Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) Dir: Russ Meyer Cast: Dolly Reed, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, John LaZar, David Gurian, Harrison Page, Edy Williams, Erica Gavin Approx: 109 minutes Fox DVD

"They sure don’t make them like this anymore.   In fact, they never made them like this before!"

This is my happening and it freaks me out!

My goal for this site is to have a comprehensive archive of reviews, encompassing many obscure films as well as some of the major staples of the applicable genres.  It seems strange to me though, that I often find myself dragging my feet when it comes to reviewing what I consider to be the most important classics.  Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a perfect example.  In many ways, it was the pinnacle of Russ Meyer’s career, a film that defied nearly every genre (I simply think of it as a “Russ Meyer” film), and with out a doubt one of the most deliriously insane films I’ve ever seen.  With the recent release of Fox’s superb two-disc collector’s edition DVD I decided that I could waste no further time.  I’ve found myself thinking about the movie and DVD almost constantly.  I’ve watched the movie a ridiculous amount of times in the past two weeks and now the “black sperm of my vengeance” is bubbling over and spilling down on the pages of BloodandSleaze.com.

I assume that most people are already familiar with the story of how BVD came to be a Russ Meyer film.  Those who have previously heard the story ad nauseam will probably want to skip this paragraph; I’ll include a brief summary for the sake of the rest.  Jacqueline Susann wrote a trashy but entertaining best selling novel in 1966 called Valley of the Dolls.  In1967 Mark Robson directed an adaptation of the story starring Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, and Sharon Tate.  The movie was unintentionally campy, but not without its own merits.  Nevertheless, the movie was a moneymaker and Fox wanted a follow up.  Susann (who was unhappy with much of the film) turned in a few ideas for a sequel titled Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.  After a few tries, Fox decided to look elsewhere.  They took notice of Russ Meyer who was enjoying great success and profit off of his latest “skin flick” Vixen.  Meyer recruited a young film critic named Roger Ebert to help him with the script, as he was sure he wouldn’t be able to work with a typical Hollywood writer.  The duo set out to get the job done, but Susann was unhappy with the choice of filmmakers and a legal battle ensued that would continue for long after the film’s release.  Undaunted, Meyer and Ebert set out to parody Valley of the Dolls (among other things) with an unrelated story, hence one of the taglines –

THIS IS NOT A SEQUEL.  THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT!

Like Valley of the Dolls, BVD tells the story of three young women that enjoy a quick rise to fame but are eventually laid low by the inherent excesses of life in the fast lane.  In BVD, the three women are part of a rock band called The Kelly Affair.  The Kelly Affair consists of Kelly MacNamara, Casey Anderson, Petronella Danforth, and their manager (and Kelly’s boyfriend) Harris Allsworth.  Burned out on low paying high school gigs they travel to meet Kelly’s rich aunt Susan in Hollywood.  There they meet the teen rock tycoon Ronnie “Z-Man” Barzell who takes them under his wing and re christens them The Carrie Nations.  In the process he nudges Harris out of the picture; Harris becomes increasingly isolated from everyone, most notably Kelly.

Things become more complicated as everyone involved couples off with people they meet at Z-Man’s party.  Kelly is courted by a pretty boy Lance Rock who coerces her to demand a larger part of aunt Susan’s inheritance.  Pet meets up with waiter/law student Emerson Thorne (Harrison Page of Vixen) while Casey is pursued by lesbian fashion designer Roxanne (Erica Gavin, also of Vixen).  Harrison ends up in a sexual relationship with Ashley St. Ives (Edy Williams), a man eating adult film star.

It sounds like there’s a lot going on for a 109 minute run time, but this isn’t even the half of it.  This is the busiest movie I have ever seen by a long shot.  It mind sound cliché, but this could have easily been a disaster in the hands of just about any other director.  Meyer didn’t go to a major studio and make a mainstream film; he went to a major studio and made a “Russ Meyer movie” on an enormous scale.  This is a one of a kind movie that could probably never been replicated.

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

I could spend far too long describing the plot in detail, but I find that it would be useless.  First off it would be ridiculously long and wouldn’t carry any of the impact in written form, there are no crib notes for this one.  There is no substitute for experiencing this film, so I’ll just point out a few key areas that interested me so you can get the gist of things.

The most notable aspect of the film for me is how welcoming it is the scrutiny of repeated viewings.  It seems like nearly every line and every scene is filled with double and triple entendres; that says a great deal for Roger Ebert’s screenwriting capabilities.  Every time I watch BVD I pick up on something that I missed in previous viewings.  What I continue to find amazing is how much subtlety is worked into a film that is so blatantly bold and in your face.

The first example that jumps to my mind is the concrete jungle motif that is first brought up by Z-Man when he explains why his bathroom is decorated like a rainforest.  This holds in theme as to why Lance Rock is dressed as “Jungle Lad” in the climax, of course it also shows off his body to “great advantage.”

Another recurring theme is the constant allusion to Porter Hall’s closeted homosexuality.  The most obvious is his failure to perform in bed when Kelly attempts to seduce him.  At another point he sees Meyer regular Haji walk by in black body paint and questions Z-Man for inviting “Motorpsychos” to the party.  He then inquires if truck drivers and longshoremen are next.  Pet makes a comment to him about being into “really rough trade.”  I also can’t ignore the fact that he talks about wearing a “pinch back suit” when he was younger…yikes!

THE RUSS MEYER UNIVERSE

As stated earlier, the “Russ Meyer Film” is really a genre unto itself.  Since no one else in the world can make a film in this cannon, I find that the films are generally only comparable to themselves.  It may be egotistical of Meyer to so frequently pay homage to himself, but what do you expect from a man who wrote a massive three-volume encyclopedia sized autobiography?

