Review of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) by Matthew S — 20 Dec 2014
This was Russ Meyer's only big budget movie. Roger Ebert wrote the script. He's a better movie critic. It's just a long soap opera with flashes of nudity. Although it's about an all girl rock band, the music is terrible.
Russ Meyer is an old World War II vet trying to be hip in the late 1960's and just doesn't quite get it. One of the themes of this movie is the generation gap from that era. He had a good eye for girls with big boobs but had no ear for rock music.
Just a few years before this movie was made, the Monkees TV show was about a fake band but managed to have real hits. This movie had a no-hit rock band doing the music. The NC-17 rating is because of the weird climax to the movie with a trans-gendered dude cutting heads off and stabbing and shooting people for no reason.
The story starts out with an all girl band playing at a high school prom. They decide to go to California to claim an inheritance for the lead singer. They must have been in Oklahoma because they have a map sequence of them traveling that starts in the Texas Panhandle on I-40.
They get to L.A. and become instant stars. Nothing in the story makes any sense. The acting is bad. The dialogue is flat or makes no sense. The only thing the movie has going for it is the good looking women.
I've got the Laserdisc version of this movie. If you want to see a good Russ Meyer film, watch Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill. It's low budget but fun.
This review of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) was written by Matthew S on 20 Dec 2014.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
