X
- 1975
- R
- Paramount Pictures
- 2 h 24 m
- 1975
- R
- Paramount Pictures
- 2 h 24 m
Summary 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.
Directed By: John Schlesinger
Written By: Nathanael West, Waldo Salt
- 1975
- R
- Paramount Pictures
- 2 h 24 m
- 1975
- R
- Paramount Pictures
- 2 h 24 m
The Day of the Locust
61
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
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Where to Watch
Summary 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.
Directed By: John Schlesinger
Written By: Nathanael West, Waldo Salt
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 14 Critic Reviews
61
50% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
50% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 14 Critic Reviews
61
50% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
50% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Day Of The Locust exudes authenticity, from the costuming to the cars, from the exotic clothes to the marcelled hair styles.
Exquisitely painful look at how Hollywood turns its hopefuls into whores. [03 May 1992, p.B35]
The movie finally becomes just an exercise, then: a brilliant one at times, and with a wealth of sharp-edged performances, but without people for its things to happen to.
A tale of the losers and chancers rattling around Hollywood's fringe, the film fatally lacks the black humour and nightmarish edge of Nathanael West's source novel. But there are some good elements swarming through the muddle, not least the performances from Karen Black as a lowly starlet and Donald Sutherland as the emotional wreck who falls under her spell.
For all Mr. Schlesinger's misapplied conventionality, these characters remain too abstract in the film, and the violent climax feels bombastic and preposterous rather than meaningful. [21 Jun 2004, p.27]
A mosaic that never comes together.
Admittedly the book, an elusive, mesmeric work of associated images and ideas, surreal and analytical, would present problems for the most talented of film-makers. But Schlesinger really blows it.
User Reviews
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Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 2 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 2 Nominations
BAFTA Awards
• 1 Win & 3 Nominations
