Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Beyond The Valley of the Dolls is ...NOT a sequel to Russ Meyer’s ‘Valley of The Dolls’, and Mr Meyer does point this out in a text paragraph at the very beginning of the film. I loved it! – the clothes, the decadence and the ‘social commentary’ throughout the film make it very much a film of it’s time (1970). The plot a simple one, it’s about a Three Piece Girl Band called ‘The Kelly Affair’ coming from relative obscurity to virtual overnight fame (as The Carrie Nations) and the consequences that brings. – All this is courtesy of The ‘Z Man’, an enigmatic, nero-esque lotus eater who also happens to be a music impresario. Various relationships based on love, greed, lust are formed and broken, this is all to the undertones of prodigious use of drugs and alcohol. Nudity, sex, drugs and rock and roll, love, lust, greed and hatred permeate this sometimes tragically comic plot. The Z Man is the Conductor of this orchestra and leads it on an insane dance to it’s climax, a more ‘polished’ film may have ended at that point but true to form any Russ Meyer film is going to be different. It stops short of moralising and just points out the various choices and consequences made by the characters leaving the watcher to come to a conclusion – my conclusion is Fab film, but the message has been lost in time. Recommended for lovers of the late 60’s and 70’s Technical Bits:.... No 'Extras' with this version but comprehensive scene selection, personally I don't care for all the background info - or 'Bonus Discs' - there is a 2 dics version out there if you do (and want to pay more for your 'bonus disc'!)
Its weird,bizarre and just *far out* m...an but great movie making from the 1960*s. Meyer*s only film for Fox and in some ways quite tame compared to his other movies. However there*s enough going on to keep you watching. Excellent stuff.
Russ Meyer has produ...ced some saucy, funny films which are really quite wierd. This one had no real story, the acting was dreadful, the saucy stuff was quite tame and the horror stuff was appalling. We are still laughing about it and wondering why we forced ourselves to watch it to the end. Great film if you want to bore yourself to death. We were definitely losing the will to live!! Glad I bought it though as its been discussed at length in the pub while we were crying into our beer. My partner has never stopped teasing me about it, haha.