Customer Reviews

Valley of the Dolls

5 star:		(117)
4 star:		(46)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

Fox has gone all out to put out a great transfer of this great camp classic and has really given fans a load of extras in this two disk Special Edition of VALLEY OF THE DOLLS.

This two-disc special edition offers the following features...

Disc 1: Main Feature

2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer

English Stereo & Mono

Spanish Mono

English & Spanish subtitles

Commentary by E! gossip columnist Ted Casablanca and Barbara Parkins.

Trivia Overdose: A Pill Popping Guide To The Valley Of The Dolls option that provides 'Pop Up Video' style trivia bits on screen as the movie plays out.

"Gotta Get off this Merry-Go-Round: Sex, Dolls and Showtunes" (don't miss this 49-minute documentary, found by hitting the "MORE" button on the first screen). Casablanca, Alonso Duralde and Michael Musto and Barbara Parkins are among those commenting on the film in this exhausting (and hilarious) tribute to the film.

Stills Galleries: There are six galleries, one each for Anne Welles, Neely O'Hara and Jennifer North as well as behind-the-scenes looks at the Costume Design, Production Snapshots and Sets & Locations.

Disc 2: Extra Feature:

The Divine Ms. Susann (15 mins.) is a look at Jacqueline Susann's life through interviews with people who knew and worked with her.

"The Dish On The Doll" (5 mins.), feautures noted gay film critic Alonso Duralde and Michael Musto among others and is great for obsessive fans. It points out early appearances by Nathan Lane (in the TV remake), Richard Dreyfuss, and Marvin Hamlisch playing piano in the background and various bloopers. It also talks about the excellent 1981 TV remake (with Lisa Hartman as Neely, Veronica Hamel as Jennifer and Catherine Hicks as Anne) and the bad nighttime soap opera in the early 1990s called VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. At the end of this short, there's a written notice that if viewers are interested in seeing the TV movie or soap opera put on DVD, they should go to Fox Studio's web site and let someone know. Unfortunately, the link they give doesn't work and (as of 6/27/06), Fox's web site doesn't even mention VALLEY as one of their releases.

"Hollywood Backstories: Valley Of The Dolls" (23 mins). This AMC-original documentary overs an overview of the book-to-movie translation and includes footage of Judy Garland as Helen Lawson.

"From The Medicine Chest - A Secret Stash Of Archival Footage": is a batch of older documentaries telecast around the time the film was released in 1967. Including "Valley Of The Dolls - A World Premiere Voyage" an excellent 48-minutes television special that Fox originally broadcast to promote the film's theatrical release. "Jacqueline Susann And The Valley Of The Dolls", (50 mins.) another TV special that details Susann's book and it's journey to the big screen.

Four Screen Tests: Tony Scotti (singing), Barbara Parkins (auditioning for Neely O'Hara) & Sharon Tate (phone conversation with Jennifer's mother) and a great test with both Tate and Scotti doing a long,walk-thru-the-pakr scene. (Sadly no lost footage of Garland as Helen Lawson or even the audio of her recording of "I'll Plant My Own Tree.")

TV Spots: :10, :20, :60

Trailers: 3:21 & 2:10

"You've Got Talent Karaoke: Follow The Bouncing Doll" in which you can sing along to three songs from the movie - "The Theme From Valley Of The Dolls" (with a bouncing pill), "It's Impossible" (with a bouncing perscription bottle) and "I'll Plant My Own Tree" (with a bouncing red wig that ends up in a toilet at the end of the song). Each karaoke sing-along plays over footage from the film where the number appears.

"Musical Numbers From Valley Of The Dolls" which offers you a chance to listen to John William's musical soundtrack. Eleven tracks are included and they play as music only with only the menu screen underneath.

...so you come crawling back to Broadway"....

Just one of a myriad of oh-so-quotable lines from the classic VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, based on Jacqueline Susann's steamy pulp-fiction bestseller of 1966. The acting is pure cheese, the script is a paler, watered-down imitation of Susann's text and the songs are God-awful. But there is something about this little gem that draws me in time after time. I could easily watch it once or twice a day and never get bored with it.

