Freaky Fridays: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Celebrating Russ Meyer’s 100th Birthday!
In 1970, Twentieth Century-Fox, impressed by the visual zing “King of the Nudies” Russ Meyer had been bringing to bargain-basement exploitation fare, handed the director a studio budget and the title to one of its biggest hits, Valley of the Dolls. With a satirical screenplay by Roger Ebert, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls follows three young female rockers (Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom) going Hollywood, in hell-bent sixties style, under the spell of a flamboyant producer—whose decadent bashes showcase Meyer’s trademark libidinal exuberance. Transgressive and outrageous, this big-studio version of a debaucherous midnight movie is an addictively entertaining romp from one of cinema’s great outsider artists.

1970, 109 minutes, Rated NC-17, Directed Russ Meyer, Written by Roger Ebert