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Valley of the Dolls (film)

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Valley of the Dolls
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMark Robson
Screenplay byHelen Deutsch
Dorothy Kingsley
Harlan Ellison (uncredited)
Based onValley of the Dolls
by Jacqueline Susann
Produced byDavid Weisbart
StarringBarbara Parkins
Patty Duke
Sharon Tate
Susan Hayward
Paul Burke
Lee Grant
CinematographyWilliam H. Daniels
Edited byDorothy Spencer
Music byAndré Previn
Dory Previn (songs)
John Williams
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • December 15, 1967 (1967-12-15) (United States)
Running time
123 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4.69 million[1]
Box office$44.4 million (US)[2]
$50 million (Worldwide)[3]
$20 million (US/ Canada rentals)[4]

Valley of the Dolls is a 1967 American drama film directed by Mark Robson, produced by Robson and David Weisbart, and starring Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Sharon Tate and Susan Hayward. It was based on Jacqueline Susann's 1966 novel of the same name.

Plot

Recent Radcliffe graduate Anne Welles is hired as a secretary at a theatrical agency which represents Helen Lawson, a cutthroat Broadway diva. Helen fears newcomer Neely O'Hara will upstage her, so she has Anne's boss pressure Neely to quit their upcoming show. Anne sours on show business after seeing Helen's cruelty toward Neely, but her boss's business partner, Lyon Burke, dissuades her from quitting the agency.

Anne and Neely meet Jennifer North, a beautiful chorus girl with limited talent. They become fast friends, sharing the bonds of ambition and the tendency to fall in love with the wrong men.

After Lyon lands her an appearance on a telethon, Neely mounts a nightclub act. Buoyed by her overnight success, she moves to Hollywood to pursue a lucrative film career. Neely soon succumbs to alcoholism and abuse of the eponymous "dolls". She betrays her husband, Mel Anderson, by having an affair with fashion designer Ted Casablanca. After Mel leaves her, Neely divorces him and marries Ted. Neely's spiralling drug and alcohol use eventually sabotages her career and ends her second marriage.

Anne and Lyon start a romance, but Lyon resists Anne's wish to marry. When he abruptly leaves for England, Anne is distraught; she is further upset when her mother dies. Soon Anne's poise and natural beauty attract the attention of her boss's client, Kevin Gillmore, who hires her to promote his line of cosmetics in television and print ads. Kevin falls in love with Anne, but their relationship ends amicably when Anne realizes they are incompatible.

Jennifer follows Neely's path to Hollywood, where she marries nightclub singer Tony Polar. She becomes pregnant but gets an abortion after learning that Tony has the hereditary condition Huntington's chorea—a fact his domineering half-sister and manager Miriam had been concealing. When Tony's mental and physical health declines, Miriam and Jennifer place him in a sanitarium. Faced with Tony's mounting medical expenses, Jennifer makes French "art films" — soft-core pornography — to pay the bills. Thinking her body is her only currency, Jennifer commits suicide rather than face a mastectomy after learning she has breast cancer.

Neely's drug and alcohol abuse land her in the same sanitarium as Tony. After she is released, Lyon gets her a role in a Broadway play. Neely soon causes trouble by having an affair with Lyon and attending a press party for Helen Lawson. During a catfight in the ladies' room, Neely removes Helen's wig and throws it in the toilet. Lyon ends his relationship with Neely when she relapses and is replaced by her understudy. Neely continues her bender at a nearby bar and is left screaming and sobbing in a deserted alley when the bar closes.

Upset by Lyon's betrayal, Anne dabbles in "dolls" and almost drowns in the ocean while high. She returns to New England to live with her Aunt Amy. Lyon follows Anne to New England and asks her to marry him. She declines his offer and remains happily single and independent.

