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Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Highly recommended if you like 60-70's music & styles
Review: A must for collector's of FUN pop culture. All rolled into one package, this sometimes silly/tragedy/comedy/trashy/taboo-subject/sexual-sensual/sensational-sound-track/musical flick will be fun to watch with the oldies but goodies crowd at your next get-together. Much to enjoy commenting on when viewed with friends. good story, great finale, highly recommended to collectors. *taboo subjects according to most Christian view, but not too off-limits for all adults to watch and enjoy! ....

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Campy fun.
Review: This movie is worth the price of purchase for the final scene alone. The fact that it was written by Roger Ebert (yes, the 2-thumbs guy) makes it even more enjoyable. Never again will you look at one of his reviews in the same way. Although the film draws heavily on 60's and 70's stereotypes, it is entertaining and the music is good if you like oldies.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "This is my happening and it freaks me out!"
Review: I never get tired of watching this movie. It is the Caddyshack of camp movies. There are so many quotable lines, and so many silly moments which take themselves far to seriously that you much have this movie. The story itself is actually very good. That's what make this so engaging. These characters actually do have some depth. Roger Ebert did a good thing by writing this movie. It is a moment frozen in time. If you are a drag queen in training, you must own this movie. It is an endless supply of characters and lines to get you started. Everyone can enjoy this romp with the Carrie Nations (formally The Kelly Affair) It really is a classic and no movie library should be without it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You're a groovy boy, I'd like to strap you on sometime...
Review: By far the best movie ever made, EVER!! This film stands out as the absolute emperor of camp cult classics. Revolving around the antics of an all girl rock band that goes to Hollywood and is corrupted by fame, money, drugs (i.e. "Dolls"), and lesbian sex, the film is augmented by an laughably ridiculous soundtrack ("Go and Ask the Gentle People," "Candy Man"), hilariously over the top racial and sexual exploitation, and a script that is such a work of art, a masterpiece of the hip lingo of yesteryear's youth, that it's been repeatedly cannibalized in countless subsequent films (the most recent being the ... "Austin Powers" series). I love this movie and have considered it my personal responsibility to introduce anyone and everyone to this, this ultimate opus of bad taste and sheer fun.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Beyond the valley of intelligence, that's for sure
Review: Bad acting by goofy b-movie stage actors, bad plot-- Roger Ebert should be ashamed of co-writing this garbage. after reading the reviews by reviewers here, i thought this film would be excellent and original. Boy was i wrong! don't believe everything that you read, that's for sure.

This film has an NC17 rating at the video store. Why, may i ask? the sex scenes wouldn't even qualify in low-grade porn. The plot just killed whatever left the movie had to offer--which wasn't much, other than over-makeupped starlets which by appearance were somewhat entertaining. Grotesque violence is what probably got the rating, but even that is blantantly dumb and worthless when portrayed.

Susann herself said that the original Valley was horrid, so i can only imagine what she'd think of this lame portrayal with a similar namesake and theme.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Beautiful, and a groovy soundtrack, too...
Review: I loved this movie the first time I saw it. Well, at least the first hour of it. The second half of the movie is kind of a let down from the upbeat nature of the first half. But as for that first hour, it's filled with beautiful women, psychedelic scenes and really groovy music. It has a very pleasant mix of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Some have called the film's depictions of women sexist and/or stereotypical, but I've always wished I could find more people in real life who are really like these characters! Did people like this exist in the 60's and 70's, or are they just mere fantasy? Maybe they're people like that still today, who knows...

There's a great line where someone accuses one of the girls in the band - who all dress really groovy - of being some kind of communist agitator. She defiantly answers something to the effect of "No way - I'm a Capitalist..." That's what I love about the movie; it actually defied stereotypes of hippie-like or "far-out" people being communists. (Sure, lots of them may be, but not all, fortunately). I also really loved the music in this movie and wish there had been a soundtrack released, but I've yet to find one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Why isn't there a 10-star rating?
Review: I hereby declare BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS the greatest film ever made! Who says movies have to be technically accomplished, overhyped classics like CITIZEN KANE to make the AFI Top 100? A good film in my book is entertaining and BVD is 100% entertainment, from start to finish. I watch this film just about every day and never get tired of it! If only 20th-Century Fox would realize what a goldmine they're sitting on! Where are the BVD T-shirts, bedsheets, Superwoman costumes, BVD's? And more importantly, where is the DVD in letterboxed format with tons of extras and the soundtrack CD? Fans of BVD, you must make your voice heard and petition for this film to be appreciated for the classic it is!

