The Day of the Locust (1975)

An art director in the 1930s falls in love and attempts to make a young woman an actress despite Hollywood who wants nothing to do with her because of her problems with an estranged man and her alcoholic father.

Director:

John Schlesinger

Writers:

Nathanael West (novel), Waldo Salt (screenplay)

Stars:

Donald Sutherland, Karen Black, Burgess Meredith

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Donald Sutherland	...	Homer Simpson
Karen Black	...	Faye Greener
Burgess Meredith	...	Harry Greener
William Atherton	...	Tod Hackett
Geraldine Page	...	Big Sister
Richard Dysart	...	Claude Estee
Bo Hopkins	...	Earle Shoop
Pepe Serna	...	Miguel
Lelia Goldoni	...	Mary Dove
Billy Barty	...	Abe Kusich
Jackie Earle Haley	...	Adore (as Jackie Haley)
Gloria LeRoy	...	Mrs. Loomis (as Gloria Le Roy)
Jane Hoffman	...	Mrs. Odlesh
Norman Leavitt	...	Mr. Odlesh (as Norm Leavitt)
Madge Kennedy	...	Mrs. Johnson

Storyline

Life's flotsam and jetsam turn up at late 1930's Hollywoodland's door, once more, in this insightful tale of wannabes and desperadoes. Tod Hackett, artist, has inspirations to become noticed until he meets Faye Greener, blonde bombshell, and is immediately smitten. She has other ideas. She has Homer Simpson, victim, in her sights and cruelty and loneliness takes new meaning as all three are slowly sucked into the Hollywood system of sycophants, diggers and parasites, sucking the life from others as the life, and soul, is slowly sucked from them.

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Plot Keywords:

casting couch | breasts | underwear | prostitute | pornography | 

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Taglines:

By train. By car. By bus. They came to Hollywood... In search of a dream.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 June 1975 (UK)

Also Known As:

Como plaga de langosta

Filming Locations:

Gittelson Brothers Hollywood Boulevard Golf Course - 5263 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$17,793,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Long Road Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

144 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

William Castle: Veteran thriller and horror movie producer and director as a film director.

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Goofs

At the premiere of The Buccaneer, the announcer calls special attention to Anthony Quinn's bit part. In 1938, Quinn was a little-known 23-year-old at the start of his career, and his presence in that film would only be of widespread interest looking back a few decades later.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mrs. Odlesh: It isn't as splashy as some other places, but we pride ourselves on being a little classier.
Tod Hackett: [referring to a large crack in the plaster wall] Hmmm, the crack's real.
Mrs. Odlesh: Oh yes. We call this our earthquake cottage. Mrs. Porter had occupancy then. During the big one in '33. Property damage ran into the millions.
Tod Hackett: Will you fix it if I stayed for a while?
Mrs. Odlesh: Oh no! No! This is our showplace. Mrs. Porter wouldn't let us touch that wall. She worked that sampler herself to cover over the hole. ...
[...]

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Alternate Versions

Although the UK cinema release was uncut the 2004 DVD version was cut by 46 secs by the BBFC to remove scenes of cockfighting.

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Connections

Featured in Visions of Light (1992)

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Soundtracks

Jeepers Creepers
Music by Harry Warren
Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
Sung by Louis Armstrong
Courtesy of MCA Records

User Reviews

A Plague Descends

It took over 35 years and the collapse of the big studio system before anyone in Hollywood, in this case Paramount, brought Nathanael West's novel The Day Of The Locust to the big screen. That climax at a Hollywood premiere is certainly not something the studios would want to show the public as a typical event.

The book is based on West's experiences while writing B pictures in Hollywood during the Thirties and some of the characters he knew. His main protagonist is William Atherton, an aspiring artist who is making a living doing set designs. That's one competitive business and he's got to go over his immediate supervisor John Hillerman's head to get his work noticed by producer Richard Dysart. Like the rest of West's characters, he's sacrificed pride a long time ago. It's his eyes that we see the other characters through.

But he's a paragon of virtue compared to starlet Karen Black who will do anything and anybody to advance her career. Atherton would love to get something going with her, but he's mindful of how amoral she's become. Her only real attachment is to her father, an ex-vaudevillian and now door to door salesman, Burgess Meredith. Even trying to do his shtick with sales doesn't gain him clients.

But the saddest one in the lot and the fellow with the best performance is Donald Sutherland who is an outsider to the film people, a businessman named Homer Simpson who Black uses and abuses. Sutherland's performance is not too different from the hapless cartoon character. Imagine the cartoon Homer Simpson dealing with real life heartbreak and you've got Sutherland's character. The line between tragedy and comedy can be a very thin one.

Geraldine Page has a brief role as an Aimee Semple McPherson like evangelist, shamelessly bilking the Depression's downtrodden. She's great in the part as is Jackie Earle Haley, a really rotten child star of whom I'd love to know who West's model was.

The Day Of The Locust was directed by John Schlesinger who got an Oscar for The Midnight Cowboy. Like that film, The Day Of The Locust deals with some fringe people just trying to get by. Burgess Meredith got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor and the film also got a nomination for Costume Design.

Before Newton Minow referred to television as a vast wasteland. I think that's what Nathanael West had in mind in writing about his experiences in the movie capital. I'd recommend seeing the film to see how well Schlesinger put West's vision across.