THE DAY OF THE LOCUST PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Nathanael West | 192 pages | 05 Jun 2014 | Roads Publishing | 9781909399310 | English | Dublin, Ireland The Day of the Locust () - Rotten Tomatoes The Day of The Locust is an adaptation of the highly powerful novel from Nathanael West, it focuses on the seamy underbelly of Hollywood in the s. Pot boiling with pacey precision, director John Schlesinger crafts what is still to this day one of the hidden pieces of art from the s. We are witness to an assortment of odd characters on the outskirts Hollywood and it's big shiny star, fringe characters driven on by less than stellar ideals. Faye realises that her limitations are getting in the way of her starry ambitions, so thus she becomes the assembly line hump on the casting couch, she believes it's a small price to pay for the price of fame. All three of them will come crashing together as the story reaches it's cynical and terrifying conclusion. The Day Of The Locust failed at the box office, mid seventies audiences were clearly not ready for this unsavoury and stark look at the flip side of the industry we all follow with relish. Many of the characters featured in the piece are believed to be based on real life Hollywood figures, now here in this modern age the public embrace such titillation with glee, back then they clearly wasn't ready for it. Looking for some great streaming picks? Check out some of the IMDb editors' favorites movies and shows to round out your Watchlist. Visit our What to Watch page. Sign In. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Full Cast and Crew. Release Dates. Official Sites. Company Credits. Technical Specs. Plot Summary. Plot Keywords. Parents Guide. External Sites. User Reviews. User Ratings. External Reviews. Metacritic Reviews. Photo Gallery. Trailers and Videos. Crazy Credits. Alternate Versions. Rate This. An art director in the s 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. His goal is to find inspiration for the picture he is getting ready to begin, a work titled "The Burning of Los Angeles. Tod falls in love with Faye Greener, an aspiring starlet who lives nearby but Faye only loves men that are good looking or have wealth. Tod is simply a "good-hearted man," the kind Faye likes. Tod wants to "throw himself [at her], no matter what the cost. Every time he imagines raping her, reality interrupts his fantasy before he can complete the act. Scenes are interrupted prior to their climax frequently throughout the novel. A patron jokes that it is "the old teaser routine," when a film viewing at Mrs. Jenning's parlor ends unexpectedly due to technical difficulties. Between his work at the studio and his introduction to Faye's friends, Tod interacts with numerous Hollywood hangers-on. Characters like Abe Kusich, the dwarf; Claude Estee, the successful screenwriter; and Earle Shoop, the fake California cowboy, all of whom have difficulty changing their personas from the characters they play to who they are. As a result, there is a clear sense of acting that spills beyond the confines of Hollywood studios, into the streets of Los Angeles. Shortly after moving into a neighborhood in the valley, Tod befriends Homer Simpson, a simple-minded bookkeeper from Iowa who moved to California for health reasons. Homer Simpson's "unruly hands" operate independently from his body, and their movements are often mechanical. Young neighbor Adore Loomis finds Homer and torments him until Homer lashes out against the boy. The novel's climactic riot ensues and the chaos over the latest Hollywood premiere turns violent outside Mr. Khan 's Pleasure Dome. Tod vividly revises "The Burning of Los Angeles" in his mind, while being pushed around in the waves of the riot. The final scene plays out, uninterrupted. The conclusion of the novel can be read as a moment of enlightenment and mental clarity for the artist, or a complete "mental breakdown" and Tod's "incorporation into the mechanized, modern world of Los Angeles. The characters are outcasts, who have come to Hollywood to fulfill a dream or wish: "The importance of the wish in West's work was first noted by W. Auden , who declared in one of the interludes in The Dyer's Hand that West's novels were essentially "parables about a Kingdom of Hell whose ruler is not so much a Father of Lies as a Father of Wishes". As some critics point out, West's novel was a radical challenge to modernist literature. Some modernists set themselves up in opposition to mass culture; West depicts it and makes it