Valley of the Dolls
Tags: tragedy, cult, melodrama

Plot synopsis:
The film opens with a voice-over narration from Anne Welles (Barbara Parkins). She reveals how she started a journey toward success by leaving her small New England town for New York City. When she gets to the city, she takes a work assignment with a talent agency, and immediately she starts to discover the harsh realities of show business. The agency sends her to a local theater to deliver contracts to renowned performer Helen Lawson (Susan Hayward). Helen's agent warns Anne not to let her guard down around Helen, and Helen's abrasiveness shocks Anne, who was expecting Helen to be true to her glamorous image. Instead, Helen is tough talking, uses vulgar language, and Anne's idle chatter with Helen sparks a terrible reaction and she sees first hand the evil and selfish woman that Helen really is. When Anne comments that a young woman singing down the hall is very good, Helen agrees, and immediately decides to have the girl fired from the show because the egotistical Helen fears being upstaged. Helen sends Anne back to the office with the contracts in shreds, threatening to leave the agency if Anne's boss doesn't get rid of the competition.The young girl that Helen sees as her rival is Neely O'Hara (Patty Duke), a talented up-and-coming singer. She is distraught when she finds out that her musical number has been cut from the show. Since all that remains for her is just a few lines of dialogue, she decides to leave the show all together. Also part of the show is a lovely showgirl named Jennifer North (Sharon Tate), who sympathizes with Neely when she's cut from the show.When Anne returns to the office to give the news about Helen (whom Anne now refers to as an "evil queen bitch"), she instead finds the agency's younger partner, Lyon Burke (Paul Burke). Burke and Anne are immediately attracted to one another, and when Anne tells Lyon that she wants to leave the agency after her frightening brush with the mean-spirited Helen, Lyon persuades her to stay. Pulling some strings for Anne's new friend, Lyon sets up Neely to appear on a popular telethon, where she is immediately noticed. Neely and her boyfriend, Mel (Martin Milner), live in a humble apartment in New York, but after her career takes off they are married. Neely's popularity skyrockets and her demanding schedule for concerts and singing gigs leads her to start taking pills. Neely first takes caffeine pills to wake her up in the morning as well as amphetamines keep her going during the day, then takes downers to help get to sleep at night.Anne and Lyon embark on a tenuous affair. Anne seems shy about spending the night with Lyon, and she brings up the idea of marriage. Lyon firmly declares himself a bachelor, however, and does not approve of the idea of marriage. When Anne's mother dies, she goes back to her home town to mourn, and Lyon joins her there later. They have a moment of reckoning; Anne makes it clear that she feels cheap for being sexually involved with Lyon knowing that he will never marry her. Lyon leaves a farewell letter for Anne the next day, telling her that he can no longer see her. Simultaneously, Anne gets a sudden opportunity to model for a cosmetics company, and she becomes a nationally known figure. Anne's face now appears on TV commercials, billboards, newspaper and magazine advertisements.Meanwhile, Jennifer begins an affair with Tony Polar (Tony Scotti), a lounge singer whose career is also mounting. Tony's sister, Miriam (Lee Grant), manages every aspect of Tony's life, and reacts to the relationship with icy disapproval. A little later, Jennifer and Tony get married secretly, and Miriam is despondent.Elsewhere, Neely's fame eventually proves to be too much for her. Her Broadway stardom leads to a career in the movies as she relocates to Hollywood, but her addiction to pills (which she refers to as 'dolls') sabotages her life. She loses Mel when he becomes weary of her vicious and unpredictable behavior, as well as her rumored affair with a Hollywood designer named Ted Casablanca (Alexander Davion). When Mel leaves Neely after filing for divorce, she becomes associated with Ted and ultimately marries him.Jennifer's married life with Tony seems happy enough, although Miriam lives with them and obviously imposes on their marriage. After moving to Los Angeles, Jennifer and Tony settle in a house while Jennifer's modeling career flourishes, Tony's career has peaked, having made the crossover into motion pictures without the same drug-induced success as Neely. One evening, Tony begins to lose control of his motor functions, and Miriam finally reveals to Jennifer why she never wanted Tony to marry: Tony suffers from a rare motor-reutron disease called Hunington's Disease, (similar to A.L.S.) that will ultimately render him senseless