The story recounts three girls in New York: Anne Welles (Barbara Parkins - BEAR ISLAND), Neely O'Hara (Patty Duke - THE MIRACLE WORKER) and Jennifer North (Sharon Tate).

Anne has just arrived from small-town Lawrenceville, and landed a job as secretary in an entertainment law-firm. This leads Anne to the acquaintance of Neely, a young up-and-coming Broadway singer who's just been dumped from the new musical starring Helen Lawson (Susan Hayward - I WANT TO LIVE). The reason?...Neely would easily steal the show, and the only star of a Helen Lawson show is Helen Lawson...!

Anne also meets Jennifer, a sweet but by her own admission, talentless showgirl/model. Anne's boss Lyon Burke (Paul Burke) arranges for Neely to sing on a charity telethon, and she quickly lands her own revue at a prominent nightclub. Jennifer marries handsome crooner Tony Polar (Tony Scotti) against the wishes of his sister/manager Miriam (Lee Grant - VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED). Anne then gets discovered by a cosmetics firm and becomes the glamorous 'Gillian Girl'.

The story moves to Hollywood where both Neely and Tony are turned into movie stars. Success comes too fast and easily for Neely who disappears into a heady world of dolls and alcohol. Tony is tragically struck down with a mysterious disease which leaves him paralysed in a sanitarium. To make ends meet, Jennifer becomes an adult-film star.

After going through two failed marriages, Neely hits bottom and is admitted into a rehab center, at Lyon and Anne's behest. With the offer of a new Broadway musical, Neely emerges and quickly finds her feet again, only to break Anne's heart when she claims Lyon for herself. Jennifer quits the porn business and discovers she has breast cancer.

At a party for Helen Lawson's new musical, which bombed out-of-town, Neely and Helen duke it out in the ladies' room, resulting in the famous wig-ripping scene, which is probably the greatest piece in the whole film.

Another great moment is Susan Hayward singing "I'll Plant My Own Tree" standing in the middle of a huge mobile, constructed of broken traffic-lights! Margaret Whiting provided Hayward's singing, though the role of Helen Lawson was originally earmarked for Judy Garland (and the song reeks of Garland influence).

VALLEY OF THE DOLLS is a campy little gem, one that has a HUUUGE and dedicated following. Patty Duke has never eaten so much scenery in any of her subsequent films, Sharon Tate is luminous and Barbara Parkins (aka the Living Mannequin) is just what is called for the role of Anne.

VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. A true classic. Accept no substitutes.

"It's a brutal climb to reach that peak. You stand there, waiting for the rush of exhilaration but it doesn't come. You're alone, and the feeling of loneliness is overpowering."

I love, love, LOVE this movie. I was 7 when it came out, remember my mom playing the Dionne Warwick single over and over. I saw it for the first time when I was 11 on network television, and even taped the soundtrack from the television onto a tape so I could play it back whenever I wanted. That's what you did before VCRs if you were a movie crazy kid like me. Eventually I knew every single line of dialogue by heart.

Years later, watching it on the big screen at the Castro theater revival in San Francisco, I was surprised that I still remembered most of the lines. Also surprised that the movie had aged like a fine wine (or wine in a box maybe) into the quintessential trash classic of our time.

Yes, this movie is terrible ... terrible in the most fantastic way imaginable. When I was a kid, I thought I was the only one that appreciated the trashy greatness of this film. But I wasn't alone at all. People love this movie. It's everything that's great and terrible about Hollywood all rolled into one Technicolor trainwreck. Now it's coming out on DVD and all us crazy Doll-heads can watch Neely, Anne and Jennifer reach the top of Mt. Everest every night!

"Sparkle, Nelly, sparkle!"