an integral part of the novel. His critique of Hollywood and the mentality of "the masses" depicts an America sick with vanity and the harbor of a malignant sense of perversity. The original title of the novel was The Cheated. Susan Sanderson writes:. The most famous literary or historical reference to locusts is in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, in which God sends a plague of locusts to the pharaoh of Egypt as retribution for refusing to free the enslaved Jews. Richard Dysart Claude Estee. Bo Hopkins Earle Shoop. Pepe Serna Miguel. Lelia Goldoni Mary Dove. Billy Barty Abe Kusich. John Schlesinger Director. Nathanael West Writer Novel. Waldo Salt Writer Screenplay. Jerome Hellman Producer. Sheldon Schrager Associate Producer. John Barry Original Music. Robert O. Ragland Original Music. Conrad L. Hall Cinematographer. Jim Clark Film Editor. June 12, Full Review…. January 26, Full Review…. January 1, Full Review…. December 4, Full Review…. August 3, Rating: 2. View All Critic Reviews Apr 23, Wow, what an ugly film. Presumably, this cynical tale of Hollywood wannabes was green-lit following the success of "Chinatown. Donald Sutherland gives a remarkable performance as repressed neurotic Homer Simpson now why does that name sound familiar? Burgess Meredith? Wonderful, but wasted in a minor part. As if the other depravities weren't enough, there's even a repulsive cockfighting scene needlessly thrown into the mix. Meanwhile, the surreal climax is like an entirely different movie shades of "The Wall"? Interesting to see the often villainous Atherton as an innocent, William Castle in a cameo as a fictional director and the pubescent Jackie Earle Haley as an insufferable child-star brat. Eric B Super Reviewer. Apr 18, Profoundly sad view of the lower rungs of Hollywood life in the 30's. Disturbing and unsettling. The climatic sequence is both horrifying and mesmerizing. Nov 12, Allegorical film that depicts the moral decay of 's Hollywood. Donald Sutherland gave an unusual performance as Homer Simpson. The epic, horrifying climax is the true highlight of the picture, one of the best sequences of cinema ever filmed. Ivan D Super Reviewer. Mar 17, An often surreal but always intriguing morality tale. This film has it's sights set mostly on "Hollywood", with a few "pop shots" at organized religion which if you think about it is not so different from Hollywood. Sure the characters are "over the top" and "steretypical", a virtual cornucopia of Hollywood has beens and hopefuls. But that's kind of the point. It's meant to be a sort of snap-shot of 's's Hollywood and all that it entailed. The acting is solid with the casting spot on. The cinematography is brilliant, ranging from glorious to bleak but always captivating. The last minutes are genius! Robert C Super Reviewer. See all Audience reviews. There are no approved quotes yet for this movie. Best Horror Movies. Day of the Locust movie review () | Roger Ebert Movie Info. In s 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. John Schlesinger. Jerome Hellman. Jun 6, Donald Sutherland Homer Simpson. William Atherton Tod Hackett. Karen Black Faye Greener. Burgess Meredith Harry Greener. Geraldine Page Big Sister. Richard Dysart Claude Estee. Bo Hopkins Earle Shoop. Pepe Serna Miguel. Lelia Goldoni Mary Dove. Billy Barty Abe Kusich. John Schlesinger Director. Nathanael West Writer Novel. Waldo Salt Writer Screenplay. Jerome Hellman Producer. Sheldon Schrager Associate Producer. John Barry Original Music. Robert O. Ragland Original Music. Conrad L. Hall Cinematographer. Jim Clark Film Editor. June 12, Full Review…. January 26, Full Review…. January 1, Full Review…. December 4, Full Review…. August 3, Rating: 2. View All Critic Reviews Apr 23, Wow, what an ugly film. Presumably, this cynical tale of Hollywood wannabes was green-lit following the success of "Chinatown. Donald Sutherland gives a remarkable performance as repressed neurotic Homer Simpson now why does that name sound familiar? Burgess Meredith? Wonderful, but wasted in a minor part. As if the other depravities weren't enough, there's even a repulsive cockfighting scene needlessly thrown into the mix. Meanwhile, the surreal climax is like an entirely different movie shades of "The Wall"? Interesting to see the often villainous Atherton as an innocent, William Castle in a cameo as a fictional director and the pubescent Jackie Earle Haley as an insufferable child- star brat. Eric B Super Reviewer. Apr 18, Profoundly sad view of the lower rungs of Hollywood life in the 30's.