campy and melodramatic that it became something of a cult classic. Tasked with making a sequel, exploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer reached out to his friend Roger Ebert for help with a script. That's right. Film critic Roger Ebert took a break from writing about movies to actually write a movie. And what a movie!

Meyer and Ebert wound up creating not an actual sequel to “Valley of the Dolls,” but a satire of the film and of melodramatic Hollywood morality plays in general. The story follows 3 girls, Kelly, Casey, and Pet, who make up the rock group “The Kelly Affair,” managed by Kelly's boyfriend, Harris. The 4 ride around in a van like a bunch of hippies, playing whatever gigs they can get. Kelly convinces the group to trek across the country to L.A., where her Aunt Susan is a powerful fashion designer. Susan welcomes her niece, offering her a piece of the family inheritance and introducing the band to a flamboyant music producer named Z-man. Soon, the girls are caught up in a whirlwind of success, free love, and drugs.

It's fascinating that this film got made. Director Russ Meyer was known for making movies that were basically low-budget soft porn, full of busty women, with very little story. It's unclear why a reputable film studio like Fox hired him, other than maybe financial desperation. Meyer knew how to work on the cheap. As Ebert put it, the film is “like a movie that got made by accident when the lunatics took over the asylum.” The only real interference they got from the studio was the instruction that the film should eke out an R rating, which it failed to do. When the MPAA gave the film an X for sex and violence, Russ Meyer reportedly wanted to put back in some of the sex scenes he had cut, but deadlines didn't allow it.

The result is one outrageous, hot mess of a movie. The cast, mostly unknown, are actually pretty decent, at least for the kind of movie this is. They play the story straight, which makes the ridiculous situations all the more hilarious. The music is shockingly good. That powerful voice on The Kelly Affair's songs does not come from that sweet, little actress (Dolly Read) but from a couple of soul singers, Lynn Carey and Barbara Robison. The 60's band Strawberry Alarm Clock also performs a few songs, including their hit “Incense and Peppermints.” It all comes together for one gonzo, wild-ride of a movie. It's not for everyone, but if you are up for some film history and some craziness, I definitely recommend watching “Valley of the Dolls” and then checking out “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.”

4 stars out of 5