This entire movie could make up an arm's-length list of unforgettable quotes. I am almost embarrassed to admit I know 75% of the dialogue by heart! I first saw this film on the late show back in 1981 with my Mom and immediately became obsessed with it. The next day I grabbed the paperback from my parents' bookcase and read it cover to cover. I still prefer the movie. I had no idea back then it would become such a cult classic as the years went on. I thought it was my own private guilty pleasure! Why on earth hasn't the studio released this on DVD? It was bad enough it took them until 1993 to get it out on VHS. Do they not realize there's a GOLD MINE here? The video has grossed some thirty million bucks in sales and rentals in its 12 years on the market. Fans are clamoring for a deluxe DVD release, which should include multiple commentaries from Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke and others, and of course, that prized lost footage featuring Judy Garland as Helen Lawson. Judy's legions of fans will willingly snap this up for a glimpse of what would have been her final film role, guaranteeing bigger sales than the video for sure! 20th Century Fox...are you LISTENING?? I can only hope that when the DVD release arrives that the person in charge of the audio corrects the sound on all the musical numbers. I have an old tape of this recorded off a local channel and the orchestra sounds fantastic during the musical sequences, although the print is faded and scratchy. On the VHS version, the vocals have been brought so forward the music is barely audible, which is a shame because you can't fully appreciate the musical numbers based on the VHS tape.

There are so many contenders for the title of Worst Scene in this wonderful film that it's impossible to choose just one. There's Susan Hayward looking as though she's about to have a coronary as she struggles through her dud big show tune or the legendary wig scuffle or any scene with Patty Duke. But I think my personal favorite has to be the "singalong-in-the-sanitarium" sequence when smarmy crooner Tony and doolally Neely enjoy a musical reunion that will make your toes curl. Whenever life starts to get you down, settle down with Valley and a nice big bar of chocolate and you'll feel better in minutes. Those dresses! Those songs!! That hair!!! But shimmering throughout, an otherworldly vision in Travilla, is the goddess Sharon Tate. Bringing pathos and sensitivity to a role that didn't really warrant much of either, she demonstrates once and for all that she is The Great Lost Hollywood Icon. Legend has it that the three female stars of this film were so embarrassed by the finished product that they could hardly bring themselves to look at each other at the glitzy premiere party. But I think they were being a little hard on themselves. Citizen Kane was never this much fun.

This movie gets my vote as The Best Worst Movie Of All Time! Anyone can make a BAD movie, but, it takes alot of skill, craft, planning, and forethought to make one this bad. The script, taken from the equally awful novel by Jackie Susanne, the cinematography, the directing, the editing, the music, are all so wonderfully, inimitably terrible. The acting...oh, the ACTING, is SO bad, the Academy should have created a special award that year, yes, a whole new category. There are so many atrociously acted and written scenes, that it's hard to pick my favorites. Patty Duke seems to use her thespian technique left over from her appropriatley over-the-top histrionics from "The Miracle Worker". Her interpretation of an aspiring actress with "spunk" is hysterical to behold..."This kids gonna knock 'em dead!" I love the scene where she's in bed, dials the phone, THEN picks up the receiver and proceeds to talk! HELLO! EDITORS?? Her scene in the "Funny Farm", as she calls it, where she is flailing and drueling after her downfall from her beloved dolls... I vote this the best single worst scene in motion picture history! It is brilliant!!...as she breaks into one of her former hit songs with the equally strung-out former singer and friend, Tony, who is also rehabilitating there, now a vegetable in a wheelchair...but, comes out of his radish-like state to perform the song "ala-duet" with her...it is hard to top in un-intentional humor. And, her final scene, as she does drugged-out demi-pli'es in the alleyway, screaming "It's ME...Neely O'Hara!!", goes right down in motion picture history with that other Ms. O'Hara, Scarlett, and her "I'll never go hungry again" speech, as one of the most dramatic moments in filmdom. There are wonderful cat fights, complete with pulling off wigs, overacting all over the place by everyone, no emoting where a little would have been appropriate. Martin Milner, from "Route 66", and "Adam 12" does the best acting in the entire film, what does THAT tell you? Poor, doomed Sharon Tate, who, to be fair, never had an opportunity to develope any acting skills, is very pretty. Author Jackie Susanne, whose novel shocked the nation, it was SO filthy...she had a character grabbing Jennifers breast!!... does a Hitchcockian cameo in this film as a reporter. Judy Garland was all set to play the "Helen Lawson" role, but, her real-life ordeal with her own dollies got her canned from the film, which is just as well, as her iconic presence may have detracted from the amateurish trashiness of the completed project. Wonderful Susan Hayward took over the role, which one feels she tried to instill with a Bette Davis "survivor" toughness, but comes off more like Edward G. Robinson in drag. These days we have directors like John Waters, who make campy, intentionally "bad" films. While they are humorous and entertaining, they're not the same. No, it takes alot more than intent to make a film as classically awful as "Valley Of The Dolls." It takes all the ingredients listed above, and LUCK, to make a film as once-in- a- lifetime awful as this. Doncha LOVE it??!!!

