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<html> <head> <title>The Day of the Locust</title> <meta name="googlebot" content="noodp"> <meta name="robots" content="noodp"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="/silly-nndb-icon.png" /><style type="text/css">  </style><script type="text/javascript" src="/sortable.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/trailer.js"></script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/trailer.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/style.css" /> </head> <body bgcolor=#ffffff> <div> <center> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td valign=top><table width=550 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0> <tr><td bgcolor=white><table width="100%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" background="/nndb.gif"> <tr> <td rowspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><a href="http://www.nndb.com/"><img src="/title.gif" width="260" height="50" border=0 alt="NNDB"></a></td> <td><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="6"> <tr align="center"> <td width="25%" nowrap>This is a beta version of NNDB</td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" valign="middle"> <form action="http://search.nndb.com/search/nndb.cgi" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="nndb" value="1"></input> Search: <select name="omenu"> <option value="unspecified" selected>All Names</option> <option value="living">Living people</option> <option value="dead">Dead people</option> <option value="bands">Band Names</option> <option value="books">Book Titles</option> <option value="movies">Movie Titles</option> <option value="fulltext">Full Text</option> </select> for <input name="query" value="" size=24 maxlength=96> <input type=submit value="Search"> </form></td> </tr> </table>        </td></tr> <tr><td bgcolor=red height=2></td></tr> <tr bgcolor=F0F0F0><td bgcolor=F0F0F0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=15 width=100%><tr><td bgcolor=F0F0F0> The Day of the Locust (7-May-1975) <img src="t.locust-1.jpg" height=220 width=149 hspace=10 vspace=10 align=right> Director: <a href="/people/771/000032675/">John Schlesinger</a>Writer: Waldo SaltFrom novel: The Day of the Locust by <a href="/people/679/000112343/">Nathanael West</a>Keywords: <a href="/lists/114/000083862/">Romantic Drama</a>, <a href="/lists/744/000204132/">Hollywood</a><div><img src="/full-star-20.png"><img src="/full-star-20.png"><img src="/full-star-20.png"><img src="/empty-star-20.png"></div>Dark tale depicting Hollywood's lost souls and broken dreams. William Atherton is a studio artist, designing sets and costumes. He falls in love with Karen Black, a frustrated actress who will do absolutely anything to further her career, but is quite lacking in the talent department. One of the greatest endings of any film ever made. Received Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Cinematography. John Schlesinger, quoted in Elsie M. Walker (ed.), Conversations with Directors: "If you talk about adaptations, Day of the Locust was the most difficult one of all. It was really very tough trying to develop it into a story with characters of flesh and blood and a dramatic thrust to the whole thing. When I saw the first cut of the film, I knew it was going to be controversial, but I was very proud of it -- and still am, incidentally. I realized that maybe the casting of Karen Black as Faye was fatal, but I felt we had a really interesting and extraordinary film which by no means was going to be popular." [watch trailer]</div> <table border=1 class="sortable bordered" id="sort_actors"> <tr><th>Name</th><th>Occupation</th><th>Birth</th><th>Death</th><th>Known for</th></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/432/000131039/">William Atherton</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>30-Jul-1947</tt></td> <td align=right><tt> </tt></td> <td>Ghostbusters</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/254/000024182/">Billy Barty</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>25-Oct-1924</tt></td> <td align=right><tt>23-Dec-2000</tt></td> <td>High-profile little person</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/405/000024333/">Karen Black</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>1-Jul-1939</tt></td> <td align=right><tt>7-Aug-2013</tt></td> <td>Five Easy Pieces</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/907/000091634/">William Castle</a></td> <td><center>Film Director</center></td> <td align=right><tt>24-Apr-1914</tt></td> <td align=right><tt>31-May-1977</tt></td> <td>House on Haunted Hill</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/551/000032455/">Dennis Dugan</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>5-Sep-1946</tt></td> <td align=right><tt> </tt></td> <td>Happy Gilmore</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/562/000174040/">Richard Dysart</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>30-Mar-1929</tt></td> <td align=right><tt>5-Apr-2015</tt></td> <td>Leland McKenzie on L.A. Law</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/557/000132161/">Jackie Earle Haley</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>14-Jul-1961</tt></td> <td align=right><tt> </tt></td> <td>Breaking Away</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/588/000049441/">John Hillerman</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>20-Dec-1932</tt></td> <td align=right><tt>9-Nov-2017</tt></td> <td>Higgins on Magnum, P.I.