Newcomers to Russ Meyer films will see this as his easiest film to find and might be smart to start here. It features every element essential to a Russ Meyer film and is one of his most accomplished. Lightning-quick editing and low-angle shots of towering buxom babes figure quite prominently into the manic proceedings. I cannot recommend this film enough, every person I force to watch this does not get past the end credits without demanding a personal copy! For some fun, try turning it into a ROCKY HORROR-like event: shout out dialogue, act it out with memorized dialogue, conduct sing-a-longs to the awesome songs. Or just sit back all by your lonesome and absorb the wonder that is BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Josie and the Pussycats Go To Hell
Review: I first saw BVD in a revival house on a recommendation by one of my very best, dear friends. I left the theater hurting from laughter. My face and sides ached. I felt like I just had a bad acid trip after watching "Laugh In", "Love, American Style", and "Josie and the Pussycats". This Roger Ebert-penned/Russ Meyer directed morality tale of a girl group-gone bad in Hollyweird defies description-it WAS written tongue-in-cheek (I thought at the time that it was just laughably dated, even for 1970). Russ Meyer's incredible camera set-ups and rapid-fire editing are the forerunners of music videos-and so much better and entertaining. Roger Ebert threw in so many little in-jokes, such as the line, "Has anyone here seen Kelly"? (I think I was the only one who got that one-it's the name of a very old bar-room song),-well, you get the idea. BVD is a send-up of soap-opera cliches, the Manson murders, 60s TV shows such as "Ironside", "Mod Squad", "Laugh-In", the music industry, and the mores of the time, and done in an almost deadpan manner, that the viewer is not, on first viewing, sure of whether this is a joke or not. It is, in my opinion, one of the funniest, fast-moving, entertaining films I have ever seen-recommended viewing for anyone with a slightly twisted sense of humor, as well as a well-tuned sense of the ridiculousness of pop culture. In the words of Z-Man, "This is my happening, and it freaks me out!"

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: ...and Roger Ebert was taken SERIOUSLY after this?
Review: Clearly I've got the minority opinion here! Well, it wouldn't be the first time.

OK, this was my very first Russell Meyer experience, but let me say that I can certainly appreciate camp with the best of 'em (e.g. I love Oliver Reed singing in "Tommy") but this was just Beyond the Valley of Redeemable Bad Movies. I KNOW it wasn't going to be High Art, but I'd expected more from a guy who himself savages bad movies for a living. Laughable acting (with a couple of exceptions), unbelievable dialogue, even more unbelievable character developments, etc. and some of those plot twists - well, it makes me see "the fat guy" in a different light. I'm surprised, frankly, that the auteur of such a mess came to be considered one of the nation's leading voices on film. (Well, I usually sided with Siskel's opinions anyway.)

The opening shot (during the credits) is clearly designed to keep the viewers' interest, because I might have abandoned watching otherwise...but I was curious enough to find out what led the movie to that point. The finale was something out of an Ed Wood movie, and obviously meant to allude to the Tate-LaBianca murders (i.e. Sharon Tate was in Valley of the Dolls) - talk about bad taste.

Perhaps I would have appreciated this more if I had been under the influence of something chemical - it would have helped to suspend the disbelief more. Instead I just felt sorry for these people trapped in this movie, the way I sometimes feel for brat packers after catching St. Elmo's Fire on TBS. (YES, I know it's all meant to be a joke.)

The soundtrack was pretty good though - that's about the only good thing to say about it. And for those of you who like that sort of thing, plenty of buxom, leggy babes to go around. Oh, and it gave me something cool to say to my boyfriend ("You're one groovy guy...I'd like to strap you on sometime.")

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Two thumbs up and a blotter of acid!
Review: Even though it is over-mentioned and a ho-hum piece of trivia regarding the author of the screenplay, it still makes me chuckle picturing a young Roger Ebert hunched over his Underwood,wearing his love bead-adorned sweater,tap tapping away to the acrid whiffs of incense-perfumed air, his owlish glasses reflecting the lava lamp in the corner. That disturbing imagery aside, if you haven't seen the Cult Movie that defines the phrase "Cult Movie",you must drop everything right now and do so.This is the one film that I'm sure John Waters wishes he would have made. Everything Pop Culture is skewered and then poked with a stick to make sure it's dead in this Grand Guginol psychedelic trainwreck. Memorable songs (the birth of Grrrl Music!)set design, quotable lines, and over-the-top camp performances all around make this a great evening's entertainment and fun for the whole (Manson) family!


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