Mar. 6 movie: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Oh, lordie! Speaking of trashy good fun, this was the trashiest trash that ever trashed. My goal for the evening was to shut my brain off, settle back and enjoy a couple hours of mindless entertainment. I don't think any other movie could have done better.
Between the crazed, depraved story ("over the top" doesn't begin to describe it) and the wide-eyed, utterly sincere performances, I found myself wondering at times whether the movie was a parody or not. Apparently that was intentional: according to screenwriter Roger Ebert (!), director Russ Meyer thought the satire would work better if the actors weren't winking at the camera. So he spent so much time talking to them about their motivations that even they got confused about whether the movie was serious or parody.
I can't even describe the freaky fun of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. If you have any appreciation for camp, you have to see it.
2 Comments
"This is my party, and it's FREAKING me out!" My favorite line from that movie! ;)
I don't remember a favorite line, but I think my favorite part is when the guy falls from the rafters and the whole movie suddenly turns into a melodrama, complete with soap-opera style organ music. I was like "what the? what happened to the movie?"