"Why did you write a dirty, violent movie?" I finally asked [Roger Ebert].
"It was written as a parody of dirty, violent movies," he said.
"Did the producer and director know that?"
Although I am not a movie critic, I think I have figured out what went wrong, how so talented a writer and so decent a young man could be involved in that dog.
Ebert's problem is that he is not a dirty old man. If a dirty movie is going to be any good, it has to be written by a dirty old man. You wouldn't let an ROTC student write a war movie, or a Republican write a book about Chicago politics. From: his July 10 1970 newspaper column, collected in: Mike Royko, "Like I Was Sayin'," NY, 1984
"It was written as a parody of dirty, violent movies," he said.
"Did the producer and director know that?"
Although I am not a movie critic, I think I have figured out what went wrong, how so talented a writer and so decent a young man could be involved in that dog.
Ebert's problem is that he is not a dirty old man. If a dirty movie is going to be any good, it has to be written by a dirty old man. You wouldn't let an ROTC student write a war movie, or a Republican write a book about Chicago politics. From: his July 10 1970 newspaper column, collected in: Mike Royko, "Like I Was Sayin'," NY, 1984
The short answer is, nothing.
Originally conceived as a sequel with the involvement of Jacqueline Susann, the project eventually became 20th Century Fox's attempt to tap into the growing market for "counterculture" films such as "Easy Rider". Susann left the project after her attempts at a script were rejected, and Fox hired Russ Meyer to write and direct, with Roger Ebert sharing screenplay duties. The characters of "Aunt Susan" and her beau were originally conceived as Anne Welles and Lyon Burke, which would have carried over two characters from the original, but after Susann objected to the film being presented as a sequel to her original work, the connection was dropped entirely, with the film even marketed with the tagline "This is not a sequel, there has never been anything like it."
In fact, the disclaimer that appears on screen just before the opening credits reads as so, as a legality to the situation listed above:
"The film you are about to see is not a sequel to "Valley of the Dolls". It is wholly original and bears no relationship to real persons, living or dead. It does, like "Valley of the Dolls" deal with the oft-times nightmare world of show business but in a different time and context."
Originally conceived as a sequel with the involvement of Jacqueline Susann, the project eventually became 20th Century Fox's attempt to tap into the growing market for "counterculture" films such as "Easy Rider". Susann left the project after her attempts at a script were rejected, and Fox hired Russ Meyer to write and direct, with Roger Ebert sharing screenplay duties. The characters of "Aunt Susan" and her beau were originally conceived as Anne Welles and Lyon Burke, which would have carried over two characters from the original, but after Susann objected to the film being presented as a sequel to her original work, the connection was dropped entirely, with the film even marketed with the tagline "This is not a sequel, there has never been anything like it."
In fact, the disclaimer that appears on screen just before the opening credits reads as so, as a legality to the situation listed above:
"The film you are about to see is not a sequel to "Valley of the Dolls". It is wholly original and bears no relationship to real persons, living or dead. It does, like "Valley of the Dolls" deal with the oft-times nightmare world of show business but in a different time and context."
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- How long is Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?1 hour and 49 minutes
- When was Beyond the Valley of the Dolls released?June 17, 1970
- What is the IMDb rating of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?6.1 out of 10
- Who stars in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?
- Who wrote Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?
- Who directed Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?
- Who was the composer for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?
- Who was the producer of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?
- Who was the cinematographer for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?
- Who was the editor of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?
- Who are the characters in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?Casey Anderson, Petronella Danforth, Ronnie 'Z-Man' Barzell, Lance Rocke, Harris Allsworth, Ashley St. Ives, Roxanne, Susan Lake, Emerson Thorne, Porter Hall, and others
- What is the plot of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?A rock group move to Hollywood to get discovered and fall into a whirlpool of wickedness.
- What was the budget for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?$900,000
- How much did Beyond the Valley of the Dolls earn at the US box office?$9 million
- What is Beyond the Valley of the Dolls rated?TV-MA
- What genre is Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?Comedy, Comedy Drama, Drama, and Music
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