Synopsis: Based on Nathanael West's satirical novel, John Schlesinger's THE DAY OF THE LOCUST is an absorbing look at the desperate characters who populate the Hollywood film industry. Idealistic young set designer Tod Hackett (William Atherton) travels to 1930s-era Hollywood to find fame and... Based on Nathanael West's satirical novel, John Schlesinger's THE DAY OF THE LOCUST is an absorbing look at the desperate characters who populate the Hollywood film industry. Idealistic young set designer Tod Hackett (William Atherton) travels to 1930s-era Hollywood to find fame and fortune but encounters a dismal world of broken people, shattered dreams, and phoney healers pandering to the lost. He soon falls in love with aspiring actress Faye Greener (Karen Black), a cruel, manipulative woman who lives with her drunken father (Burgess Meredith, in an Oscar-nominated performance) and loves the strange man-child Homer Simpson (Donald Sutherland). Their passions collide at a disastrous Hollywood premiere that remains one of the most horrifying and tragic climaxes in film history. [More]