I have waited almost 30 years to see this film. For one reason or another, the stars were never properly aligned to allow me to see it prior to seeing it for the first time this evening. I had heard and read about how shocking and powerful it was. How the performances were likely some of the best during the seventies, and on and on. So today, I went out, bought the DVD (disappointed to find no additional extras on the DVD), and watched it tonight. I was expecting an exciting, gripping movie that would make me feel it was worth the wait.
It wasn't. To say I was disappointed is putting it mildly. I'm still trying to rehash and pour over all of what was bad about this film.
It's not a good expose on the ugly side of Hollywood. "Sunset Boulevard" and "The Bad and the Beautiful" do a much better job of that. Performances from Burgess Meridith, William Atherton, and Billy Barty are very good. Donald Sutherland is a little too freakish, and Karen Black is plainly miscast. I find nothing beautiful, sensual or sexual about her. I even found myself fast forwarding through some of her scenes. I just couldn't believe her.
I believe John Schlesinger should have edited this movie down some. By the end, I was so bored and couldn't wait for the movie to end, that I didn't care about the ending.
In the end, "The Day of the Locust" turns out to be an overblown, overlong, boring disappointment.
5 out of 10
It wasn't. To say I was disappointed is putting it mildly. I'm still trying to rehash and pour over all of what was bad about this film.
It's not a good expose on the ugly side of Hollywood. "Sunset Boulevard" and "The Bad and the Beautiful" do a much better job of that. Performances from Burgess Meridith, William Atherton, and Billy Barty are very good. Donald Sutherland is a little too freakish, and Karen Black is plainly miscast. I find nothing beautiful, sensual or sexual about her. I even found myself fast forwarding through some of her scenes. I just couldn't believe her.
I believe John Schlesinger should have edited this movie down some. By the end, I was so bored and couldn't wait for the movie to end, that I didn't care about the ending.
In the end, "The Day of the Locust" turns out to be an overblown, overlong, boring disappointment.
5 out of 10