everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Copyright 15 December 1967 by Red Lion Productions. Released through 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening simultaneously at the Criterion and the Festival: 15 December 1967. U.S. release: 15 December 1967. U.K. release: 11 February 1968. Australian release: 1 August 1968. Sydney opening at the Plaza. 11,086 feet. 123 minutes. Censored by approximately 90 seconds in Australia.SYNOPSIS: Filled with innocent enthusiasm, Anne Welles arrives in New York from New England and lands a secretarial job with a leading theatrical law firm. On her first day, she is present at a Broadway rehearsal when a hard-boiled musical comedy star, Helen Lawson, sacks a talented newcomer named Neely O'Hara because she threatens to steal the show from her. Although disillusioned, Anne stays with her job because of Lyon Burke, an associate in the law firm. Lyon gets Neely a spot on a TV show which catapults her to instant stardom in Hollywood. NOTES: Location scenes filmed in New York and New England. On 21 July 1967, shortly after shooting on "Valley of the Dolls" was completed, producer David Weisbart, 52, died of a stroke he suffered while playing golf with Mark Robson, the film's director.The role of Helen Lawson was originally slated for Judy Garland. After 20th Century-Fox claimed that she "withdrew for personal reasons" (a statement denied by Miss Garland), both Bette Davis and Tammy Grimes were announced as her replacement. When Susan Hayward was ultimately signed for the part, arrangements were made for Margaret Whiting to do the dubbing for Miss Hayward's one song number.With gross rentals of $20 million, this movie was equal 4th at U.S./Canadian ticket-windows for 1968. On the other hand, the movie did not figure on either British or Australian top-success lists at all!COMMENT: The womenfolk may dote on this slickly-produced parade of souped-up emotions and super-charged clichés. For us men, however, it's a somewhat disappointing affair. We see almost nothing of Hollywood at work. The book was a sensational best-seller because it reputedly lifted the lid off the private lives of some well-known stars. But all this has been deleted in the film. There is some resemblance between the Patty Duke character and Judy Garland, between Barbara Parkins and Suzy Parker, while Sharon Tate's Jennifer North seems to have originally been a combination of Marilyn Monroe and Anita Ekberg.Alas, even these superficial resemblances in the original novel scarcely exist any more in the film version. All we are left with is a soap-opera plot straight out of a daytime television serial. True, the direction is slick, and the acting very capable (with the one exception of Miss Parkins, who is unable to surmount some very unattractive hair styles).Other assets include lavish production values (though Daniels' color photography, as usual, looks washed-out); exciting special effects incorporating a slice of a French "art" film and an incredibly tasteless TV commercial — evidently intended as a satire, it was taken perfectly straight by the predominantly female audience at the session I attended, — and a few excellent montages of the New England countryside (accompanied by the pleasant singing of Dionne Warwick).

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.

Rather than it actually being representational of what 1967 was, to me anyway. I think 67 was a big year for The Beatles & The Rolling Stones-the space race was very in the news as was The Vietnam war. None of those things makes the slightest appearance in this film and thats why I think it is representational of someones wishes about what was 1967-or 1966 for that matter since Valley of the Dolls was first published in 1966.It was an important book because it was-I am told-the first time a woman had even published a large novel (442 pages long) in the USA. Sounds kinda odd since women had been writing books for quite some time-the Bronte sisters wrote Wuthering Heights & Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein when she was 19, well before 1966. Go figure. The only thing that seems to be representational of 1967 in this film is the repeated references to popping pills. The soundtrack was done by Dionne Warwick and is not bad in stark contrast to the genuinely skin crawling numbers done by the cast members but not by actress Sharon Tate who is good in this film, as a daughter who sends money home to her mother but who ultimately kills herself when she is diagnosed with cancer. Sharon Tate was the best part of this otherwise silly movie.

I really did like this movie. Even thou, I don't totally agree with it's rating PG-13 for that time. But it seems to me that even back in the 1960's there were some really racy subject matter that needed to be portrayed and shown. But to have a PG-13 rating was not the right call. The characters were stellar and plot was fascinating. Now a little spoiler...I can't recall the title of the movie where the male character cries "Stella" or something like that. But in this movie when Neely O'Hara one of the main characters cries out in the air like the guy (in the film I can't remember the name) in that film did. I was reminded of the scene from the other film. Classic! I'll say. The story also reminds me of a small portray of Marilyn Monroe's life. How she rose to stardom, fame and how that rise ultimately cost her (professional and personal) life.