Cast

Judy Garland

Before filming on Valley of the Dolls started in early 1967, there was much publicity surrounding the casting of legendary singer-actress Judy Garland as Helen Lawson. Garland had not made a motion picture in five years. Her last movie, I Could Go On Singing, was filmed in 1962 and released in March, 1963. Despite decent reviews, it was a box-office failure. Shortly thereafter, Garland embarked on a weekly CBS television variety series, The Judy Garland Show, in the fall of 1963. Although it was favorably reviewed by the press, the ratings were low and it was canceled in the spring of 1964. By 1967, Garland was thin, frail, in dire financial straits, and desperate for work. 20th Century Fox then signed her to appear as Helen Lawson in the film version of Valley of the Dolls. According to Gerold Frank, the author of the biography Judy, Garland was to receive $75,000 for eight weeks of work, then $25,000 a week if she was needed longer. This would also include her singing one song in the film. In March, 1967, Garland flew to New York to attend the wedding of her daughter singer-dancer Liza Minnelli to Australian performer Peter Allen and to meet with the author of Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann, at a press conference to promote the upcoming film. In addition, both Garland and Susann appeared as the mystery guests on the CBS-TV game show What's My Line on Sunday, March 5, 1967 to further plug and publicize the movie. Garland then returned to Hollywood to start work on the film. At first, all went well. Garland filmed some costume tests for the role and successfully prerecorded the song “I’ll Plant My Own Tree”. However, after a week’s shooting, she was unable to function and was heavily dependent not only on alcohol but also Demerol. Susann, who was cast in a bit part in the film and was sharing Garland’s dressing room at the time, found the drug on the floor in her closet. As a result, with no footage deemed usable, Garland was fired by Fox. She begged them to give her another chance, but the studio refused. They did, however, agree to pay her half of her promised fee - $37,500- for her time. Garland was also given the copper-colored sequined pant suit designed by Travilla for the film which she wore during her final New York Palace Theatre engagement in August, 1967.[5]

Patty Duke told an audience at a screening of the film at the Castro Theater on July 20, 2009 that director Mark Robson made Garland wait from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm before filming her scenes for the day, knowing that she would be upset and drunk by that time. In her 1987 autobiography, Call Me Anna, Duke felt that Garland had been deliberately exploited by the studio. She wrote, “The producers may have felt justified in hiring her in the first place…They had gotten their PR mileage out of the situation, the “Judy comeback” stories had created extraordinary publicity for the film and now she was expendable.”[6] Academy Award winner Susan Hayward replaced Garland in the role. Hayward reportedly had a difficult relationship with the cast and crew, and her clashes with Duke became part of the dramatic tension between their characters.

Production

The ending to the film was changed dramatically from the novel. In the film, Anne and Lyon never marry and do not have a child together. Rather, she leaves Lyon and returns to Lawrenceville, which is described as the one place she found real happiness. Lyon later visits her to propose but she refuses. These last-minute changes in the script, so out of keeping with Anne's established character (well known to millions of readers), prompted original screenwriter Harlan Ellison, who wanted to keep the original downbeat ending, to remove his name and credit from the film.

Another important difference is that the film is clearly set in the mid-to-late 1960s and the events unfold over the course of a few years, whereas in the book the story begins in 1945 and develops throughout two decades.

20th Century Fox wanted contract star Raquel Welch to play Jennifer but she turned it down, not wanting to play a "sexpot" role. She asked to play Neely but the studio refused.[7]

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, a 1970 satirical pastiche, was filmed by 20th Century Fox while the studio was being sued by Jacqueline Susann, according to Irving Mansfield's book Life With Jackie. 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 won damages of $2 million against Fox.

Home media

The Criterion Collection released Valley of the Dolls along with its parody Beyond the Valley of the Dolls in September 2016 on DVD and Blu-ray. While the latter film had previously been released by Arrow Films in the United Kingdom in the same year, this was the first Blu-ray release for Valley of the Dolls.[8]

Reception

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes has a 35% rating based on 37 reviews.[9] Leonard Maltin's "TV Movies" gives the film a BOMB rating, stating, "Scattered unintentional laughs do not compensate for terribly written, acted and directed adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's best-seller."

The film grossed $50 million worldwide against a $5 million budget.[10] According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $9,700,000 in rentals to break even and made $22,925,000, meaning it made a profit,[11] making it Fox's highest-grossing film at the time not to have a roadshow theatrical release.[12]

Award nominations

Soundtrack

Valley of the Dolls (Soundtrack)
Studio album by
Various artists
Released1967 (1967)
Recorded1967
GenrePop
Label20th Century Fox Records

The soundtrack was released in 1967. Dionne Warwick sang the title track, however, her version is not on the soundtrack album, only on the actual film soundtrack. According to Susann, she wrote her own lyric for the film's title track as she felt that Dory Previn's lyric did not establish the story's background. Warwick was signed to Scepter Records at the time and could not contractually appear on the soundtrack album. Therefore, a re-recorded version appears on the LP Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls. The film contains two versions of the theme song with different lyrics: one version plays over the opening credits, and the other, with the same lyrics as Warwick's recorded version, is heard towards the end of the film. Warwick performed the song on the January 29, 1968 episode of the CBS television variety series The Carol Burnett Show a month after the film was released.