and eventually kill him. The disease is genetic and was passed down to Tony from his father who died from the disease several years ago. Jennifer is mortified, because she has just discovered she is pregnant.Some months later, Anne and Lyon rekindle their affair after her modeling success, with Anne leaving behind another beau to reunite with Lyon and relocate to Los Angeles (as well as keep in close touch with both Neely and Jennifer), but she still seethes inside over the knowledge that Lyon isn't interested in marrying her. Neely shows up at her house one night while Lyon is on a business trip, and she tells Anne that Jennifer called her wanting to know where she could get an abortion. Neely also offers Anne some of her pills to help her get through her lonely period with Lyon gone, but Anne bitterly refuses. Neely's conversation with Anne sparks something in her; when she confides in Anne that her marriage with Ted is on the rocks, Anne encourages her to try and renew the spark in their relationship. Neely returns home to her home in the Hollywood Hills only to find Ted frolicking in their backyard swimming pool with another woman. They have a bitter fight and Ted walks out on her.Sinking further into alcohol and pills, Neely is thrown off of the current film project she is working on due to her drunkeness and verbal fights with the crew. When Lyon attempts to get her to a sanitarium to dry out, she sneaks off to San Francisco and spends a few days wandering while drunk and stoned. After she is robbed by a strange man, she is finally picked up and taken to a clinic in L.A. by Lyon and Anne. While there, she goes through some horrible withdrawal symptoms and has some bizarre run-ins with the other residents in the sanitarium. However, she is inspired when she discovers that Jennifer's husband, Tony, is also in the same hospital, now almost completely debilitated. Neely and Tony sing a song together in the hospital recreation room before he lapses back into senselessness. This incident prompts Neely to struggle back to sobriety.Jennifer, meanwhile, is struggling with her own demons. She also begins taking pills and booze to help her cope with Tony's absence as well as an escape for her loneliness. Consistently told by her selfish and manipulative mother that she has no real talent and is only known for her beautiful body, Jennifer turns to making "art" films with a French director to make money. She feels her integrity is compromised by doing this, as she is still loyal to Tony and did most of her sexually provocative work before she was married to him. The high cost of Tony's hospital and sanitarium bills forces Jennifer to do the work, and the situation is made worse when she finds herself locked into an oppressive contract with the director which makes Jennifer slide into taking more pills and booze to suppress her emotions. She continues making softcore and hardcore "art films" while completely numb of feelings.Emerging from the sanitarium with what seems to be a fresh outlook, Neely makes a cryptic statement to Anne about "stealing her man". When Lyon takes Neely to New York to prepare for her comeback to the stage, the two of them share a hotel room, and it becomes clear to Anne that they are involved on a physical level. This is made more hurtful when Anne sees her name in the gossip column, the columnist commenting about how she is a "big loser" due to Neely and Lyon flaunting their affair all over New York. Anne finally succumbs to the lure of the "dolls", at first taking Neely's old pills and then getting a prescription of her own.In New York City, Lyon gives Neely strict orders to stay out of sight until the debut of her new Broadway show, but when he goes to a party in honor of Helen Lawson's new show, Neely makes an uninvited appearance. The photographers and reporters present give her a huge welcome, much to Helen's chagrin, and she slips off to the ladies room to avoid the ruckus. Neely, however, goes after her, and the two of them have a cat-fight in the ladies lounge. When the fight turns really ugly, Neely winds up tearing off Helen's wig, revealing her unflattering grey hair color underneath. Throwing Helen's wig in the toilet, Neely renders her unwilling to step back out into the party. Helen momentarily considers slipping out the back, until she resolves to face the party again with her hair wrapped in a colorful scarf.Back in Los Angeles, Jennifer's story comes to a sudden and sad close when she is diagnosed with breast cancer. She learns that she must have a mastectomy and checks herself into a hospital to have it done. But this is the final blow for her, as she feels that now she won't be able to support herself without her lovely body to rely on. After coming home from the hospital and following a friendly visit by Annie, Jennifer commits suicide by taking an overdose on pills. Her body is discovered the next day.Alone one day and devastated over Jennifer's death as well as the loss of Lyon to Neely, the drunk and stoned Anne wonders down the beach beside her house and after passing out in the surf, she returns to her house and smashes several furniture to pieces. She then decides to leave it all behind and a few days later, she returns to her snowy New England hometown where she is welcomed back by her aunt.In New York, Neely blows her big chance for her Broadway comeback when she gets into an argument with Lyon beforehand. She disregards him by saying "Who needs you? You're just an agent!" Lyon abandons her, no longer able to tolerate her egoistical behavior, and in response, Neely turns to a secret stash of pills. When it comes time for her stage entrance, Neely is completely disoriented and unable to perform, giving her understudy the chance to perform on opening night. Neely spends the night getting drunk in a nearby tavern, ultimately finding herself alone and disoriented in a deserted downtown alley.The next morning, Helen Lawson has a candid conversation with Lyon. She predicts that Neely will come back yet again from her latest blunder, simply because she has true talent, but that ultimately she'll destroy herself. She also warns Lyon that he should stop being so careless with his love life and settle down with Anne, before it's too late.Lyon seems to take this advice to heart and he travels upstate to Anne's snowy hometown where he proposes marriage to Anne, but it is indeed too late for them. Anne admits that she has waited so long for Lyon to propose that she now feels nothing when the offer's been made. Having emerged from her brief drug episode with a fresh outlook, Anne seems to be the only one among the three ladies who has learned from her experience. After pouring all her liquor bottles and pills down a sink, she walks off alone into the snowy landscape of her home town and ponders her next move alone and without the need for drugs or alcohol.

Review: Mark Robson directs without a trace of nuance or subtlety; Patty Duke and Susan Hayward come off as boozy drag queens; Sharon Tate and Barbara Parkins look and act as if they had taken one downer too many; Dory and Andre Previn's musical numbers are as funny as those in "The Operetta"--the "I Love Lucy" episode which parodied musical theater; Billy Travilla concocts some of the most glamorously god-awful gowns ever seen; and Kenneth (of Hairstyles by Kenneth, of course) must be personally responsible for the hole in the ozone layer, so lacquered, teased and towering are his creations.
The film adaptation of Valley of the Dolls is stupid, empty, overly melodramatic...and a lot of fun!Jacqueline Susann's 1966 novel is my all-time favorite, and her gritty, glossy pulp material was severely diluted for the big screen.
See Patty Duke's autobiography for some anecdotes about the filming.This movie pretty much destroyed Director Mark Robson's career, but it made pots and pots of money for the studio, and was still playing drive in theatres around the country years after its release.
I didn't notice any flaws in the acting (which is the principle instrument for telling a movie's story)---I personally thought that Patty Duke's performance was amazing.
As an ardent admirer of Patty Duke since 1962 and her incredible performance in THE MIRACLE WORKER, then following her likeable hi-jinks on the wholesome PATTY DUKE SHOW, where she "reflected" my adolescent years, I was one of millions of devoted fans who looked eagerly for her continued success when it was announced she'd play Neely O'Hara in the filmed version of Jackie Sussan's blockbuster, steamy novel.The Hollywood hoopla that surrounded that production - while it was still being made - was totally "over the top" in its pre-marketing and advance "Oscar buzz" ...
I can't tell you how many times, or how many people, I had to fend off in defense of my allegiance to Patty Duke and my belief in her as a  actress, because of the film fiasco which has come to be known as VALLEY OF THE DULLS.
It is not quite as good as Robson's "Peyton Place," but not too far from it.I think most people now agree that the early critics were wrong about the performances, Susan Hayward is sufficiently Betty Davis-like cunning, Barbara Parkins is innocently sexy, and Sharon Tate is charming and radiant.
She mentioned that Patty Duke had emotional problems, like Neely; Sharon Tate did not live (was actually murdered) somewhat similar to Jennifer North's committing suicide; and she herself left the industry like Anne Welles did.
The casting is questionable (Patty Duke cannot sing, Parkins cannot do drama and I cannot badmouth Tate, but...), but the greatest legacy is Susan Hayward as Helen Lawson, the biggest bitch in the world.
