From the back cover
"The Day of the Locust is a novel about Hollywood and its corrupting touch, about the American dream turned into a sun-drenched California nightmare. Nathanael West's Hollywood is not the glamorous "home of the stars" but a seedy world of little people, some hopeful, some despairing, all twisted by their by their own desires -- from the ironically romantic artist narrator to a macho movie cowboy, a middle-aged innocent from America's heartland, and the hard-as-nails call girl would-be-star whom they all lust after. An unforgettable portrayal of a world that mocks the real and rewards the sham, turns its back on love to plunge into empty sex, and breeds a savage violence that is its own undoing, this novel stands as a classic indictment of all that is most extravagant and uncontrolled in American life.
Review
Day is a sharp, satirical tale about Hollywood during the Great Depression. Its characters, poor and otherwise downtrodden, are desperate and often degenerate and delusional in their thoughts and deeds, with their pointless pursuits and drunken, sexual behaviors. This is an excellent, cinematic-vivid novella, one worth reading if you enjoy reading about such things.
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The resulting film was released stateside on May 7, 1975. John Schlesinger directed the film, from Waldo Salt's screenplay.
Donald Sutherland played Homer Simpson. Karen Black played Faye Greener. Burgess Meredith played Harry Greener. William Atherton played Tod Hackett.
Bo Hopkins played Earle Shoop. Pepe Serna played Miguel. Billy Barty played Abe Kusiche. Jackie Earle Haley played Adore.
Geraldine Page played Big Sister. Richard Dysart played Claude Estee. Lelia Goldoni played Mary Dove. John Hillerman played Ned Grote. William Castle, billed as William C. Castle, played Director.
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