Best movie ever!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Sweet and naïve college grad Anne Welles (an appealing portrayal by Barbara Parkins), ruthlessly driven and ambitious singer Neely O'Hara (a gloriously histrionic Patty Duke), and the gorgeous, but untalented Jennifer North (the stunning Sharon Tate in an especially poignant role) all seek fame and fortune in show business only to be chewed up and spit out by the decadent fast line lifestyle they find themselves caught up in.Director Mark Robson treats the trashy material with admirably misguided sincerity and seriousness, thereby ensuring that this movie delivers a plethora of unintentional belly laughs, with Neely's training/climbing-up-that-ladder montage, the supposedly racy, but actually quite ridiculously tame French "art" film screening, and O'Hara's incarceration flashbacks at an asylum rating as the definite gut-busting highlights. Moreover, the shamelessly lurid script by Helen Deutsch and Dorothy Kingsley leaves no sleazy stone unturned: We've got everything from abortion to suicide to alcoholism and homosexuality to copious amounts of excessive pill-popping all present and accounted for in the delightfully lurid narrative. The game cast give it their proverbial all: Duke overemotes to the point where you swear that she's going to implode, Susan Hayward attacks her juicy role as bitter and aging Broadway veteran Helen Lawson with deliciously venomous gusto, Tony Scotti makes a likeable impression as dashing hunk Tony Polar, and Lee Grant lends sturdy support as Tony's protective sister Miriam. William H. Daniels' glossy widescreen cinematography provides an impressive vibrant and polished look. The lovably cruddy songs hit the catchy spot, too. A complete kitschy hoot and a half.

Having just finished the book, I was excited to 'meet' the characters and see how they compared to how I imagined them.No comparison.The pulp versions were better.Numerous unnecessary cuts were made to the storyline and unnecessary scenes were drawn out. Some of the cuts (e.g., Anne's relationship with Allen) severely weakened the storyline.I liked most of the actors but felt in general they underperformed or their heart wasn't in it. The director did not draw their best performances out of them.If you read the book, you probably want to watch this just to compare, but prepare to be disappointed.About my reviews: I do not offer a synopsis of the film -- you can get that anywhere and that does not constitute a meaningful review -- but rather my thoughts and feelings on the film that hopefully will be informative to you in deciding whether to invest 90-180 minutes of your life on it.My scale: 1-5 decreasing degrees of "terrible", with 5 being "mediocre" 6- OK. Generally held my interest OR had reasonable cast and/or cinematography, might watch it again 7 - Good. My default rating for a movie I liked enough to watch again, but didn't rise to the upper echelons 8- Very Good. Would watch again and recommend to others 9- Outstanding. Would watch over and over; top 10% of my ratings 10 - A Classic. (Less than 2% receive this rating)

Fire up Netflix. C'mon, you have nothing better to do, right? Look for The Valley of the Dolls, easily one of the 2 or 3 worst movies I've ever seen. It's the story of three women who find out that show business is mean and nasty.There, that's it. The rest of the movie is a compendium of some of the worst acting and dialogue I've ever witnessed. I use the word witnessed with the idea that watching The Valley of the Dolls is very much like watching a film of that ocean liner that sank off the southern end of Chile about 25 years ago. It lost power in heavy seas, and it seemed like a week before the waves and the flooding just made the big hunk of steel go under. Nauseating, but fascinating to watch.Almost like The Valley of the Dolls, only without the "fascinating to watch" part.

Anne Welles (Barbara Parkins) leaves small New England town of Lawrenceville, her small town life and her small town fiancée. She stays in an all women hotel in Manhattan. She gets a job working for entertainment lawyer Lyon Burke with a reputation as a playboy. She's horrified after aging star Helen Lawson (Susan Hayward) demands young ingénue Neely O'Hara (Patty Duke) be sidelined. Jennifer North (Sharon Tate) has no talents but her looks. Her mother is pressuring her for money and men only see her as a sex object.This is a bad movie. Firstly, Barbara Parkins' innocence routine is so ridiculously bad. Her acting started to annoy me. The movie is filled with badly dated Broadway music. Sharon Tate is good for a role with no acting talents. Patty Duke is OK for the most part. This is a movie filled with cheese and I get why it's a cult classic. It's definitely not because it's any good.