Margaret Whiting recorded "I'll Plant My Own Tree" for the film, while Eileen Wilson recorded it for the soundtrack album. The song is dubbed for Susan Hayward, while "It's Impossible" and "Give a Little More" are both dubbed by Gaille Heidemann for Patty Duke. Heidemann and Wilson are uncredited on the soundtrack label.

Track listing
  1. "Theme from Valley of the Dolls" - 4:04 (vocal by Dory Previn; narration by Barbara Parkins)
  2. "It's Impossible" - 2:12 (vocal by Gaille Heidemann for Patty Duke)
  3. "Ann at Lawrenceville" - 2:37 (instrumental)
  4. "Chance Meeting" - 2:31 (instrumental)
  5. "Neely's Career Montage" - 1:59 (instrumental)
  6. "Come Live with Me" - 2:01 (vocal by Tony Scotti)
  7. "I'll Plant My Own Tree" - 2:24 (vocal by Eileen Wilson for Susan Hayward; Margaret Whiting dubbed Susan Hayward in the film, but she was under contract to a different label, so veteran voice double Eileen Wilson sings "I'll Plant My Own Tree" on the soundtrack album)
  8. "The Gillian Girl Commercial" - 2:04 (instrumental)
  9. "Jennifer's French Movie" - 2:26 (instrumental)
  10. "Give a Little More" - 2:02 (vocal by Gaille Heidemann for Patty Duke)
  11. "Jennifer's Recollection" - 2:52 (instrumental; contains a reprise of "Come Live with Me", vocal by Tony Scotti)
  12. "Theme from Valley of the Dolls Reprise" - 3:00 (vocal by Dory Previn)

The original version of "I'll Plant My Own Tree" (recorded by Judy Garland before she was fired from the film) was finally released in 1976 on a compilation LP, Cut! Outtakes from Hollywood's Greatest Musicals.

Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann (1987) by Barbara Seaman states that Ruth Batchelor, who wrote lyrics for Elvis Presley, wrote the lyrics for a title song for the movie. Batchelor's song was rejected by the studio as the Previns had already written the soundtrack. It was recorded by The Arbors and used as the opening theme to the 1967 documentary "Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls".

Remakes

Two updated versions of the Jacqueline Susann's novel was later broadcast as TV series :

In other media

The novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk makes numerous references to the film, and uses its imagery in a series of unmistakeable metaphors for the notions of alienation, loneliness, and self-medication that wittingly or unwittingly escalates into self-harm. Sodium amytal and Seconal capsules are described as 'the Valley of the Dolls playset'. Marla Singer, the book's anti-heroine, is described as 'singing that creepy “Valley of the Dolls” song', and the death of unwanted animals by lethal injection is described as 'The big sleep, ‘Valley of the Dogs’ style'.

See also

References

  1. ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p255
  2. ^ "Valley of the Dolls, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  3. ^ "Valley of the Dolls, Box Office Information". IMDb. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  4. ^ "Big Rental Films of 1968", Variety, 8 January 1969 p 15. Please note this figure is a rental accruing to distributors.
  5. ^ Frank, Gerold. Judy. Harper & Row Publishers, 1975 ISBN 0-06-011337-5 pgs. 570-582
  6. ^ Duke, Patty. ‘’Call Me Anna’’. New York: Bantam Books, 1987 ISBN 9780553052091 pgs. 182-183
  7. ^ WONDER WOMAN!! Hallowell, John. Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 14 July 1968: o26.
  8. ^ Criterion Announces September Titles Blu-ray.com 16 June 2016
  9. ^ "Valley of the Dolls". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  10. ^ Robson, Mark (February 9, 1968), Valley of the Dolls, Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Paul Burke, retrieved January 3, 2018
  11. ^ Silverman, Stephen M (1988). The Fox that got away : the last days of the Zanuck dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. L. Stuart. p. 326.
  12. ^ "Fox Studio Hosts Owners May 21; Big B.O. Pics, Not TV, Stressed; Zanucks' Own Takes Detailed". Variety. April 17, 1968. p. 5.
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