Still, it has that gloriously goofy script to fall back on and you simply can't your eyes off it: the breathtaking brunette beauty of Barbara Parkins, the leggy and lean Sharon Tate, the raucous Patty Duke ("Hey, do ya still have that mole on ya keystah?!"), and the steely-eyed bitchery of Susan Hayward ("You heard me!
"Valley of the Dolls" is one of the best bad movies of the sixties, very entertaining in parts, and with a great score (which was nominated for an Academy Award back in 1968).I think the weak acting was a result of Mark Robson's careless direction.
It's Miss Hayward's performance, though, that steals the movie.Otherwise this movie has a ridiculous story, a more-than-questionable message, trashy-looking sets, unintentional laughs, bad dialogues and pretty much the worst photography I've ever seen in a major Hollywood movie (it makes any daily soap look like a piece of art!)..
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 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..
Did you have a difficult time keeping up with the story line?Well, "Valley Of The Dolls" is in the same vein, but there actually is a story line...three girls looking for fame, love, etc....you know...what all girls are looking for, except that these girls have some real problems.There is our heroine, Anne Welles (Barbara Parkins), who leaves the snowfall of New England for the slush of New York.
Naturally, she ends up with a dream job upon arrival, meets Mr. Heartthrob, tangles with the nasty Helen Lawson (Susan Hayward...who took the role after Judy Garland was fired), becomes a super model overnight...all the things that happen to most girls.Then there's Jennifer North (Sharon Tate), who only has a body (and what a body it is) but she can't act (probably the only honest role in the film).
She too falls in love, except this guy is a real cheesy lounge singer ("Come Live With Me"), who happens to harbor a deep, dark secret which will drive Jennifer to do unspeakable things with dirty French director.And then there is Neely O'Hara (Patty Duke).
This is what film making is all about!Susan Hayward seems to have taken up the bitch-goddess torch from Joan Crawford in this film - drama queen to the max.A bad movie based on a trashy novel - the perfect time killer on a dull and rainy day..
C'mon, now - This sensationally sleazy piece of trash from the screwy 60s really should've been a whole lot better - 'Cause, believe me, it couldn't have possibly gotten much worse.The way I see it, the frequent, unintentional laughs that occurred throughout Valley Of The Dolls (VOTD) did absolutely nothing to compensate for all of the terrible "everything else" stuff that took place in this disappointingly dumb picture.Pathetically written, incompetently directed, with certified b-grade performances all around, VOTD is, without question, a shamelessly trashy adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's shamelessly trashy novel of the same name.In a nutshell - VOTD's decidedly drab and seemingly uneventful story revolves around the ups and downs and all-arounds of 3 ambitious young beauties breaking into show biz and their inevitable "introduction" (nudge-nudge-wink-wink) into NYC society.Remembering that this is, of course, 1967 - These 3 babes, in one way, or another, always seemed to be getting themselves mixed up with all the wrong men and ending up taking all the wrong drugs, for all the wrong reasons.
Trivia notes - The so-called "dolls" that are referred to in this film's title is a slang term used for barbiturates that are taken as sleep aids.Made on an estimated $5 million budget, VOTD (as of 1973) had earned itself $50 million, worldwide.To date, Jacqueline Susann's garbage novel of the same name has sold over 30 million copies, worldwide.Actor Richard Deyfuss made his screen debut in this film.VOTD is considered to be one of the top 100 "Most Amusingly Bad Movies Ever Made" - But, I'll tell you something....
A cautionary tale of three good girls who get into show business and promptly go to pot, it offers a vision of 1960s America at its most hip-twitching vulgar with very little in the way of plot, script, music, or indeed talent to justify any of it.Anne (Barbara Parkins) is a sweet little New England girl who arrives in New York just in time to luck into a secretarial job with a notable theatrical agent--and just in time to fall hard for studly Lyon (Paul Burke.) She barely has time to apply more eyeshadow before she is befriended by talented-but-undisciplined Neely (Patti Duke) and lovely-but-untalented Jennifer (Sharon Tate), and before you can take a deep breath everyone is rolling around in bed with everyone else.Throw in a really nasty Broadway star (Susan Hayward), a lounge singer with a degenerative disease (Toni Scotti) and his harridan sister (Lee Grant) and a couple of husbands both gay and straight and you pretty much have the story.
VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, the beyond dreadful 1967 film version of Jacqueline Susaan's trashy novel is the ultimate potboiler, a movie so hideously bad that it is funny as hell and endless laughs may be found here.
There is just so much to laugh at in this film, I don't know where to begin...Neeley singing at a telethon with a wild pair of beads on that won't stay out of her way, Anne's cover girl montage,where Parkins has on enough makeup to choke a horse and displays some of the most outrageous hairstyles and bad fashion ever seen, a drunken Neeley confronting her allegedly gay husband in the swimming pool, dressed in an unflattering slip and bra, a drunken Neeley sitting in a bar and listening to herself on a jukebox explaining to everyone in the bar who she was, Jennifer's husband Tony, losing his balance outside the benefit ("I can't feel my legs!"), Tony and Neeley singing a duet at an asylum; Helen Lawson lip-syncing (to Helen O'Connell's voice) in a too tight evening gown and trying to dodge a large mobile that thinks its alive, and of course, the classic ladies room encounter between Neeley and Helen which climaxes with Neeley pulling off Helen's wig and flushing it down the toilet.
Add to this "the addictive dolls", mental institutions, French New Wave and Jacqueline Susann herself (the author of the novel) as a nosy reporter at one character's suicide scene and you have a classic trash camp film possibly of all time.
Patty Duke somehow knew exactly what Jacqueline wanted for Neely, Barbara Parkins was the hero, was sweet, was from New England, and survived to the Valley of the Dolls.
As for as campy bad movies go, "Valley of the Dolls" is its "Citizen Kane." It's got drugs, sex, ridiculous outfits, horrendous performances, hairdos that defy gravity, dialogue that's unintentionally funny, and terrible performances.
What makes this movie is the terrible acting, the horrible period details like the hairdos and the ridiculous psychedelic montages, and Dionne Warwick's "Theme From Valley Of the Dolls" which is the world's longest song, I swear.
Someone should re-edit the film down to an hour and then it would be great camp but as it is, it's not worth siting through the dull moments just to see Patty Duke singing at a telethon with that clingy necklace or when she's over-acting shamelessly when she's high, that hair commercial or any scenes with ultra-butch scene-stealing Susan Hayward, including the one where she sings "I'll Plant My Own Tree", which has to be seen to be believed.
Yes, the movie is really awful if you objectively analyze it - bad writing (from an equally trashy, compulsively readable novel), bad directing (from veteran Mark Robson, who has done very good work over the years) and bad acting (ranges from wooden to outrageous overacting - Sharon Tate looks beautiful but does very little else, Patty Duke really chews the scenery in her first "adult" role, and Susan Hayward - for shame!) In fairness, the New England scenery is beautiful and the music is OK, (but really didn't care for the theme song) But for all its badness I guarantee you will stick with it to the end.
None of those things makes the slightest appearance in this film and thats why I think it is representational of someones wishes about what was 1967-or 1966 for that matter since Valley of the Dolls was first published in 1966.It was an important book because it was-I am told-the first time a woman had even published a large novel (442 pages long) in the USA.
It's like the makers of this film were on a totally different planet - the planet of Fuddie-duddie!I did watch it all the way though (albeit noodling on the guitar the whole time) and I have to agree with nearly everyone about one thing: Sharon Tate is very sweet.Thanks for reading!
"Gotta get off, gonna get...Have to get off from this ride." She was right, but if you stick with the ride you will laugh and cry....but the tears will be from the realization that what you are watching is the evaporation and demise of the careers of Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke and Susan Hayward.
Patty Duke, Barbara Parkins, and the late tragic Sharon Tate are the trio of young stars and they each try very hard to make this work.
