Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970)

A fledgling all girl rock group (Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom) and their manager (David Gurian) head out to Los Angeles to break into show business and also find the aunt (Phyllis Davis) of one of the trio (Read). Soon, they become seduced into the glamorous world of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll. Despite the title, the film is not a sequel to the Jacqueline Susann novel and film version of VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. While they share a show business background, softcore porn king Russ Meyer's first studio film is a tongue in cheek musical satire with a screenplay by the late film critic Roger Ebert. It amuses me that many people still don't "get it" and refer to BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS with the hyperbolic "one of the worst films ever made" tag. Clearly if one truly believes that they haven't seen very many movies. Ebert's screenplay is intentionally outrageous and out there, satirizing everything from pop culture to soap operas and the film's hilariously pious coda where we're lectured on our moral shortcomings is a howler! A unique one of a kind gem of a movie. With John Lazar, Michael Blodgett, Harrison Page, Charles Napier and Edy Williams.