</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/409/000131016/">Bo Hopkins</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>2-Feb-1942</tt></td> <td align=right><tt> </tt></td> <td>Matthew Blaisdel on Dynasty</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/596/000279756/">Madge Kennedy</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>19-Apr-1891</tt></td> <td align=right><tt>9-Jun-1987</tt></td> <td>The Marrying Kind</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/258/000136847/">David Ladd</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>5-Feb-1947</tt></td> <td align=right><tt> </tt></td> <td>A Dog of Flanders</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/143/000043014/">Burgess Meredith</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>16-Nov-1908</tt></td> <td align=right><tt>9-Sep-1997</tt></td> <td>Rocky and Grumpy Old Men</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/780/000043651/">Geraldine Page</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>22-Nov-1924</tt></td> <td align=right><tt>13-Jun-1987</tt></td> <td>Toys in the Attic</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/381/000130988/">Robert Pine</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>10-Jul-1941</tt></td> <td align=right><tt> </tt></td> <td>Sgt. Getraer on CHiPS</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/742/000050592/">Natalie Schafer</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>5-Nov-1900</tt></td> <td align=right><tt>10-Apr-1991</tt></td> <td>Mrs. Howell on Gilligan's Island</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/793/000274968/">Paul Stewart</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>13-Mar-1908</tt></td> <td align=right><tt>17-Feb-1986</tt></td> <td>Citizen Kane</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/531/000023462/">Donald Sutherland</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>17-Jul-1935</tt></td> <td align=right><tt> </tt></td> <td>The Dirty Dozen</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/083/000347039/">Nita Talbot</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>8-Aug-1930</tt></td> <td align=right><tt> </tt></td> <td>Rose on Starting from Scratch</td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="/people/906/000352847/">John War Eagle</a></td> <td><center>Actor</center></td> <td align=right><tt>8-Jun-1901</tt></td> <td align=right><tt>7-Feb-1991</tt></td> <td>The Man from Laramie</td> </tr> </table> REVIEWSReview by anonymous (posted on 22-Jun-2005)This film is very underrated and was a bomb at the box office. Based on a short novel by Nathaniel West, Day of the Locust focuses in Hollywood of the late 30's. As told through an art director working at Paramount, Hollywood is not the glamour capitol of the world. In fact its a haven for hucksters, wanna bes, never weres, and nobodies. The art director sees the people living and working in Hollywood as locusts, open mouthed, feeding, wanting, destroying. Schlesinger paints this Hollywood with great hues and colors. Its depressing and colorful, yet down and disturbing. None of the characters have any real merit and the ending scenes will blow your socks off. One of my all-time favorite films by one of my all-time favorite directors. A must-see. <hr width=15% align=left><table><tr><td><img src="/rarrow.gif"></td><td>Have you seen this film? We would love to see your review. <a href="http://commentary.nndb.com/submit/review/?id=33018" rel="nofollow">Submit your review for this film</a></td></tr></table> Do you know something we don't? <a href="http://commentary.nndb.com/submit/feedback/?id=33018" rel="nofollow">Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile</a> Copyright ©2019 Soylent Communications </td></tr></table> </td></tr> </table> </td> <td width=180 align="center" valign="top" style="padding: 0px 0px 8px 25px;"></td></tr> </table> </center> </div> <div id="trailer" style="display: none"><div class="mask"></div><div id="trailerdialog">Trailer for: The Day of the Locust<div class="close" onClick="show_trailer()"></div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q4HOm9-kw3I?enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></body> </html>