Review of Valley of the Dolls (1967) by Zane U — 03 Jun 2013
Introductory note: Why the heck did I choose to watch Valley of the Dolls out of all the movies that exist? Blame Mad Men and the internet for the "Megan Draper is Sharon Tate" theory. I've spent a lot of time internet-sleuthing Sharon Tate and Helter Skelter over the past couple days after the theory piqued my interest, and it only seemed natural to watch a Sharon Tate movie.
But holy shit, this movie. TNT doesn't know drama, Valley of the Dolls knows drama. It's like TMZ: the movie and it's just as good-bad as that concept suggests. Sex? Check. Drugs? Check. Pornography? Check. Affairs? Check. Breast Cancer? Check. Huntington's disease? Check. (okay this is starting to get weird...) Ageism? Check. Appreciation for Revolutionary War era architecture? Check. What else could you possibly want?
If the movie wasn't so cliche, I don't think it would work. But given the themes of emptiness and corruptive power of fame, the over-acted and cliche execution is perfect and warrants some consideration that the filmmakers knew exactly what they were doing in making such a subpar movie. It's an empty Hollywood film telling us how empty Hollywood is. Poetic, really.
This review of Valley of the Dolls (1967) was written by Zane U on 03 Jun 2013.
Valley of the Dolls has generally received mixed reviews.
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