Valley of the Dolls (1967)

38% of critics liked it
(24 reviews)
64% of users liked it
(5,177 ratings)

A cinematic take on a 1960s best-seller, Valley of the Dolls traces the ups and downs of three young women as fame, booze, pills, and men consume their lives. Well-bred, small-town Anne Welles (Peyton Place star Barbara Parkins) arrives in New York eager for fame but settles for a job assisting… More A cinematic take on a 1960s best-seller, Valley of the Dolls traces the ups and downs of three young women as fame, booze, pills, and men consume their lives. Well-bred, small-town Anne Welles (Peyton Place star Barbara Parkins) arrives in New York eager for fame but settles for a job assisting theatrical attorney Henry Bellamy (Robert H. Harris). The job leads her to cross paths with Helen Lawson (Hollywood veteran Susan Hayward), the grand dame of Broadway musicals, and Neely O'Hara (sitcom star Patty Duke), an up-and-coming performer whom Lawson unceremoniously boots from her latest show. Neely lands on her feet thanks to a series of nightclub gigs, and soon she and Anne befriend Jennifer North (Sharon Tate), a buxom starlet. As Neely becomes a huge star of stage and screen and Jennifer appears topless in a string of European "art" films, Anne becomes a wealthy cosmetics spokeswoman and suffers though a passionate but failed affair with aspiring writer Lyon Burke (Paul Burke). As the pressures of fame and failed romance take their toll on all three women, they take refuge in food, sex, liquor, and pills -- especially Neely, who becomes downright monstrous (the titular "dolls" are the uppers and downers to which she becomes hopelessly addicted). Although the film's characters are fictitious composites, Neely most closely resembles Judy Garland; Garland herself was originally cast as Lawson, but she was replaced after only a few days by Hayward. Although the film's trailer played up the story's titillating subject matter, the script for Valley of the Dolls actually toned down Jacqueline Susann's novel. And despite the fact that Dionne Warwick can be heard singing "(Theme From) The Valley of the Dolls" twice during the film, contractual snags kept her from releasing the soundtrack version; a different arrangement later became a number two pop hit in 1968. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 2 hr. 3 min.
Directed By: Mark Robson
Written By: Helen Deutsch, Dorothy Kingsley, Jacqueline Susann
Genres: Drama, Classics

In Theaters: Dec 15, 1967 Wide
On DVD: Jun 13, 2006
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Critic Reviews

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Too dull even to function as camp.
Bosley Crowther, New York Times
It's an unbelievably hackneyed and mawkish mish-mash of backstage plots and Peyton Place adumbrations.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
It tries to raise itself to the level of sophisticated pornography, but fails. And it is dirty, not because it has lots of sex in it, but because it firmly believes that sex is dirty.
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com
At the time sordid, now blase look at drug-infested Hollywood.
, Film4
The choice of Mark Robson, a talented Hollywood journeyman director, for this piece of nonsense was inspired.
Stephen Macmillan Moser, Austin Chronicle
Rent it and howl.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Pure trash, based on a trashy book, filled to the brim with trashy performances, now becoming a trashy cult film.
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures
It's an okay premise, but it still is weighted down with so much of the 60s that I find it hard to relate.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Long in the works DVD includes many goodies: Jacqueline Susann docu; screen tests of Judy Garland and others; commentary from star Barbara Parkins and gossiper Ted Casablanca; pill-popping guide to the movie; and karaoke, follow the doll on 3 songs.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Based on Susann's steamy bestseller, this delightfully absurd and lurid saga of three girls in "corrupt and corrupting" Hollywood has become a cult classic due to its campy lines.
Staci Layne Wilson, Buzzine Magazine
You know how bitchy special edition DVDs can be!
Don Willmott, Filmcritic.com
A lurid '60s sensation
, Time Out
Jacqueline Susann's 'exposé' of Hollywood gets the cliché-ridden treatment it deserves from Robson.

Read all 13 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Cassie H

A fairly good take at the life of the 60s but I didn't care for it very much.
Randy T

Valley of the Dolls follows the lives of three young women as they struggle to succeed in the cutthroat world of show business. Along the way they contend with drug abuse, alcoholism, adultery, abortion, Huntington's disease, suicide and Susan Hayward. In… More
Valley of the Dolls follows the lives of three young women as they struggle to succeed in the cutthroat world of show business. Along the way they contend with drug abuse, alcoholism, adultery, abortion, Huntington's disease, suicide and Susan Hayward. In 1967 it's racy, risqué and controversial. In 2011 it seems exaggerated, sensationalized and preachy.
AJ V

Maybe it's a bit slow and we've seen this theme often, but this movie has something, it's very timely for the late sixties, and the cast is great. It's a good drama, even though some people think of it as campy now, I still like it.
Drew S

