{"id":123947,"date":"2024-05-18T21:56:24","date_gmt":"2024-05-18T20:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodintoto.com\/?p=2040108"},"modified":"2024-05-18T21:56:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-18T20:56:24","slug":"how-day-of-the-locust-out-babyloned-babylon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/18\/how-day-of-the-locust-out-babyloned-babylon\/","title":{"rendered":"How \u2018Day of the Locust\u2019 Out-Babyloned \u2018Babylon\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Schlesinger\u2019s \u201cThe Day of the Locust\u201d (1975) is finally available after decades of being out of print.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following its box office failure, Schlesinger\u2019s unsettling, robust epic, depicting characters struggling for work during the Golden Age of Hollywood, could only be seen on a murky VHS transfer. Now, thanks to Arrow Video, the film has been remastered on Blu-ray<\/a>, with loads of extra features and a commendable new print of the film itself.<\/p>\n

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Based on Nathanael West\u2019s 1939 novel of the same name, \u201cThe Day of the Locust\u201d is a sprawling ensemble piece, set during the Golden Age of 1930\u2019s Hollywood, focusing on the activity in the lives of three figures: a starstruck writer named Tod Hackett (William Atherton), a starlet named Faye Greener (Karen Black) and a kind, meek man named Homer Simpson (Donald Sutherland).<\/p>\n

Their interactions are long and tortured, as their levels of success, social acceptance and personal worth fluctuate wildly throughout the story.<\/p>\n

This was among the first films I\u2019ve ever seen to suggest that personal and moral sacrifices are essential to becoming a successful film artist, in a career full of opportunities for moral compromise. Call it the anti-\u201cSingin\u2019 in the Rain,\u201d as no one here finds the kind of Happy Ending that typically greets Tinseltown characters and filmgoers in the comfort of a movie theater.<\/p>\n

In fact, there\u2019s a legendary climax that takes place during the premiere of Cecil B. DeMille\u2019s \u201cThe Buccaneer\u201d which erupts into a horrifying, apocalyptic explosion of chaos. There are two things about \u201cThe Day of the Locust\u201d that have never left me: one is the image of a dead horse at the bottom of a swimming pool, jokingly noted as a decoration (but is it?).<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the aforementioned grand finale, which is so shattering there\u2019s just no way to prepare for it.<\/p>\n

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It’s a shocking, bitter film, designed in part to spin a tale of moral degradation and artistic rot in pursuit of fame, but also a cautionary tale on how the struggle for a Hollywood breakthrough will only find many opportunities to lose one\u2019s dignity.<\/p>\n

It’s noteworthy that the film was released by Paramount Pictures and makes reference to the studio, since this is as anti-Hollywood as it gets. If \u201cSingin’ in the Rain\u201d extolled the value of pursuing your dreams, applying your talent, pushing through setbacks and finding true love in the midst of personal glory, then this is the film to sober anyone out of such optimism.<\/p>\n

Most of the characters are complex, behave in contradictory ways and are often impossible to like. Note the ever-present chocolate ice cream cone – Faye is childish and unstable, an unkind, driven and fickle would-be star.<\/p>\n

Yet Faye is also savvy enough to be too much for Simpson, who is kind and patient in a way that this environment pushes to the very edge.<\/p>\n

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Black is fearless in the role that should have elevated her career (instead of hurting it). Atherton finds the right notes in playing a character that, like his co-stars, I always found fascinating but impossible to root for.<\/p>\n

Atherton is best known for playing persnickety villains (\u201cGhostbusters\u201d and \u201cDie Hard\u201d became his calling cards) but note how well he makes Hacket grapple with a moral conscience but is unable to pry himself from his obsession with Faye.<\/p>\n

Simpson explains to Faye how, as a child, he found a way to eat liver by covering it up with bread, his way of saying that working in Hollywood is kind of like that. Not even \u201cThe Player\u201d (1992) is this bitter about the film industry and how it devours the innocent and enables the immoral.<\/p>\n

Why would anyone want to watch a movie like this? Because Schlesinger\u2019s directing and the work of his cast are extraordinary and the film, as savage as it gets, has one amazing set piece after another.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Day of the Locust\u201d is difficult and challenging for how extreme its climactic sequence is and for how off-putting the characters can be. It\u2019s also one of the richest, most unguarded and spectacular films ever made about the allure and trap of Hollywood fame.<\/p>\n

Damien Chazelle\u2019s \u201cBabylon\u201d (2022) is a strikingly similar film, and the comparison came into focus with the release of Chazelle\u2019s equally controversial and superior work, which was also a major box office flop. Both are among the greatest films ever made about seeking fame and creative fulfillment in a vile environment where everyone is out to use and exploit the innocent.<\/p>\n

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NEW @ArrowFilmsVideo<\/a> US & CAN TITLE: The Day of the Locust (Limited Edition Blu-Ray)<\/p>\n

Academy Award\u00ae-winner John Schlesinger adapts an acid satire of Hollywood decadence and broken dreams with Donald Sutherland starring.<\/p>\n

Pre-order in the US via Arrow: https:\/\/t.co\/DeP6QMuASK<\/a>\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/An8qhPUYem<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Dawn of The Discs (@dawnofthediscs) September 29, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n