THE DAY OF THE LOCUST

The movie premiere that climaxes Locust

THE DAY OF THE LOCUST (1975). Director: John Schlesinger.

"I could only let a fabulously rich man love me. I could only love a man criminally handsome. Please try to understand."

In Hollywood of the 1930's, artist Tod Hackett (William Atherton) lives in the same complex with aspiring star Faye Greener (Karen Black) and her father, an old-time performer named Harry (Burgess Meredith). Although Tod is very drawn to Faye, she wants a man with money, and winds up sexlessly cohabiting with the somewhat strange but wealthy Homer Simpson (Donald Sutherland). There is a nasty-minded midget (Billy Barty) and a bratty Shirley Temple clone (actually played by the male Jackie Earle Haley), as well as two guys who run cockfights out of Homer's garage. After two hours of meandering, the film arrives at a climax at a movie premiere that seems intended to wake the benumbed audience out of their lethargy but is too little, too late. When The Day of the Locust was released, it was overpraised in some quarters because of the admittedly vivid climactic riot and a "daring" scene of a child being stomped to death, which fooled people into thinking this piece of treacle was more adult and "meaningful" than it really was. Time has, unfortunately, not made the movie any better. Karen Black probably gives her all-time worst performance, so irritating is she that she almost sinks the movie right from the first, and Burgess Meredith isn't that much better. Atherton isn't bad at all, but Sutherland gives the best performance as Homer. Barty can do nothing to make his character less of a caricature, but Haley in drag is certainly vivid and memorable. Still, the movie presents unpleasant, and worse, uninteresting characters that you simply don't care about. Natalie Schafer, Nita Talbot, and William Castle [as a director] have small roles, as does Geraldine Page as an evangelist. A scene when a set collapses is well done from a technical standpoint. This was based on a novel by Nathaniel West; I don't know how faithful Waldo Salt's screenplay is to the source material, but it's pretty bad. The absolutely most disgusting scene shows poor Billy Barty kissing a rooster on its bloody beak. Dick Powell Jr., plays his father at the premiere-within-the-movie, which explains why he looks so much like the actor. Although Schlesinger was considered a "serious" director as, say, compared to Robert Aldrich, this movie is in reality little better than Aldrich's atrocious Legend of Lylah Clare! This is almost as bad as Schlesinger's Darling.

Verdict: Just a mess -- and boring to boot! **.

EDGE OF MIDNIGHT: THE LIFE OF JOHN SCHLESINGER

EDGE OF MIDNIGHT: The Life of John Schlesinger. An Authorized Biography by William J. Mann.

This excellent biography traces the life and career of director John Schlesinger from his childhood to his early days as an actor to his first directorial efforts and on to the big splash he made with Darling starring Julie Christie. Schlesinger really came into his own with the huge critical and financial success of Midnight Cowboy, a film which helped usher in a new era of frankness in Hollywood. Most of the director's later films were not quite as successful nor as feted. The book reveals that his superb film Sunday, Bloody Sunday was inspired by people and events from Schlesinger's own life, and documents his attempts to get back on top again while accepting screen assignments that may have been beneath him [some of which he championed nevertheless]. Written with the full cooperation of Schlesinger and his lover, the book is bolstered with many interviews from the people who knew the subject best. While looking into Schlesinger's attitude toward his homosexuality, Mann also analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of Schlesinger's films, explaining why some were better received and better made than others. A compelling and worthwhile biography of a director who may have been more influential than people realize. The book will make you want to go out and look at DVDs of the director's many features.

Verdict: Top-notch bio. ****.

DARLING

DARLING (1965). Director: John Schlesinger.

Diana (Julie Christie) is a pretty young model/actress/wannabee who leaves her husband for another man (Dirk Bogarde), dallies with yet another man who can help her career (Laurence Harvey), and then marries an Italian prince and becomes even more famous -- but empty. Back when Darling was released it was meant to explore "modern" mores and amorality and was seen as hip and trendy. Over forty years later it's only dated and boring. Churned out by Hollywood, this might have amounted to a slick soap opera with some timeless "entertainment" value -- say, like A Rage to Live. Cobbled together by Schlesinger -- who's done much, much better films -- it just plods along detailing the uninteresting lives of under-developed characters that are just as vapid as the movie itself. Despite some minor similarities, the movie does not really seem to be based on the life of Grace Kelly, as some have theorized. Even in the sixties, Diana's behavior was hardly atypical of people in show business or elsewhere. The sexually ambiguous characters and incidents are handled rather awkwardly in Frederic Raphael's rather poor screenplay (incredibly, he won an Oscar, as did Christie. The performances are perfectly okay, but everyone has done much better in other films.) Very tiresome stuff. Even in 1965 studies of ambitious, amoral people who had affairs and so on was hardly new, and there were much better ones than Darling.

Verdict: Could help with insomnia. *1/2.