Valley Of The Dolls (1967)

Three young women (Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Sharon Tate) become close friends in New York City as each pursues a career and romance. Their paths will continue to cross as they climb the heights of show business ... and their fall. Based on the sensational best selling potboiler by Jacqueline Susann (who has a cameo as a reporter), Mark Robson would seem to be the ideal director for the project. After all, he was the one who turned Grace Metalious's lurid and trashy PEYTON PLACE into a insightful and sensitive look into small town hypocrisy in its 1957 film incarnation. Alas, lightning doesn't strike twice in this scenario. The film is crudely written and directed (Harlan Ellison who wrote the first draft of the screenplay kept the darker tones and downbeat ending) and some serious casting issues only add to the mess. The miscast Duke, the uncharismatic Paul Burke, the untalented Tony Scotti but the luminous Tate gives the only honest performance in the film. Still, despite everything, there's a grim germ of truth in the film's depiction the way women are (still) used, abused, chewed up and spat out in Hollywood though the film's "camp" followers aren't interested. Dionne Warwick sings the haunting title song written by Dory and Andre Previn which John Williams adapted into a lovely underscore. With Lee Grant, Martin Milner, Richard Dreyfuss, Joey Bishop, Charles Drake, Alexander Davion and Susan Hayward.