On Nov. 11, 2025, Sally Kirkland “passed into spirit” (died) in Palm Springs, Calif., at the age of 84. In her career, she appeared in more than 250 movie and TV shows, beginning in 1964 in Andy Warhol’s “The 13 Most Beautiful Women.”
In “Sallywood,” Zack was raised in Maine, the only child of Joann (Jennifer Tilly – “High Holiday”) and Dave (Lenny von Dohlen in his final role). One day, Dave brought home an armload of VHS movies from the defunct video store in town. One of them was “Anna,” starring Sally Kirkland in her Golden Globe-winning performance. For Zack, that film was a life changer, and he became entranced with the idea of meeting this fabulous movie star.
Flash forward to today. Zack (Tyler Steelman – “The Wake of Light”) is grown up, but still living at home and still being treated like a child. He declares his freedom and leaves for Hollywood (in the 1950s car he inherited from his grandmother) to finally meet his hero – Sally Kirkland.
This is one zany movie. What it lacks in coherence it more than makes up for with clever dialogue.
Written and directed by Xaque Gruber (“The Pistol”), who is the real Zack, this film reunites him with Sally, who really did hire him as her assistant. His script mixes fact with fiction, as well as the usual send-ups of Hollywood types like producers and sleazy agents. This makes it difficult for someone not familiar with Kirkland’s history to separate the image from the reality: was she really the oversexed exhibitionist she appears to be at times? It also gives Sally an opportunity to play the aged girl infected with eternal optimism one moment and overwhelmed by the desperate state to which she’s descended in the next.
The film is filled with amusing characters with which Zack and Sally interact. When Zack arrives in Tinseltown he finds a place to live with three sex workers (one is actually a sex worker chauffeur who is producing a very low budget zombies in space movie). There is amusing dialogue here, but the girls are just too stereotyped to be real, considering how tough that life is.
There is the world-weary but wise producer, George (Keith Carradine), who once had a “thing” going with Sally. He recalls winning an Oscar: “For six months I was on the “A” party list…and then…they forget.” Then there is Clem (Eric Roberts), the low-life agent who ignores Sally but knows she will always come back to him because she has no one else. Speaking of women actors in Hollywood, he says: “You’re over 35 you’re gettin’ shakey. Over 45, you’re done!” And the TV game show producer, Ned (Michael Lerner) who gives Zack his first real job in Hollywood. When he and Zack are talking about why Sally didn’t win an Oscar, he says: “You know what happened? I know what happened. Sally happened.” How close all these characters are to real people in Sally and Zack’s life we may never know, but they serve their purpose of giving the principals anchors for their dreams, frustrations, and in Sally’s case, regrets.
“Sallyland” is no barn-burner, but it is a pleasant, slightly bittersweet if tongue in cheek, look at a faded star’s last years.
Runtime: One hour, 35 minutes
Availability: Streaming on Amazon Prime and others
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