This is campy in a gentler way that most fans of camp are probably accustomed to, but the ridiculousness crackling beneath the surface is impossible to deny. The cast's incredible conviction in their material, all of them oblivious to how roundly awful it actually is, is what… More
This is campy in a gentler way that most fans of camp are probably accustomed to, but the ridiculousness crackling beneath the surface is impossible to deny. The cast's incredible conviction in their material, all of them oblivious to how roundly awful it actually is, is what truly sells Valley of the Dolls. Patty Duke in particular is a delight; never in a million years would you believe that this ham beyond hams was an Oscar winner, hollering her name at the top of her lungs in a filthy alley and clamoring feverishly for her "dolls." You have to commend her dedication, because she truly does embody the character. Unfortunately, that character is less an actress on the fringes of self-destruction as she thinks it is, and mostly just a ridiculous woman with a pill problem. Sharon Tate offers us a woman who the film is trying to tell us, against all visual and inscribed evidence, is not mentally retarded; the challenge we have believing it is its other exciting bit of characterization. The plot is ordinary and sort of tired, honestly, but the excitement comes out in how the little details interface with the big picture. I kind of love its woozy tightroping between luridity and prudishness. The film's total chagrin at nudity, breasts and sex in general (the total disdain for the French "nudie flick") seems kind of hilarious when it's exploiting feminine suffering in just about every other way possible. It's like, don't pretend you're too good to whip out some hoots every now and then. The movie's not misogynist, necessarily, inasmuch as any film with a female character encountering difficulty is, but its portraits aren't particularly flattering either. The only stable female character is a numbingly boring one, as if to suggest that a career-minded, anhedonistic woman is the only kind that can be successful. Gender politics aside, I don't really know if Valley of the Dolls was a very incisive look at Hollywood back in 1967, but I think its relative toothlessness in this day and age is pretty apparent. There's no doubt in my mind that shit like this still occurs, but the problems here feel endemic and our heroines are so chronically up against the wall that these people aren't really relatable. Poor Jennifer North runs across one of the most brutal streaks of bad luck ever committed to celluloid, but when you step back and look at it, it just reads as exploitative. And that's what I love about Valley of the Dolls: despite its delusions of grandeur, it isn't afraid to treat its characters like complete shit for no real reason. All this said, I still prefer Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. All the verve, twice the bizarreness.
Jennifer X

The more I watched the campier it got. Patty Duke's theatrics are hysterical; she always always reminds me of Helen Keller no matter how old she gets. Watching Sharon Tate makes me sad about her murder. Barbara Perkins' hair has a life of its own. But my goodness are all of… More
The more I watched the campier it got. Patty Duke's theatrics are hysterical; she always always reminds me of Helen Keller no matter how old she gets. Watching Sharon Tate makes me sad about her murder. Barbara Perkins' hair has a life of its own. But my goodness are all of them gorgeous or what. This is...not a great movie by any shakes of the word but I really liked it anyhow. Although it IS sad how phenomenal the book was and how not phenomenal this film version is.
Ginny

<center>"You've got to climb Mount Everest to reach the Valley of the Dolls. Its a brutal climb to reach that peak." <img… More
<center>"You've got to climb Mount Everest to reach the Valley of the Dolls. Its a brutal climb to reach that peak." <img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Tn3huAudp2U/Sdgx-xwm6OI/AAAAAAAACGQ/Oj7WnSBRrZU/S1600-R/ValleyOfTheDolls.jpg" width=190></center> Valley of the Dolls is the story of 3 women working in the different sectors of show business. It shows the glitz, the glamour, and the seedy underbelly of Broadway and the film industry, and oh.. ofcourse! Prescription drugs. Well, for a 1967 film, I thought it was quite interesting. I thought a lot of Hollywood actors should re-watch this film to get their heads unclogged from their pill popping habits. Patty Duke delivers a powerful, show stealling performance as Neely O'Harra. Sharon Tate was so mezmerizing in this film, even the little flicker of her hands in the pool was so lovely to watch. Barbara Parkins, I cant really say much of her film presence, I just thought that she was a plain beauty. I love her hairdo in this film! :P' Other Movie Info: Nominated for 5 awards, including a Satellite Award in 2006 for the Best Classic DVD. Genre: Classic, Drama Director: Mark Robson
jay n

Susan Hayward is great, tough as nails, Sharon Tate is touching, Lee Grant is fine in a small role, everything and everybody else is a mess. that can be very good or very bad depending on your mood.
Lafe F

Very much a product of its time. This movie is stuck in the 1960's and feels very soap-opera'ish; interesting for that element alone. The styles and fashions date it. The ladies' performances and situations are to be witnessed.
Michael G

Really sad but I loved it.
Leanna E

So bad, it's good! I love this tacky trash. The book is one of my all time favourites. I've always wanted a remake of this with Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears in the lead roles. How much fun would that be!
Sarah P

Pretty boring for the most part - it just didn't interest me in the least.

Read all 11 featured audience ratings

Cast

            Barbara Parkins as Anne Welles

            Patty Duke as Neely O'Hara

            Paul Burke as Lyon Burke

            Sharon Tate as Jennifer North

            Tony Scotti as Tony Polar

            Susan Hayward as Helen Lawson

            Martin Milner as Mel Anderson

            Charles Drake as Kevin Gillmore

            Lee Grant as Miriam Polar

            Naomi Stevens as Miss Steinberg

            Robert H. Harris as Henry Bellamy

            Jacqueline Susann as First Reporter

            Robert Viharo as Director

            Joey Bishop as Telethon Host

            George Jessel as Host at Grammy Awards

            Richard Angarola as Claude Chardot

            Billy Beck as Man Sleeping in Movie House

            Norman Burton as Neely's Hollywood Director

            Barry Cahill as Man in Bar

            Darlene Conley
            
            Alexander Davion as Ted Casablanca

            Gertrude Flynn as Ladies' Room Attendant

            Jeanne Gerson as Neely's Maid

            Robert Gibbons as Desk Clerk at Lawrenceville Hotel

            Richard Hoyt as Reporter

            Judith Lowry as Aunt Amy

            Dorothy Neumann
            
            Barry O'Hara as Assistant Stage Manager

            Peggy Rea as Neely's Voice Coach

            Margot Stevenson as Anne's Mother

            Corinna Tsopei as Telephone Girl

            Mikel Angel as Man in Hotel Room

            Richard Dreyfuss
            
            Marvin Hamlisch as Pianist

            Pat Becker
            
See full cast

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