Valley of the Dolls movie storyline. They don’t make ’em like this anymore. Well, John Waters might, if he ever had a big enough budget. A steamy “inside look” at the alternately sleazy and glamorous world of catfighting, backbiting show-biz starlets, this Hollywood hit from the bestselling novel by Jacqueline Susann is a high-gloss camp artifact–a time capsule (or some kind of capsule, anyway)–from the screwy ’60s, when a broad was a broad, a bitch was a bitch (whether “her” name was Neely O’Hara or Ted Casablanca), and a “doll” was a prescription drug.
These dames of whine and poses obsessed over their bust lines, booze, and barbiturates. The once-shocking and scandalous language and behavior of these Broadway babes has been eclipsed by Dallas, Dynasty, and Melrose Place, but time has only enhanced the stature of Valley of the Dolls as a classic–and it still puts Showgirls to shame. With Patty Duke, Susan Hayward, Sharon Tate, Lee Grant, Barbara Parkins, and Martin Milner (and juicy, scene-chewing dialogue such as the infamous: “They drummed you out of Hollywood, so you come crawling back to Broadway. But Broadway doesn’t go for booze and dope–now get out of my way, I’ve got a man waiting for me!”), Valley of the Dolls is the Mount Rushmore of backstage movie melodramas.
Valley of the Dolls is a 1967 American drama film based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Jacqueline Susann. It was directed by Mark Robson, produced by Robson and David Weisbart, and stars Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Sharon Tate, Susan Hayward, Paul Burke, Lee Grant, Alexander Davion, Naomi Stevens, Jacqueline Susann, Joey Bishop, George Jessel, Robert Viharo and Robert H. Harris.
Valley of the Dolls (1967)
Directed by: Mark Robson
Starring: Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Sharon Tate, Susan Hayward, Paul Burke, Lee Grant, Alexander Davion, Naomi Stevens, Jacqueline Susann, Joey Bishop, George Jessel, Robert Viharo, Robert H. Harris
Screenplay by: Helen Deutsch, Dorothy Kingsley, Harlan Ellison
Production Design by: Philip M. Jefferies
Cinematography by: William H. Daniels
Film Editing by: Dorothy Spencer
Costume Design by: Travilla
Set Decoration by: Raphael Bretton, Walter M. Scott
Art Direction by: Richard Day, Jack Martin Smith
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic elements involving substance abuse, some sexual content, partial nudity and language.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: December 15, 1967
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