Themes: Actor's Life, Ladder to the Top, Drug Addiction
Main Cast: Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Paul Burke, Sharon Tate, Tony Scotti
Release Year: 1967
Country: US
Run Time: 123 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
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, All Movie Guide
Susan Hayward - Helen Lawson; Martin Milner - Mel Anderson; Charles Drake - Kevin Gillmore; Lee Grant - Miriam Polar; Naomi Stevens - Miss Steinberg; Robert H. Harris - Henry Bellamy; Jacqueline Susann - First Reporter; Robert Viharo - Director; Joey Bishop - Telethon Host; George Jessel - Host at Grammy Awards; Richard Angarola - Claude Chardot; Billy Beck - Man Sleeping in Movie House; Norman Burton - Neely's Hollywood Director; Barry Cahill - Man in Bar; Darlene Conley; Alexander Davion - Ted Casablanca; Gertrude Flynn - Ladies' Room Attendant; Jeanne Gerson - Neely's Maid; Robert Gibbons - Desk Clerk at Lawrenceville Hotel; Richard Hoyt - Reporter; Judith Lowry - Aunt Amy; Dorothy Neumann; Barry O'Hara - Assistant Stage Manager; Peggy Rea - Neely's Voice Coach; Margot Stevenson - Anne's Mother; Corinna Tsopei - Telephone Girl; Mikel Angel - Man in Hotel Room; Richard Dreyfuss; Marvin Hamlisch - Pianist; Pat Becker
Credit
Richard Day - Art Director, Jack Martin Smith - Art Director, Joe Scully - Casting, Robert Sidney - Choreography, William Travilla - Costume Designer, Eli Dunn - First Assistant Director, Robert J. Koster - First Assistant Director, Mark Robson - Director, Dorothy Spencer - Editor, Kaye Pownall - Hair Styles, Kenneth - Hair Styles, John Williams - Composer (Music Score), Andre Previn - Songwriter, Dory Previn - Songwriter, Ben Nye, Sr. - Makeup, Philip M. Jefferies - Production Designer, William H. Daniels - Cinematographer, Chico Day - Production Manager, David Weisbart - Producer, Raphael Bretton - Set Designer, Walter Scott - Set Designer, L.B. Abbott - Special Effects, Art Cruickshank - Special Effects, Emil Kosa, Jr. - Special Effects, Don Bassman - Sound/Sound Designer, David Dockendorf - Sound/Sound Designer, Jacqueline Susann - Screenwriter, Dorothy Kingsley - Screenwriter, Helen Deutsch - Screenwriter, Edward Folger - Production Assistant, Thomas del Ruth - First Assistant Camera, Dionne Warwick - Musical Performer, Jacqueline Susann - Book Author
Valley of the Dolls is a 1967Americandrama film based on the 1966novel of the same name by Jacqueline Susann. The "dolls" within the title is a slang term for downers, mood-altering drugs. The film, which was produced by David Weisbart and directed by Mark Robson, received a great deal of publicity during its production. Upon release it was a commercial success, though universally panned by critics. It was re-released in 1969 following the murder of star Sharon Tate, and once again proved commercially viable. In the years since its production, it has come to be regarded as a camp classic. Co-star Barbara Parkins, attending a July 1997 screening of the film at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, told the sold-out crowd, "I know why you like it... because it's so bad!"[1] The movie was remade in 1981 for television as Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls. To date the film has earned $44,432,255 at the box office and $20,000,000 in rentals.[2]
The film tells the story of three young women who meet when all are embarking on the beginning of their careers. Neely O'Hara (played by Patty Duke) is a plucky kid with undeniable talent who is working in a Broadway play which stars the legendary actress Helen Lawson (played by Susan Hayward). Jennifer North (played by Sharon Tate), a beautiful blonde with limited talent, is appearing in the chorus. Anne Welles (played by Barbara Parkins)is a New Englandingenue who's recently arrived in New York City and is working for a theatrical agency that represents Helen Lawson. The three women become fast friends, sharing the bonds of ambition and the tendency to fall in love with the wrong men.
O'Hara becomes a major success and moves to Hollywood to pursue a lucrative film career, but almost immediately falls victim to the eponymous "dolls" — prescription drugs, particularly the barbituratesSeconal and Nembutal and various stimulants. Her career is shattered by her erratic behavior and she is committed to a sanitarium.
Meanwhile, Jennifer follows Neely to Hollywood, where she marries nightclub singer Tony Polar (played by Tony Scotti) and becomes pregnant. When she learns he has the hereditary Huntington's chorea — a fact his domineering half-sister and manager Miriam (played by Lee Grant) had been concealing — Jennifer has an abortion. Faced with Tony's mounting medical expenses, Jennifer finds herself working in French "art films" (extremely tame soft-core pornography) to pay the bills.
