I've seen trashier movies and have guiltier pleasures in seeing them than Valley Of The Dolls. But many people swear by this film as the trashiest of all and who am I to argue.
Not that Jacqueline Susann ever pretended to write anything but commercial potboilers. Those who bought her books saw her films and that of Harold Robbins as well.
Susann hung around the world of show business and knew a whole lot of people both in their public and private lives. I won't say who the various characters are based on, but I think if one has a good knowledge of our culture, one can identify who they are.
The book centers around three young women who live at the famous Martha Washington Hotel for women in New York City and all become famous and involved in show business in various ways. Barbara Parkins starts as a secretary in a theatrical agency and gets 'discovered' there by soap magnate Charles Drake. She's also involved with agent Paul Burke, but neither can quite commit. In the meantime Parkins becomes famous for her soap commercials.
The tragic Sharon Tate is beautiful, but talentless. She uses her looks quite successfully to get by. After using a number of older sugar daddies to support her in good style, she falls for nightclub singer Tony Scotti whose career is managed, micro-managed would be better, by his sister Lee Grant. Tate thinks she's found true love, but tragedy awaits on screen and in real life when Tate fell into the cross-hairs of the murderous Manson family.
Patty Duke is the very talented one who gets kicked out of a Broadway show by jealous older star Susan Hayward, but that kind of talent can't be hidden long. But Duke starts abusing all kinds of substance and gets way out of control. She exacts a measure of revenge somewhat over Hayward, but it really doesn't do her much good in the end. They both end up the same way, but Hayward has quite a bit more perspective on it.
The attraction for me in this film is Susan Hayward who shines even in high gloss trash. Your breath is taken away at how all the players know they're in junk, but go at it with a bravura style.
Valley Of The Dolls got an Oscar nomination for John Williams for his musical scoring. Andre and Dory Previn wrote some serviceable numbers for the film, nothing more.
It's trash, but I love it.
