The year 1967 could be considered the year when adult content in motion pictures started to become more open.
The subject matter of movies became more daring and challenging (e.g.: In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Graduate). Some movies introduced violent content like never before (Bonnie and Clyde, In Cold Blood, The Dirty Dozen) and just a year earlier, Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf? broke ground on profanity in film when it was allowed to have the Motion Picture Association of America seal. Around that time, the Hays Office slowly slipped into oblivion.
I get the feeling Valley of the Dolls was still under the Hays Office's thumb when the movie was being produced. The film wanted to capture in a no-holds barred manner the goings-on within the entertainment business and how it affected three ambitious young women. Without reading Jacqueline Susann's novel, I believe many punches were pulled. In the end, all of the changes made the movie very silly. I certainly don't have a problem calling this movie one of the best bad movies ever made.
The acting ranged from flat (Barbara Parkins, Sharon Tate, Paul Burke) to disappointing (Susan Hayward & Lee Grant) to way-over the top (Patty Duke). The dialog was laughable but I do admit that the Hayward/Duke cat fight was a scream. Many scenes that were supposed to be poignant and serious were very embarrassing.
I hated just about all of the songs. The only song that I thought survived this mess intact was the theme song sung by Dionne Warwick and written by Andre Previn and Dore Previn.
Even though I've trashed this film that definitely deserves to be trashed, this is probably the 9th or 10th time I've seen this movie in many years. Valley of the Dolls is ugly, garish, disgusting garbage but considering it was a major hit when it was released and people still have a good time watching this movie, I guess it serves some purpose like watching a bad auto wreck on the interstate.
The subject matter of movies became more daring and challenging (e.g.: In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Graduate). Some movies introduced violent content like never before (Bonnie and Clyde, In Cold Blood, The Dirty Dozen) and just a year earlier, Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf? broke ground on profanity in film when it was allowed to have the Motion Picture Association of America seal. Around that time, the Hays Office slowly slipped into oblivion.
I get the feeling Valley of the Dolls was still under the Hays Office's thumb when the movie was being produced. The film wanted to capture in a no-holds barred manner the goings-on within the entertainment business and how it affected three ambitious young women. Without reading Jacqueline Susann's novel, I believe many punches were pulled. In the end, all of the changes made the movie very silly. I certainly don't have a problem calling this movie one of the best bad movies ever made.
The acting ranged from flat (Barbara Parkins, Sharon Tate, Paul Burke) to disappointing (Susan Hayward & Lee Grant) to way-over the top (Patty Duke). The dialog was laughable but I do admit that the Hayward/Duke cat fight was a scream. Many scenes that were supposed to be poignant and serious were very embarrassing.
I hated just about all of the songs. The only song that I thought survived this mess intact was the theme song sung by Dionne Warwick and written by Andre Previn and Dore Previn.
Even though I've trashed this film that definitely deserves to be trashed, this is probably the 9th or 10th time I've seen this movie in many years. Valley of the Dolls is ugly, garish, disgusting garbage but considering it was a major hit when it was released and people still have a good time watching this movie, I guess it serves some purpose like watching a bad auto wreck on the interstate.