Doc1
Has No Life - Lives on TB
The film Valley of the Dolls was released in 1967. I was ten years old. At that age I knew nothing of the film, but I experienced its effects as adults tended to whisper about it in hushed tones and I recall my mother making several unflattering references to Patty Duke. I knew who Patty Duke was because of her old TV show, but it was a "girls show" and was the domain of my two sisters. In that approximate era, I wanted to watch Combat, Batman, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and other similar boys' TV fare. While not especially concerned about Patty Duke or Valley of the Dolls, I do recall being vaguely curious as to why the movie - and Patty Duke - was considered to be bad and why it caused a minor hubbub amongst the adults. Said adults were singularly unforthcoming with any details.
I was vaguely curious, but not curious enough to be drawn away from the latest episode of Combat.
Of course life moves on and I had more or less forgotten about Valley of the Dolls, until early adulthood exposed me to various cultural references to the film and I suppose I'd read a review or two at some point. In any case, I understood the subject matter and the film's basic plot, but was otherwise as incurious about it as I had been as a boy. The story followed the lives of three young showbusiness women in Hollywood and their difficulties in life, including the abuse of prescription medications. Decades went by. I never actually saw the film. I suppose if I'd really been interested I could've somehow managed to watch it, but I wasn't and I didn't.
A few nights ago as I scrolled through the YouTube offerings I found a free copy. I figured that at age 63 I might as well catch up on some pop culture background and decided to give it a watch. I also thought I might write a review here at TB2K. Ready? OK. Here it is:
The iconic 1960s film, Valley of the Dolls, is a relatively low budget film beset with a thin plot and equally thin acting. To describe it as mediocre would be a kindness.
There! Valley of the Dolls lends itself well to the concise review.
But a review of the movie is not why I'm writing this post. I'm writing to describe the movie through the prism of the profound cultural and societal shifts the United States has gone through since the mid-'60s. When Valley of the Dolls was released it was considered scandalous and, as far as cultural acceptance went, something akin to an X-rated movie.
Watching the film last night and trying to judge it by contemporary rating standards, it's pretty G-rated stuff, or at most PG - and it would only rate the PG for a catfight scene and some fairly innocuous scenes of prescription drug taking. The one "nude" scene was barely that, not even showing a female nipple. There was gauze and soft focus camera work to mask anything remotely graphic. Vulgar language? I recall hearing the words "fag" and "damn." You can hear sharper language on broadcast media.
What was considered avant-garde and racy in 1967 now seems almost quaintly innocent. What the film does unintentionally illustrate, with the passage of time, is how coarsened our own society has become.
Best
Doc
I was vaguely curious, but not curious enough to be drawn away from the latest episode of Combat.
Of course life moves on and I had more or less forgotten about Valley of the Dolls, until early adulthood exposed me to various cultural references to the film and I suppose I'd read a review or two at some point. In any case, I understood the subject matter and the film's basic plot, but was otherwise as incurious about it as I had been as a boy. The story followed the lives of three young showbusiness women in Hollywood and their difficulties in life, including the abuse of prescription medications. Decades went by. I never actually saw the film. I suppose if I'd really been interested I could've somehow managed to watch it, but I wasn't and I didn't.
A few nights ago as I scrolled through the YouTube offerings I found a free copy. I figured that at age 63 I might as well catch up on some pop culture background and decided to give it a watch. I also thought I might write a review here at TB2K. Ready? OK. Here it is:
The iconic 1960s film, Valley of the Dolls, is a relatively low budget film beset with a thin plot and equally thin acting. To describe it as mediocre would be a kindness.
There! Valley of the Dolls lends itself well to the concise review.
But a review of the movie is not why I'm writing this post. I'm writing to describe the movie through the prism of the profound cultural and societal shifts the United States has gone through since the mid-'60s. When Valley of the Dolls was released it was considered scandalous and, as far as cultural acceptance went, something akin to an X-rated movie.
Watching the film last night and trying to judge it by contemporary rating standards, it's pretty G-rated stuff, or at most PG - and it would only rate the PG for a catfight scene and some fairly innocuous scenes of prescription drug taking. The one "nude" scene was barely that, not even showing a female nipple. There was gauze and soft focus camera work to mask anything remotely graphic. Vulgar language? I recall hearing the words "fag" and "damn." You can hear sharper language on broadcast media.
What was considered avant-garde and racy in 1967 now seems almost quaintly innocent. What the film does unintentionally illustrate, with the passage of time, is how coarsened our own society has become.
Best
Doc