Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a 1970 American schlock melodrama, in which three girls come to Hollywood to make it big, but find only sex, drugs and sleaze. The film starred Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, John LaZar, Michael Blodgett and David Gurian. The cult classic was directed by Russ Meyer and co-written by Meyer and Roger Ebert. Originally intended as a sequel to the 1967 film Valley of the Dolls (“dolls” being a slang term for depressant pills or “downers”), the film was instead revised as a parody of the commercially successful but critically reviled original. Despite an X rating and a modest budget of $900,000, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls grossed ten times that amount in the U.S. market, qualifying it as a hit for Fox. It has since grossed more than $40 million from theatrical revivals and video sales, according to Roger Ebert.
