The Day of the Locust

R

Now Playing

2 hr. 24 min.

Drama

List

63%

35 Reviews

Tomatometer

76%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In 1930s Los Angeles, Hollywood shines like a beacon to all the helpless people scattered across the city. In one crumbling apartment block, a blond bombshell (Karen Black) aspires to be an actress, an artist (William Atherton) looks for legitimacy, and a child actor performs a gross homage to Mae West. Cockfights and poverty prevail out of the glow of show business. Introverted accountant Homer Simpson (Donald Sutherland) watches as society collapses under greed and ambition.

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Critics Consensus

Although its source material's themes are sometimes beyond The Day of the Locust's grasp, this is a consistently watchable adaptation that gains its own emotional power.

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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 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 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 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

steve d

It was really hard to care about anyone involved.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

Brilliant and savage attack on the Hollywood system of the 30s

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/29/20

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Audience Member

Bloody boring. Poorly acted and filmed

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

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John Schlesinger

Director

Donald Sutherland

Homer Simpson

William Atherton

Tod Hackett

Karen Black

Faye Greener

Burgess Meredith

Harry Greener

Geraldine Page

Big Sister

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The Day of the Locust: Official Clip - Tod Hits Hollywood

1:48

The Day of the Locust: Official Clip - The Stage Collapses

1:29

The Day of the Locust: Official Clip - The Movie Theater

1:57

The Day of the Locust: Official Clip - Ice Cream Meltdown

1:12

The Day of the Locust: Official Clip - Tod Meets Faye

2:04

The Day of the Locust: Official Clip - Door to Door

2:10

The Day of the Locust: Official Clip - Cockfight

2:12

The Day of the Locust: Official Clip - The Burning of Los Angeles

2:09

The Day of the Locust: Official Clip - Angry Mob

2:06

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Budd Wilkins

Slant Magazine

With impeccable detail and merciless wit, John Schlesinger’s The Day of the Locust presents 1930s Los Angeles as a nightmarish circle in Dante’s Inferno.

Dec 12, 2023

Full Review

Pauline Kael

New Yorker

Having no emotional center, the film leaves little impression -- only a chill.

Oct 11, 2023

Full Review

Susan Stark

Detroit Free Press

John Schlesinger brings West's vision to the screen, monstrosity for monstrosity, sadness for sadness, and makes of it an immensely affecting motion picture.

Sep 12, 2021

Full Review

Emilie Black

Cinema Crazed

The film was clearly carefully planned, designed, with costume, art department and direction, as well as cinematography, and editing to make it something that stands out to this day.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 14, 2023

Full Review

Steve Warren

The Barb (Atlanta)

This is the maximum downer, the most depressing film I've ever seen.

May 9, 2023

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

Schlesinger illustrates with some authenticity a discreet homage to classic 1930s cinema, but his pessimistic critique of Hollywood's dark side is erratic and fatiguing. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 5/10

Oct 31, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

In 1930s Los Angeles, Hollywood shines like a beacon to all the helpless people scattered across the city. In one crumbling apartment block, a blond bombshell (Karen Black) aspires to be an actress, an artist (William Atherton) looks for legitimacy, and a child actor performs a gross homage to Mae West. Cockfights and poverty prevail out of the glow of show business. Introverted accountant Homer Simpson (Donald Sutherland) watches as society collapses under greed and ambition.

Director: John Schlesinger
Screenwriter: Nathanael West, Waldo Salt
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Paramount Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 7, 1975, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 6, 2014
Sound Mix: Mono

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