The Day of the Locust

Oh fuck off OP!

As a young gayling (I was 15 when the film came out...), I ADORED Karen Black (and her wonky eyes) in DOTL. I was able to get the poster from the local movie theater and hung it up in my room. Wouldn't you have thought my parents could have figured out I was a budding homo?

Karen Black is reminding me of Kate Capshaw from Temple of Doom. That’s not a compliment.

I saw the movie before I read the novella, OP. It holds a place in my movie-going heart. A dark, foreboding place...but a place, nonetheless. I remember Raquel wanting Faye. I may have read that in After Dark. I had that issue. Karen talked about how she was was going to play the character like her name...fey. I thought at the time that was cool, but looking now, I think she got it from Cliff notes.

*

From Cliff Notes:

Faye's first name suggests fairy lightness, and her last name suggests the green freshness of nature. Her true character is a parody of these qualities.

Foreboding...

Paul Jabara...

Adore's demise on the big screen was horrific.

What a mess.

I agree, OP.

Salmon salade with lots of mayonnaise? I adore it...can I help?

R7, that scene spoke to me.

I've never understood what possessed them to cast Karen Black as the starlet/slut Faye, who in the book is 17 years old. (Black was 35.)

Donald Sutherland was quite well-cast as Homer, however.

The surreal riot is genuinely terrifying. The girl screaming as she realizes she is in danger of being crushed is a detail I've never forgotten.

I thought the ending was a disappointment. No way would Faye be sweetness 'n lite, sad 'n contrite. She was a selfish socio, abusive to people and not prone to empathy. Look how easily she slid into prostitution ("Are they ugly?").

I've never read anything quite like that novel, very strange and sad and disturbing. I thought the movie had its moments, but was more conventional than the book.

I just read it about a month or so ago. I fell in love with West's writing and when I finished I immediately read it again. I very rarely do that. Also saw the movie years ago and did enjoy it.

I haven't seen the movie in a very long time, r14, but I don't remember at the end that Faye was sincerely "sweetness 'n lite, sad 'n contrite".

An awful movie. Loud and crude, wirth old Hollywood stars degrading themselves and....no. I gave up on it.

I'm a big fan of Nathanael West's work.

Most people only know Locust and Miss Lonelyhearts, but A Cool Million is wicked funny and deserves to be read. Balso Snell is weird (to say the least).

You probably wouldn't like The Wild Party either, r18...