This movie made me what I am today.

I remember watching this movie as a 7 yr old child mesmerized , as my Dad (a retired Marine Sargent and alcholic), yelled at my weeping mother (who took in laundry to make ends meet).

Life was bleak in Big Moose, Alaska for me, but movies like this, and "Mommie Dearest", and "Showgirls", and "The Texas Chain Saw Massacure" made me overcome my shyness, leave Alaska for good, and become an "wild cat" on an off shore oil rig in the North Sea.

Often I have re-created the performances of Patty, and Barbara, and Sharon, and Susan to my co-workers late at night when we try to overcome our loneliness - away from wives and significant others.

My performances never fail to astound everone. With all due humility, my re-creation of Susan Hayward as Helen Lawson has brought grown men to tears.

The camp classic of all time, this definitely falls into the so-bad-it's-good category! Forget the story(there is none!), the lapses in credibilty(the story has more holes in it than a barrel of swiss cheese)and just kick back, have a couple of brewskies and enjoy. It'll play better that way! And maybe having a 6-pack throughout wouldn't hurt either. The acting(for lack of a better word) is hysterical. Barbara Parkins gives ample proof why she didn't become a star.(There is SOME justice in the world!) In plain English, she has no talent! She looks like she's having trouble remembering her lines half the time, and the other half she looks like she's fighting a hopeless battle to put any feeling into them. She's just plain incapable of outacting her cans of Gillian hairspray. An obvious graduate of the Suzanne Somers Academy of Dramatic Art, she and her character Ann are just plain annoying. I kept hoping, right up to the last second that her character would swallow the pills and kill herself, NOT Sharon Tate's! Lee Grant and Patty Duke, who are normally first-rate in every thing they do embarrass themselves here. Good thing Patty Duke has a sense of humor, she herself refers to this movie as the nadir of her career. She points out her difficulties with the director Mark Robson by saying she hated him. She's far too kind! A voodoo doll would have been more appropriate. And not the least of it should have been for his disgraceful treatment of Sharon Tate(who aside from Susan hayward is the only actor to come out of this mess with some degree of credibility). It's heartbreaking whenever I think of Sharon. She was probably the most beautiful woman to ever set foot in front of a movie camera, but she had talent. Unfortunately, more than she was capable of showing in this drivel. The poor woman was given dialogue that Meryl Streep would have trouble with, and yet she still emerged as the film's only human link. Jennifer was the only believable, halfway credible character in this whole mess. The men, basically are a bunch of ineffectual wimps who could have phoned their parts in. Still, this movie is fun to watch. It just seems so much more so if you're under the influence of any controlled substance

I had the original on vinyl! This CD opened up a floodgate of memories. And let this Texan settle this once and for all: Yes, Dionne Warwick DOES sing the title track in the movie (I also have that), but not on the soundtrack. Anyone who loves the movie must have this if for no other reason than to hear Barbra Parkins, "You've got to climb Mt. Everest to reach the valley of the dolls..." on the first track! And the original cover is priceless!

Although the extras listed on amazon are correct, the pre-release information for this DVD (and the detail listings on many other sites), include many extras that for whatever reason did not make it to the retail version. Among them:

-Doll-A-Palooza: Addicts Forum A Go-Go

-Translate French Porn Movies

-What's My Line? Episode

- a screen test for Judy Garland

- a k.d.lang remix

While the movie is as hilariously awful as it ever was, and the included extras are terrific, be aware that these other extras are NOT on the DVD.