Still there is more going on here than blatant self-love that is evident by references to previous films (five years later he would make Supervixen which is almost like a “Russ Meyer’s Greatest Hits” type of film).  There are a lot of recurring themes, ideas, and jokes that make him one of the unsung auteurs of American cinema.

If you’ve seen a few Russ Meyer movies, you might have noticed that some of the women have large breasts.   Actually, looking at the Russ Meyer catalogue as a whole, BVD would be towards the bottom of the pile when it comes to total breast poundage.  Two of the leads are on the smaller side (for a Meyer film); both Pet and Kelly lack a bust line that could potentially eclipse the sun.  There are certainly some buxotic women to be found, but (taken as a stand alone film) this film would not have given Meyer the reputation that he enjoyed throughout his career.

There are also recurring jokes that continued throughout his career.  His fixation on World War II and in particular Martin Bormann is something to keep an eye out for.  Roger Ebert explained that Meyer wasn’t obsessed with Nazi- ism as he was sometime accused, but he was fascinated by war, particularly WWII as he served in combat documenting the war on film.  References to the elusiveness of Martin Bormann can be found throughout his work.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Meyer cannon is his sense of morality that is played out perfectly in BVD, all the way down to the tongue in cheek epilogue.  Sexual transgression and deviancy is always met with justice before the credits roll.  In BVD all the characters’ stories are wrapped up as their punishment is explained through the epilogue.  This serves to hammer Meyer’s point home, but also make the film have an epic feel.  Still, sometimes I wonder about some of the fates that characters met and what brought them on.  In this case, I am curious about the brutal demise of Roxanne and Casey.  In the epilogue our narrator describes them:

“Light and shadow; theirs was not an evil relationship, but evil did become of it”

If a heterosexual world is “normal” in the Russ Meyer world, then it is obvious why they were disposed of as such.  It certainly holds to the manner of execution for Roxanne: as she sleeps a gun barrel is pushed into her mouth, as she begins to perform fellatio on the barrel, she is murdered.  If being a lesbian is a crime in this world, this comes across as a fitting punishment.  Why then did the narrator describe theirs as “not an evil relationship”?  Could it be that they were murdered for their part in Casey’s controversial abortion?  Roxanne could be seen as nearly as self-serving as Lance (who was beheaded only a few minutes prior to this incident) as she coerces Casey to abort her pregnancy.   Her death, I understand.  Was Casey guilty just for the transgression into homosexuality, or because of the abortion?  I question this because the love scenes with her and Casey are probably the most tenderly filmed scenes in the entire film.  Being familiar with Meyer’s work, I don’t think this was done simply to titillate.  The ambiguity lends itself to some interesting discussions, looking at the Meyer cannon I’m still undecided as to whether or not lesbian acts are against the “law”.

“You’re a groovy boy – I’d like to strap you one sometime!” “You were supposed to be studying!”

I’m sure fans of BVD all have their own reasons for liking the film so much, but I’m sure the sheer number of quotable lines won over many film fans.  I can think of no other film that rivals BVD where nearly every dialogue exchange is so amusing, even when taken out of context.  I see this as the kind of movie where people will often find themselves saying, “I love that line!”

BVD on DVD

Until just recently, North American fans of BVD had to import the film from the UK if they wanted it on DVD (and a bare bones DVD at that).  Finally Fox has released to film in conjunction with the original Valley of the Dolls.  I have to say, that Fox has really outdone themselves with this fantastic release.  The packaging is beautiful and comes with a set of replica lobby cards and a nice glossy slipcase.

The film is on one disc with two commentary tracks, one from Roger Ebert (that I hear was initially recorded for a scrapped Criterion release) and another featuring cast members John LaZar, Dolly Reed, Cynthia Myers, Erica Gavin, and Harrison Page.  The commentaries contrast themselves nicely; Ebert certainly did his homework and is quite informative.  He is sometimes a bit dry though and there are a few stretches of silence.  The cast doesn’t seem to have done any preparation and tend to talk over each other frequently.  Still it is lively and has spontaneity.  I learned a few things that I feel kind of thick for never noticing (at Z-Man’s first party, Kelly is wearing a Sharon Tate dress from the original Valley).

The rest of the extras are on the second disc.  They are generally very good, much more than I would have dared hope for this release.  So many people involved came to do interviews thirty-six years after the fact and they all seem to have fond memories.  My only complaint would be that there is quite a bit of repetition from the featurettes to the commentary tracks.  Still the extras are well worth a look.

One of the more curious extras I found in the features was a set of screen tests pairing a couple of members of the cast reading dialogue between Lance and Kelly.  In one session Cynthia Meyers is paired with Lance (Michael Blodgett).  Was Cynthia auditioning for the role of Kelly or were there originally scenes with the two characters that required a test of chemistry.  More interesting though, is the fact that these screen tests have dialogue that refer to rich aunt Susan as Anne Welles (a main character from the original novel and film).  If this were the case, was Baxter Wolfe to be Lyon Burke?  This is an interesting way of connecting the two films, I wonder if the final name Susan was a reference to Jacqueline Susann?

If you’ll permit me to geek out for just a moment, I don’t think Anne would have had Kelly as a niece.  If I remember correctly she was an only child, and I’m sure Kelly wouldn’t have been from Lyon’s side of the family.  Still, this could have been based solely off of the movie; Anne’s character was very different in the novel.  Regardless, Anne wasn’t in BVD in the end and these are such minor details that they just don’t matter.

BVD is probably a love it or hate it kind of movie.  I would recommend it to anyone, but I’m sure not everyone would listen.  Take my word for what you will, this is a fantastic DVD release of one of the best movies I have ever seen.

5 gobs of black vengeance sperm out of 5! Dr. Spector 6.26.2006