Anne, having become a highly successful model, also falls under the allure of "dolls" to escape her doomed relationship with cad Lyon Burke (played by Paul Burke), who has an affair with Neely. After Jennifer is diagnosed with breast cancer and told she must have a mastectomy, she commits suicide with an overdose of "dolls". Neely is released from the sanitarium and given a chance to resurrect her career, but the attraction of "dolls" and alcohol proves too strong and she spirals into a hellish decline.
In the film, Anne abandons drugs and her unfaithful lover and returns to New England. Lyon Burke ends his affair with Neely and asks Anne to marry him, but she refuses. This "happy ending" was cobbled together by studio demands for an uplifting dénouement; it strays from the original plot of the book, in which Anne stays with Lyon after his affair with Neely and becomes increasingly dependent on drugs. Writer Harlan Ellison, who wrote the original screenplay, took his name off the project because of the ending and the watering-down of his realistic adaptation of the story.
In the film, Anne finds it difficult to leave the beautiful house in Lawrenceville. In the book she despises the cold, austere house and loses Lyon the first time because she refuses to live there with him.
In the film, Neely O'Hara is cast out of Lawson's new Broadway play. In the book, O'Hara replaces Terry King because Helen prefers that an unknown play the second-lead ingenue role, rather than King, who was getting too much attention in the press.
The film completely excludes the lengthy subplot in which Anne is unwillingly engaged to wealthy but unattractive Alan Cooper while struggling to hide her feelings for Lyon Burke.
In the book, the story takes place over multiple decades, dealing with the aging of women in Hollywood. The film takes place in a much shorter time span.
In the book Anne ends up marrying Lyon Burke, who eventually has a serious affair with Neely. Anne does not have the peaceful catharsis in the book that she does in the film; instead she slips into the same drug-induced comatose life that plagued the rest of her friends, while settling for her loveless marriage and her husband's infidelity.
Like many other characters, George Bellows and Terry King are eliminated completely, though Bellows is mentioned in the beginning of the film by Miss Steinberg.
In the book the girls share a house and a close friendship. This was totally ignored in the film.
In the book Anne is blonde; she's a brunette in the film.
In the book, Helen and Anne become friends because she sees her as someone important since she's engaged to millionaire Alan Cooper.
In the book, Anne and Neely are very close. Anne had met Neely when she rented a room at the house where Neely is also renting. In the film, Anne rents a hotel room when she first arrives in New York.
In the book, Neely begs Anne to ask her boss to pull strings to get her a part in the play 'Hit the Sky'; the understudy role she gets begins her career. In the film, Neely leaves the play.
In the book, Anne does not feel passionate about any men--not her Lawrenceville beau, not Alan Cooper, not Mr. Gilmore--only Lyon. The film only depicts that she falls for Lyon.
In the book Jennifer North was in the midst of a divorce with a European prince when she first appears. This is not mentioned in the film.
Production background
Judy Garland was originally cast as Helen Lawson, but was fired when she showed up to work drunk;[3]Susan Hayward replaced her in the role after production had already begun. On July 20, 2009, Patty Duke appeared at the Castro Theater in San Francisco with a benefit screening of the film, and said that director Mark Robson made Garland wait from 8am to 4pm before filming her scenes for the day, knowing that Garland would be upset and drunk by that time.
Barbara Parkins suggested Dionne Warwick perform the film's theme song. A re-recorded version of the song became Warwick's biggest hit to date, peaking at the #2 spot in February, 1968.
Barbara Harris was seriously considered for the role of Neely O'Hara; Barbara Parkins also tested for the role, although it ultimately went to Patty Duke.
Judith Lowry, who later appeared in the series Phyllis as Phyllis Lindstrom's nemesis, Sally Dexter, played Anne's Aunt Amy, although she wasn't credited.
The book's author, Jacqueline Susann, appeared in the film as a reporter at the scene of Jennifer's suicide.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, a 1970 satiricalpastiche, was filmed by Twentieth Century-Fox while the studio was being sued by Jacqueline Susann, according to Irving Mansfield's book Jackie and Me. Susann created the title for a Jean Holloway-scripted sequel that was rejected by the studio, which allowed Russ Meyer to film a radically different movie with the same title. The suit went to court after Susann's death in 1974; the estate would eventually win damages in the amount of $2 million against Fox.
An uncredited Richard Dreyfuss played the role of an assistant stage manager. This was Dreyfuss' first film appearance.
