Cast and Crew:  John Schlesinger (Director); Waldo Salt (Screenplay); John Barry (Score); Conrad L. Hall (Cinematographer); Donald Sutherland, Karen Black, Burgess Meredith, Geraldine Page, Richard Dysart, Bo Hopkins, Pepe Serna, Billy Barty, Jackie Earle Haley, John Hillerman, William Castle, Dennis Dugan

What It’s About: Tod Hackett (William Atherton) is a young art director who moves into a seedy apartment complex and is quickly drawn into the lives of 1930s Hollywood’s hangers-on, leeches, has-beens, never weres, yes men, and other unsavory characters.

Why Watch it Today?: Author Nathaneal West, who wrote the original novel, died along with his wife on this date in a car crash.  West was only 37.  The Day of the Locust is an excellent adaptation of one of West’s most famous novels, featuring an excellent ensemble cast and a creepy sense of doom that explodes into a hideous finale.