The Day of the Locust

A sprawling, overstuffed critique of Hollywood and the American Dream, John Schlesinger’s The Day of the Locust (1975) exemplifies and best and worst of ‘70s cinema.  In an era when directors were briefly at the top of the food chain, the result was often an exercise in enthusiastic self-satisfaction with a tendency to look back at the industry’s Golden Age as a well-camouflaged sham on not just the moviegoing public but the industry itself.  Schlesinger’s film, based on a 1939 novel, portrays Hollywoodland as one of the seven levels of hell long overdue for an apocalyptic comeuppance.  Is anyone surprised?

Arriving with a silver spoon from Yale’s School of Fine Arts, Tod Hackett (William Atherton) is promptly taken under the wing of Paramount executive Claude Estee (Richard Dysart) who puts him to work designing sets for an upcoming war picture.  He falls hard for Faye Greener (Karen Black), a hard-to-get blonde working as an extra, who just so happens to live in a cheap bungalow next door to his own.  Their relationship, however, is finished before it gets started as Faye moves in with Homer Simpson (Donald Sutherland), an anxious suitor who offers her financial stability…and the freedom to sleep around.  Things come to a head during the big movie premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theater where each character gets caught up in a riot that seems inspired by their very own lust, pride and jealousy.

 

For the majority of the film’s 2 ½ hour running time The Day of the Locust is a self-centered melodrama whose only reason for existence is the vanity of its actors.  Donald Sutherland, by virtue of his bankability, gets top billing and puts in a compelling performance as the romantic pushover Homer Simpson.  But even his thoughtful moments are steamrolled by Karen Black who specialized in making unlikable characters even more unlikable than they were on the page.  The audience surrogate – and the film’s moral center – is Tod Hackett, played with a quiet sort of authority by Atherton, who later cemented his reputation as the pre-eminent prick of the ‘80s in Ghostbusters and Die Hard.

 

Schlesinger allows the film to drift from character to character Altman-style, never passing judgement, merely shepherding things along towards their inevitable tragic end.  It’s a rough two-hour slog full of shrieking, slapping and an upsetting bit of cockfighting.  But the final 15 minutes explode in an orgy of blood, flames and cinematic excess as Schlesinger stages a biblical plague worthy of Cecil B. DeMille!   As the celebrity onlookers rampage through the streets of Los Angeles, the film lets loose with imagery straight of out of Ken Russell film.  It’s all comes out of field, but still provides a nice palette cleanser for anyone who stuck through to the end.

 

Arrow Video’s Blu-ray features a new 2K remaster from the original negative, highlighting the superb cinematography of Conrad Hall.  Extras include two visual essays, an interview with costume historian Elissa Rose, collector’s booklet and oral history commentary that gathers input from cast and crew on the film.