VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1967)

Anne Welles (Barbara Parkins) leaves her small New England town of Lawrenceville for New York City, signs up with a temp agency and gets a job as an assistant to a theatrical lawyer. Her first assignment is to get temperamental Broadway star Helen Lawson (Susan Hayward) to sign some contracts. While at the theater, she meets a number of people who will be important to her over the next few years: Neely O'Hara (Patty Duke, at right), an up-and-coming musical star whom Lawson has dismissed from the show because she feels threatened by her; Jennifer North (Sharon Tate), a chorus girl who cozies up to a string of sugar daddies; Mel (Martin Milner), a PR man who's sweet on Neely; Lyon (Paul Burke), another entertainment lawyer. Over time, their paths cross frequently. Anne and Lyon begin an on-and-off personal relationship as Lyon and Neely begin a professional one—he gets her a spot on a national telethon which leads to records (she wins a special Grammy), Broadway and movies, but also to an addiction to "dolls," the uppers and downers she pops to keep up her arduous schedule. Jennifer marries lounge singer Tony Polar whose sister (Lee Grant) has an unusual hold on him. Neely marries the sweet-natured Mel, then has an affair with fashion designer Ted Casablanca. He is widely assumed by Hollywood to be gay, but Neely knows better: "Ted Casablanca is not a fag, and I'm the dame who can prove it!" She divorces Mel and marries Ted, has a breakdown, and goes through rehab. Lyon tries to get her career back on the rails with a role in a Broadway play (and she begins sleeping with Lyon as well), and soon Neely is turning into Helen Lawson, getting a younger star fired from the show. Happy endings are not in store for most of these folks.

Based on the wildly successful 60s novel by Jacqueline Susann (who has a cameo as a reporter), this is considered a great trash classic with lots of lines of dialogue that have entered the camp canon: "Sparkle, Neely, sparkle!"; "Boobies, boobies, boobies, nothin' but boobies!"; "Broadway doesn't go for booze and dope!"; "You know how bitchy fags can be"; and the Ted Casablanca quote above. Then there's the infamous women's room scene in which Neely tears off Helen's wig and throws it in the toilet. I'd seen the movie a couple of times in the past and was taken with it as camp or straight melodrama, but on this viewing, I rather enjoyed myself, taking a kind of middle ground. Overall, the movie is not quite as over-the-top as its reputation would have it. It's mostly Susan Hayward and Patty Duke who, overdoing the meanness and suffering, bear the brunt of the camp label. Despite that, I found Duke's performance often quite good, especially early on before the dolls kick in. Parkins underdoes her acting, tending to get overpowered by everyone else, but she's basically OK. This time through, I found Paul Burke and Lee Grant to be surprisingly good, both getting away without having to exaggerate their emotions. Tony Scotti (Tony Polar) went on to found the Scotti Brothers record label; I remember some of their 45s from my youth (Leif Garrett and Weird Al). Sharon Tate comes off the weakest, though she gets a good line in, referring to the French sex movies she's approached to do: "Subtitles over a bare bottom doesn't necessarily make it art." I make no claims for this as great art, but if you've dismissed it as trash, a second look might be edifying. [TCM]