The Day of the Locust (1975)

The Day of the Locust is based on the novel of the same name which is on several lists of Greatest novels of the 20th Century. The story is an unromantic look at the often romanticized Golden age of Hollywood in the 1920s and 30s. The movie shows the seedy side of Hollywood and also shows what happens to all those people who went into Hollywood to fulfill  their dreams, only to see Hollywood become their land of broken dreams. Burgess Meredith was nominated for an Oscar as alcoholic former vaudevillian father of Karen Black's character, who never quite made it to the big time. The movie not only shows unfulfilled dreams, but everywhere throughout the film there are signs of the darker side of Hollywood, one of the first scenes of the film shows a tour group at the famous Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, and the tour guide is talking about all the people that have jumped off the letters and committed suicide. Later a set collapses during the shooting of a film showing the more dangerous side of Hollywood, and you get to see the more inhuman side when you find out that even if anybody would have died in the collapse it wouldn't have mattered to the producers of the film. But no matter what the film is showing whether it's a cockfight or an androgynous child mocking the films main characters in song, the cinematography is at once gorgeous, and gritty. Another main element of the story is the film's female lead Karen Black who is pretty much single handedly responsible for the film's at times overwhelming sexuality. Black plays a woman who's fickle character is best described as a combination between Scarlet O'hara, Blanche from Streetcar Named Desire, and Jenny from Forest Gump, so in other words every mans downfall/worst nightmare. She and her carelessness (this is from a man's point of view mind you) with her sexuality is at least partially responsible for ruining most of the film's male's lives, or at least breaking their hearts. If for nothing else her inability to decide what she wants and the consequences that has to the people around her, makes for an interesting psychological study. The film has since become a cult classic for several  reasons: the cast is amazing, Burgess Meredith, Karen Black, Donald Sutherland, Billy Barty, Geraldine

  Page, Jackie Earle Haley as a ten year old in drag, William Atherton, and a cameo by the great B-movie director William Castle; and then the dynamics of the main male characters (I feel a connection with both and I think a lot of people might), and of course the ending. This film has an epic horrific LSD inspired nightmare of an ending that takes the film from a look at the darker side of Hollywood, to an over the top symbolic representation of an inhuman dog-eat-dog world. That attack on that age of Hollywood  may be a bit harsh in my opinion but it's how the author and the director wanted it portrayed. This film is directed by John Schelisinger (Midnight Cowboy, Marathon Man,  Pacific Heights) and the film has a lavish score composed by five time Oscar winning John Barry (the James bond theme). I highly enjoyed it though except for the very ending, and even though it is long it builds and builds and makes the climax worth waiting for. I give it a 5/5 from a technical standpoint, and a 4.5/5 as for my enjoyment of the film. You can watch the trailer below: