The Day of the Locust

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Simon T A strange lengthy insidious movie about the flipside of Hollywood, peopled almost entirely by the unglamorous and invisible. A struggling art director (William Atherton, very good) hooks up with a prostitute (Karen Black, also very good) and her father (Burgess Meredith, a.v.g.) and moves into their oddball community. Donald Sutherland - in very much a supporting role - is Homer Simpson (yes, really), a shy and easily manipulated loner who becomes dangerously enamoured with Black and moves in. Schlesinger directs his cast beautifully, and perfectly conveys the woozy ugliness of so much neediness and faux glamour. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/03/25 Full Review Wayne K One of the bleakest and most unromantic looks at the Golden Age of Hollywood, a period that was as decadent behind the scenes as it was glamourous in front of them, The Day Of The Locust was a huge bomb back in its day, possibly because people weren't yet ready to acknowledge the flaws of that time. Interestingly enough, Babylon from earlier this year, which was also set in early 20th century Hollywood, was a financial failure too, but that was more due to poor marketing. Locust is structured in such a strange way, where it feels more like a string of vignettes rather than a cohesive narrative, a choice which feels deliberate. To live back then, with all the film shoots and the parties and the booze, would have been intoxicating to the point of delirium, and that's reflected in both the structure and the cinematography, which is slightly hazy and unclear, like you're watching the story through a cloudy champagne bottle. It's a condemnation of the hedonism and carefree attitude which would lead to the Goden Age collapsing in on itself. I like how it weaved in real pieces of contemporary trivia, such as Peg Entwistle tragic suicide, and the fact that the Hollywood sign originally had nothing to do with films or entertainment. It's no coincidence that the only decent human being ends up suffering a horrible fate in a world where kindness is a worthless commodity. It could have done with a few less scenes of our leads romantic banter and a few more of the film industry and its dubious operations to help push the point a bit more. Not a movie you'd revisit in a hurry, but one that, if you have an interest in cinema or the time period, you really need to watch. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/26/23 Full Review Peter W Overall, I found this film to be quite interesting. It's a dramatic film set in Hollywood with two men who are attempting to win the heart of an actress, resulting in a dangerous love triangle.  Performances are genuinely pleasing, especially from Karen Black, whose character I truly disliked- a real credit to her talent. Donald Sutherland is also great.  Still, viewers are required to be patient and wait for the actor to appear on-screen. The film's ending is shocking and unexpected to the point that I am still processing it, even days after watching it. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 07/07/23 Full Review Audience Member A film in the line of movies about movie making which began with Sunset Boulevard. Visually stunning, super bright and glittering, it exposes the greed, artificiality and hollowness of 1930's Tinsel Town. All the characters struggling in their own mean selfish ways to succeed in this false glamorous world. Karen Black, as the unashamedly sexy, resolutely virginal, blonde bombshell is perfect, unrepentant to the end. Yet marvelously Black is able to imbue her character with an unexpected child-like innocence. An equally fine performance from Donald Sutherland as...Homer Simpson !! (is that where the Simpsons got the name I wonder?), so different from his usual screen personality, as the nervous, neurotic, down-trodden accountant. Nice to see Burgess Meredith too, warm and likeable as ever as Black's ailing, drunken, con-man/showman father. Meredith an old friend I'm always glad to see. And that Shirley Temple-like pesky kid. She's the one who lights the fuse that brings the whole house down. She's only a kid. It WAS her fault but the fuse was already there in this timber-house and it was ready to be lit and would have been - if not by her, by someone or something else. The ending is bloodily realistic, awful and genuinely frightening. Beware mobs! They have a life of their own, so different from the way individuals behave. Also at times the sets had a falsity about them but this works and agrees with this view of the trashy falsity of movieland. A long film which doesn't seem long. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review steve d It was really hard to care about anyone involved. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Brilliant and savage attack on the Hollywood system of the 30s Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/29/20 Full Review Read all reviews

The Day of the Locust

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