I don't know if it's me or if it's the rest of the world who has poor taste but that movie is a must-see and a must-have!OK,it is completely different from the book (which takes place in the 30's and 40's)and very messy in terms of characters and stories...OK!But what a cast:classy and hotty Barbara Parkins,energetic Patty Duke,legendary Susan Hayward and last but not least,beautiful and radiant Sharon Tate!Although the screenplay was quite unbalanced,each actress managed to deliver a remarkable performance.The musical score by André Previn is both delicate and dramatic without being too "girly".The theme song performed by Dionne Worwick is a masterpiece!Finally,I believe that Valley of the Dolls symbolizes the Swinging Sixties at its pick and ironically,it predicts its brutal downfall with two scenes:Sharon Tate's character suicide scene(which makes me cry every time)and Patty Duke's character,now a junkie,begging for some pills...The Sixties ended with Sharon Tate's murder and Joplin/Hendrix/Morrison's drug related deaths...The party was definitely over!.
Valley Of The Dolls is the perfect camp film ,just the so called musical numbers alone make it campy , especially Susan Hayward's unforgettable (for all the wrong reasons) performance of 'Ill Plant My Own Tree', 'It's my yard ,so I will try hard to welcome friends I have yet to know!', whoever wrote that song must be using some dolls themselves,and whoever designed the set for that scene has no taste at all And this film is a perfect example of how a book is different from the movie ,in the novel Anne did not walk out of her own house when Lyon showed up ,in the book they were married and had a daughter named Jennifer, at the end of the novel Anne slipped further into pill addiction , Anne and Helen Lawson were friends also ,Helen did not fire Neely from her show, in fact she gave her a break, and Jennifer was not a dumb blonde, she did not do nudie films to pay for Tony's medical costs she did the movies over in Paris because she wanted to.
If that is indeed true, she had good reason to do so.Over the years, this film has "risen" from simply a bad adaptation of a bestselling novel to a cult camp classic at one extreme or a small guilty pleasure on the other extreme.Much has been said in previous reviews about the many elements of this movie that are simply bad or wrong or both.
(Lyon Burke's office is another mind boggler, stuffed from floor to ceiling with walls of legal references--not something one would think an entertainment lawyer would have much use for.)  The script itself is lame as it doesn't even bother to develop how Neely (Duke), Jennifer (the lovely, late Sharon Tate) and Anne (the mannequin known as Barbara Parkins) ever became friends or even acquaintances in the first place!
If you want camp, see the non-sequel "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" (1970), which is a satire scripted by none other than Roger Ebert.In an interview Patty Duke said that director Mark Robson treated the female actors like unintelligent bimbos, particularly Sharon Tate.
Based on the lurid best-selling novel by Jacqueline Susann, the film chronicles the rise and fall of three young women: Welles, played by Barbara Parkins; Neely O'Hara, played by Patty Duke; and Jennifer North, played by Sharon Tate.
Patty Duke says she and her friends occasionally order a pizza and have a "Valley of the Dolls night" and watch the movie and make fun of it.
But in all fairness there are a few touching moments in her book, and unbelievably even in the film itself.Despite it all, Valley of the Dolls is an entertaining movie.
Valley of the Dolls A lot less people would be inclined to take antidepressants if they only came in the form of suppositories.Since they don't, the girlfriends in this drama pop'em by the handful.At different points in their careers, fashion model Anne (Barbara Parkins), movie star Neely (Patty Duke), and girl next door Jennifer (Sharon Tate) each become addicted to polychromatic prescription pills colloquially referred to as "dolls".Anne takes her dolls to cope with her cheating husband (Paul Burke); Neely needs them for her ego and; Jennifer pops them for depression.But the highs don't last and soon all three women must face an array of consequences, from breast cancer to suicidal to psychotic breakdown.Based on the best seller by Jacqueline Susann, this salacious cautionary tale relies on gratuitous sex and sentimental twaddle to compensate for a flaccid script.Furthermore, the real pills corrupting young women in the 1960s were the contraceptive kind.Yellow Light vidiotreviews.blogspot.com.
) Patty Duke (who was already famous) Sharon Tate (whose career ended tragically) and Susan Hayward ( fading veteran movie star ).Tons of musical numbers, mostly forgettable, and let's not forget the trashy wardrobes and appalling hairstyles!
Sharon Tate was good but the movie is hard to watch when she is on the screen - for me - knowing what happened to her in real life.
In my opinion, she was justified, because this film excludes all the scenes that made Valley of the Dolls a great book, and included things which make it a horrible movie..