Valley of the Dolls was produced by Twentieth Century Fox
Valley of the Dolls was directed by Mark Robson and tells the tale of three young women who spiral out of control as they attempt to break into the demanding world of show business whilst also figuring out what it means to be a woman in these changing times. Few mainstream films embody the spirit of the 60s in terms of aesthetic and cultural relevance as much as Valley of the Dolls; the poignancy of the message is diluted by overacting and an occasionally melodramatic plot, but the film is memorable for a reason. The term "dolls" refers to the pills that the women in the film take in order to perform professionally for the men that control their lives, men that demand more from them then they are often able to give. The film stars Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Paul Burke, and the infamous Sharon Tate, who was murdered in 1969, not long after the film was completed in 1967.
"Yes, Mother, I am still doing my bust exercises." Sharon Tate as Jennifer North
The focal character in the narrative is Anne Welles (Parkins) who departs from her small New England town soon after graduation from Radcliffe in order to make it big in the city. She finds employment at an important professional agency in NY where she meets Burke and soon the sparks are flying between them. Soon after two additional characters are introduced: Neely O'Hara a talented singer who finds her path continually thwarted by Helen Lawson, the star of the play of which she is a cast member; and Jennifer North, a beautiful actress and dance (played by Sharon Tate). Soon, Anne and Neely find themselves catapulted from relative obscurity into fame as first Anne is named the face of a major cosmetics company and Neely becomes a Grammy Award winning singer in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Jen falls madly in love with a nightclub singer named Tony and they also move to L.A.
Lyon Burke and Anne Welles
Things take a turn when Burke shows up in L.A. and he and Ann rekindle their relationship. Things are going well for them, while Neely is slowly beginning to lose it with a combination of uppers and sleeping pills Neely splits with her husband, who was her biggest advocate, and eventually loses her studio contract when she continuously acts the drama queen at the studio, showing up late, being uncooperative, etc. Neely eventually ends up in a sanatorium in order to cure her from her addiction to pills. Jen's love Tony manifests Huntington's Chorea and Jen aborts their child and moves to France where she stars in French "nudies". Jen eventually returns to L.A. but commits suicide by overdose on dolls when she realizes that Tony's condition is helpless and that she also has developed breast cancer requiring a mastectomy. Fully recovered, with the help of Anne and Burke, the first thing Neely does is steal Burke from right under Anne's nose. Neely and Burke return to NY where Neely returns to Broadway, where she began. Eventually, Burke realizes that Neely is nothing but trouble and yearns to go back to Anne, realizing finally that she is the only woman in his life that he could possibly have a future with. Anne, having recovered from her own addiction to pills, returns to New England, where her journey began, to inhabit the great old family house, spurning Burke's attempts at reconciliation.
Helen Lawson as the mean-spirited semi-adversary in the film
Like the Stepford Wives, the power of Valley of the Dolls is its ability to make a statement about a generation, their fears, demands, and lives in a changing time. Certainly, there are no robots in this film, but it belongs to the genre of film in which human being is reduced to automaton: helpless, well-meaning machine controlled by forces larger than his/her control. In this, indeed, lies the primary weakness of Valley of the Dolls. The film fails by not delving deeply into the dolls themselves and the direct effects of the dolls on the women, instead portraying the women as being almost weak by nature and requiring the dolls to survive. The character of Helen Lawson portrays the strong, powerful alternative to the doll-addicted women, but she is barely in the film and thus this attempt at reinforcing the primary message of the film (that the demands placed on women like those in the film are too great to be successfully met) is lost. The film is known for its powerful and poignant aesthetic of beautiful 60s women with addictive personalities, but even this aesthetic might have been more aptly handled. All in all, Valley of the Dolls remains a film worth watching.
