{"id":27597,"date":"2023-12-13T02:10:23","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T10:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=27597"},"modified":"2023-12-13T02:10:23","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T10:10:23","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-day-of-the-locust-1975","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=27597","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE DAY OF THE LOCUST (1975)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Arrow Video is\ncurrently available at retailers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Often, after winning awards for their work, directors are\nallowed more control and power on their future projects. Much of the time,\nthings don\u2019t end up working out quite as smoothly and the features receive more\ncriticism than raves. This certainly happened to British director John\nSchlesinger, whose Midnight Cowboy<\/em> (1969) was praised and won numerous\nAcademy Awards. His follow-up Sunday Bloody Sunday<\/em> was equally acclaimed\nby the press, leading to a deal with Paramount on his most lavish and epic\nproject, The Day of the Locust<\/em>. It was an adaptation of a controversial\n1939 novel from Nathanael West and the movie was met with a harsher reception\nthan anticipated during its original release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this era providing plenty of dark tales (including\nChinatown, <\/em>which was being shot at the same time at Paramount and\nproduction offices were right next to each other), The Day of the Locust<\/em>\nreally irked people with its largely negative portrayal of the \u201cGolden Age\u201d of\nHollywood. The extremely bleak and violent finale likely turned even more\npeople off. But despite its initial box office failure, the movie did make an\nimpression and has slowly built a sizable following. After nearly 50 years, it\ncan be said that the film has aged very well and continues to captivate with\nits shady depiction of the era. Arrow Video has released a wonderful \u201cLimited\nEdition\u201d Blu-ray that includes a great 2K restoration from the original\nnegative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As previously noted, the story is set in 1939 and follows\nTod Hackett (William Atherton), a Yale grad and aspiring artist also hoping to\nmake it in Hollywood working in the art department. Living in his small\napartment community are various other wannabes, including Faye Greener (Karen\nBlack), daughter of a troubled ex-vaudeville entertainer (Burgess Meredith).\nThe aspiring starlet quickly becomes the object of Hackett\u2019s desire, despite being\ncompletely self-involved to the point where she will use others and literally\ndo anything to gain attention. Adore Loomis (Jackie Earle Haley) is a grating\nchild actor also looking to make his break. And there\u2019s also meek resident and\naccountant Homer Simpson (Donald Sutherland), who quietly lusts after Greener.\nAs time passes, viewers see these damaged characters further debase themselves\nfor a chance at success and fame. It all culminates in a Hollywood premiere\nthat results in a violent riot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie is a critique on cutthroat capitalism, with\nHollywood serving as an extreme microcosm for the country. The approach is\nunrelenting in its grimness. Greener uses and is used mercilessly by those\naround her. Even lead Hackett becomes crueler as the story progresses (at one\npoint, he tries to physically assault Greener after becoming frustrated by her\nlack of interest in him). The actress\u2019 alcoholic father is a sick, sad and\nhopeless case. Additionally, the child actor is vicious both to those around\nhim at work and in the complex. And while timid Simpson manages to look past\nGreener\u2019s faults even as she is using him to support herself, his mental state\nsoon deteriorates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s an excellent expose of how terribly workers may have been treated by their bosses, as well as everyone\u2019s fleeting and desperate attempts to gain celebrity and riches. There\u2019s an incredible scene in which Hackett visits a soundstage to see an epic set. It\u2019s a large hillside where part of the Battle of Waterloo is being shot for a historical feature. The set begins to fall apart mid-shot, endangering cast members and extras. It looks incredible to see performers hang and fall a couple of stories or more onto the hard studio cement floor. And of course, the finale is unforgettable as violence erupts and crowds go mad in the streets (while radio promoters try to sell the fracas as excited fans vociferously supporting the stars at the premiere).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All of the cast are excellent at conveying desperation as\ntheir personal dreams slowly die, but Sutherland makes a strong impression.\nHe\u2019s consistently bullied and treated awfully, initially making the man\nsympathetic. When his mind reaches its breaking point, it\u2019s a real shock to see\nthe character carry out one of the most brutal acts ever seen on the screen at\nthis point in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie has an intentionally soft and glossy look, but it\nstill looks clearer here than it ever has before. This transfer highlights the\nbeautiful cinematography by Conrad L. Hall (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance\nKid, Marathon Man, American Beauty, Road to Perdition<\/em>). It is a big and\nlavishly shot effort and it\u2019s wonderful to see the images get the treatment\nthey deserve on Blu-ray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The extras are also enlightening. The oral history\ncommentary track features interviews with various people involved in the\nproduction, including assistant director Leslie Asplun, production associate\nMichael Childers, title designer Dan Perri, costume designer Ann Roth,\nassistant editor Alan L. Shefland, assistant camera operator Ron Vidor,\nassistant director Charlie Ziarko, in addition to cast members Grainger Hines\nand Pepe Serna. They all talk about working with Schlesinger and some appear to\nhave had different experiences. A few thought he was kind, while others found\nhim temperamental. A couple of interviewees also note that things actually did\ngo wrong with the Battle of Waterloo sequence and that the set collapsed\nincorrectly. No one was injured and it looks fantastic, but it may have felt\nlike a moment of life imitating fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Film critic Glenn Kenny also shares his thoughts on the\nmovie and its importance. His comments are insightful as well, detailing ways\nin which the picture shows broken people being drawn to Hollywood for a chance\nat a fairy tale life. There\u2019s a great visual essay as well that goes over\nsimilar details, as well as a history of the 1939 book and the controversy that\nsurrounded its publication. It seems plenty of famous critics lashed out at\nboth the book and the film upon their releases. If these projects were really\nstriking a nerve in others, one hopes that the creators took this fury as a\ncompliment of the effectiveness of their creations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, the disc also features an extensive look\nat the elaborate period costumes and how they were created. It also contains\nradio spots for the film, promotional stills, behind-the-scenes photos and\nmore. There\u2019s also a well-written essay on the movie contained in the liner\nnotes and an impressive reversible sleeve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Day of the Locust<\/em> was one of those titles that I\nalways saw in shops as a child but passed by, largely because it wasn\u2019t as\nfamiliar as other titles of its era. It\u2019s unfortunate that so much good work\nwent unnoticed (although Schlesinger\u2019s follow-up to this feature, Marathon\nMan<\/em>, put him back on a winning streak with audiences and reviewers), but\nI\u2019m thrilled to have now seen this remarkable movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Personally, I\u2019m thrilled that Arrow Video has acquired the rights to this title and released a Blu-ray with a stellar picture. While it\u2019s a rough story about a system using and tearing apart individuals, the movie itself is excellent. It\u2019s exceptionally made, includes an incredible supporting performance, an important message and delivers several nightmarish scenes that aren\u2019t easily forgotten. Those with an appreciation for 1970s cinema should feel obligated to pick this effort up. This tragic tale does not disappoint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Arrow Video is currently available at retailers. Often, after winning awards for their work, directors are allowed more control and power on their future projects. Much of the time, things don\u2019t end up working out quite as smoothly and the features receive more criticism than raves. This certainly happened to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}