“Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls,” a 1970 sexual farce by the one & only Russ Meyer is not to be confused with 1967's “Valley Of The Dolls,” also made by Twentieth Century Fox. “Beyond” is the late 1960's at its wildest. Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers & Marcia McBroom ARE the Carrie Nations, who sing a bunch of dumb songs & make a batch of even dumber mistakes in the course of 109 well-paced minutes.

Meyer has fun showing Hollywood at its most wicked, firmly keeping the moral compass of the film exactly where you'd expect it would be in Sunday school. Meyer's sharpest social criticism is aimed at Tinseltown's greed & hypocrisy. Drugs lead to evil, naturally, but pity the far from evil poor users who are mad as Hatters or innocent Babes-In-Hollywood.

John Le Zar makes a strong impression as Z-Man, ditto Michael Blodgett who eventually gave up acting to become a real-life writer. Granite-jawed Charles Napier as Baxter Wolfe wound up having the most successful career of anyone in the cast. Beyond “The Valley Of The Dolls” was co-written by Russ Meyer & Roger Ebert, complete with old sight gags & even older groan jokes. It's nothing like the real Hollywood in 1970, it's WAY better & it will provide you with many laughs on video.

© 2008 - Monica Sullivan - Air Date: 6/18/08