Review of The Day of the Locust (1975) by Grant S — 28 Jan 2011

Coolly examines the fantasies of success and power among those most desperately exploited, with excellent period detail and fine location cinematography. Meredith is spectacular as a failed Vaudevillian turned solvent salesman, and his dying visit to an Aimee Semple McPherson revival is surreal and heartwrenching. Karen Black brings the crazy, while Billy Barty is unbelievably depraved - and not as mere comic relief. Be forewarned, the scenes of cockfighting are highly upsetting. Although Barty and Black lend them metaphorical depth rarely seen - rivaling that of Warren Oates in Cockfighter.

Sutherland gives one of the better screen portrayals of cuckoldry, and his final meltdown, (at a child Jackie Earle Haley) preceding the expressionist apocalypse is amazing. Waldo Salt's adaptation is hard-edged and while it may turn less character focused, that is in keeping with the allegorical point.