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Academy Award-winner John Schlesinger (Marathon Man) reunites with Midnight Cowboy screenwriter Waldo Salt (Coming Home), a victim of the 1950s McCarthy-era blacklist, to adapt Nathanael West's acid satire of Hollywood decadence and broken dreams.
Painter Tod Hackett (William Atherton), working in the art department of a movie studio during the 1930s 'golden age' of Hollywood, falls in unrequited love with aspiring starlet Faye Greener (Karen Black). He competes for her affections against other men: a pair of cowboys (Bo Hopkins, Pepe Serna), and a forlorn accountant (Donald Sutherland). As Faye's career fails to take her beyond roles as an extra, her life becomes increasingly desperate and her relationships with men take a darker turn, reaching fever pitch at a red-carpet movie premiere that explodes into barbaric chaos.
A bitter critique of tinsel-town's empty promises and the lost souls cheated by them, featuring lush, dreamlike cinematography by Conrad Hall, and stunning performances by its talented cast, The Day of the Locust remains a relevant and shattering experience.