The Day of the Locust (1975)

USA
Feature Film
Director: John Schlesinger
Writers: Waldo Salt, Nathanael West
Cinematographer: Conrad L. Hall
Composer: John Barry
Cast: William Atherton, Karen Black, Donald Sutherland, Burgess Meredith, Bo Hopkins, Pepe Serna, Bo Hopkins, Billy Barty, Jackie Earle Haley

In some respects Schlesinger’s film is a disappointing adaptation of West’s novel, but in others it is a great triumph. The casting of Karen Black, excellent though she was, who at the time was in her mid 30s, as the 17 year old Faye Greener was a huge misstep. Having a grown woman play the part completely alters everyone’s motivations. Characters are generally softer, more likeable, less desperate. Schlesinger has still managed to portray the seedy and violent flipside of the Hollywood dream; but it is less seedy and less violent than West’s vision. Where this matches, or perhaps even surpasses, the original is in its finale - a violent, apocalyptic vision of society’s collapse embodied in mob violence and rioting, that is amongst the most powerful and disturbing scenes in cinema history. A simultaneously disappointing and brilliant film.