The team of producer Jerome Hellman, director John Schlesinger, and writer Waldo Salt had a major critical and commercial success in 1969 with Midnight Cowboy. That film was a milestone, with its realistic and seedy study of male prostitution and abject urban poverty.

Schlesinger, Salt and Hellman were reunited six years later for The Day of the Locust. As was the case for Midnight Cowboy, the film is a credible but pessimistic and sordid tale of broken dreams and human weaknesses.

The story is adapted from the novel by Nathanael West. Tod (William Atherton) arrives in Hollywood of the year 1938. Tod is a young sketch artist, who promptly finds work at a film studio. His neighbor is Faye (Karen Black), an attractive but selfish and talentless bit-part actress.

Faye's father (Burgess Meredith) is a former stage performer, now elderly and forced to peddle wares from door to door. Tod falls for Faye quickly, but Faye is more interested in a Mexican stuntman (Pepe Serna) and in stolid, naive, bill-paying accountant Homer Simpson (Donald Sutherland). Homer is no relation to the famous cartoon character.

Geraldine Page shows up as a con artist/evangelist, Bo Hopkins is a stuntman prone to violence, Billy Barty plays an a garbage-mouthed dwarf. Natalie Schafer of "Gilligan's Island" notoriety plays a prostitute madam that caters to Hollywood types.

Meredith's portrayal of the pathetic, sickly salesman received the best notices from critics. But Karen Black did receive a well deserved Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. Black's character is not easy to pin down. She is trashy, but is only physically attracted to Serna. She is petty and self-centered, but has genuine emotional attachments to her father, Tod and Homer. When under stress, she can be shrill and vulgar. But she is a fighter and is resilient. It is a difficult role, and Black makes it seem credible.

While most of the film depicts an unhappy romance between Faye, Tod and Homer, the ending is a different matter. With the premier of The Buccaneer as a setting, an uncharacteristic act of violence by Homer triggers a mob lynching. The Day of the Locust briefly becomes a surreal horror film, as the angry mob rampages through the city. The grisly finale shocks first time viewers today as much as it did a quarter century ago.

William Castle, a director noted for 'B' horror films, plays a director on the set of "The Battle of Waterloo". Castle rushes and verbally abuses his actors, and forces them onto an unfinished set representing a hill. The set collapses, and many people are hurt. The callous attitude in Hollywood towards the man-made disaster is shared even by the victims, one of which exclaims as he is carried off in a stretcher that a broken leg is worth $500.

The Day of the Locust was not a box office success, but it did receive two Academy Award nominations. They were for Burgess Meredith as Best Supporting Actor, and Conrad Hall for Best Cinematography. The film's art design probably should have been nominated as well. (77/100)




Recommended: Yes