Starring: Kate Capshaw, Jeremy Davies, Vince Vaughn, Ashley Judd, Paul Rudd Directed By: John Patrick Kelley Average Rating: Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: VHS Tape Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Digital Video Transfer, NTSC Label: Orion Home Video Number of Items: 1 Release Date: June 02, 1998 Running Time: 125 minutes Theatrical Release Date: October 03, 1997
Sickening Rarely do I read other reviews before I write my own. I want to focus on a careful expression of my thoughts before allowing the influence of the considered (and often excellent) opinion of others. But I just didn't care enough about this movie to try to think carefully and then express carefully. I wanted to dash off a review--and quickly check to see if others were also offended--to warn to avoid this film. So, first, these opinions from other reviewers:
"Nagging and dragging". . . Exactly!
"Nauseating". . . Exactly!
It is sickening to see this level of cruelty and hatred in a film. Anything positive here--the fun and sexy relationships between the young couples, the camaraderie between workers, between drinkers, the attempts at compassion, at befriending--seems so shallow, so trite, so false. Anything evil here--the hatred of the mother, the sexual sin of the son--seems so real, so true. This is sickening stuff. This isn't a film; it is a pathology report.
Incredible film! If you are a Tennessee Williams fan, The Locusts is a "must have" film for your collection. No, it's not by Tennessee Williams, but it might as well be.
Certainly owing a great debt to the masterful Southern playwright, this film has all the elements of one of Williams' plays. There's the heat, the rural locale, the unspoken mystery, the sexy male drifter and the faded Southern belle.
The Locusts takes place in the 1950's. With the arrival of a drifter, (Vince Vaughn), life changes for many residents of the small town. He gets hired on by the local feed ranch's owner, an aging drunken widow (Kate Capshaw). Clay, the drifter, quickly becomes her new lover, and in the process, also befriends her quiet teen aged son "Flyboy" (Jeremy Davies). The boy hasn't spoken a word in years and is completely withdrawn since the death of his father. He only speaks to his pet bull. Clay tries to get the boy out of his shell, much to the chagrin of the boy's mother. Clay doesn't understand what's going on, but soon it is all revealed and Clay realizes he's stumbled into a hornet's nest.
The acting is superb and the craftsmanship of the film is excellent. Ashley Judd and Paul Rudd also appear in smaller, but pivotal roles. This is a fine film.
I still swear it has to be a Williams' play.....
Southern Goth at its best Stellar acting from a great ensemble and a plot that could have been written by Flannery O'Connor, Truman Capote and Erskine Caldwell during an all night drinking session. Only disappointment was the last 30 seconds of the film -- a Hollywood ending to a Southern Goth only leaves one wanting more.
Originality, harmonious mix of actors, rural America THE LOCUSTS is an extraordinary movie, what will please the viewers, from the originality of the story, and from the harmonious mix of actors chosen. It's the story of how everyone is unique, each person has their own strengths and weaknesses, life experiences, social pressures and too often, people have only a limited road on which they can walk, on the path of Life and Work.
Clearly, Vince Vaughn is at his best in this movie, feeling at ease and natural in the role of an "older brother" to another individual, who is stigmatized, psychologically impaired, and physically disabled, named Flyboy.
The character is played convincingly by Jeremy Davies, who perhaps some may underestimate, considering the later valuable role in Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. Kate Capshaw, does a fine job.
Some have noted the manic, omnipresent "smoking" of this movie, which defies explanation. Perhaps it's just a device that was seen as having worked well in the earlier movie, with Judd too, SMOKE, perhaps the director decided to employ it in LOCUSTS as well.
The most difficult to believe part, is when Vaughn, a total stranger to a small town, hooks up, and gets hired on the basis of one beer, in the local tavern. However, for the remainder of the movie, all the scenes are extremely believable and the story unfolds convincingly, thus captivating the viewers' attentions.
Overall, what makes this movie succeed, is the charm and "utopia" of another time and space, perhaps 200 years ago, of a small town, in rural America, aside from the tragic, and insidious story underpinning how Flyboy's humanity was destroyed as a child, for example. Other aspects that many will find interesting, is the libido between Vaughn and the girls on the farm, including Ashley Judd, the unease felt by the other men feel in face of all of this, the tension of a new hired hand joining the group, learning an entirely new, and unappetizing profession, and more.
LOCUSTS simply takes the viewer on a trip for 90 minutes, and as such is a valuable addition to a collection. Judd's presence simply makes the movie even more appealing.
High Drama! I have a thing about Ashley Judd. She is one of my favorite actresses so it's not surprising that I look for her movies. Last night I watched `The Locusts,' a slow moving movie of high drama set in rural Missouri and of course featuring Ashley Judd as Kitty, who was actually supporting actress to, Kate Capshaw who played Delilah Ashford Potts.
The way the story goes, the widow Potts owns Ashford farm, a cattle feed farm, employing many of the area's young men and occasionally taking one of them as her lover.
Clay Hewitt (Vince Vaughn), a drifter, is hired by Potts, who has plans for him but he takes up instead with Kitty. He also makes friends with his boss's twenty-one year old mute son, Flyboy (Jeremy Davies) and with persistence begins to bring him out of his shell.
Reputedly, thirteen year old Flyboy found his father hanging from a tree and had been institutionalized until recently, where he went home and became the cook. Flyboy wouldn't talk and performed his duties with his gaze diverted and the widow Pott's seemed to like it that way. When Clay befriended her son, Pott's seemed to resent it and started to do mean things. This ultimately ended in tragedy.
Conclusion Although the story didn't particularly grab me, there was some damn good acting here. No not from my sweetheart Ashley Judd, though she did alright. Both Vince Vaughn and Jeremy Davies played their characters to a tee and put on great performances. Even Paul Rudd did his character proud. The story centered around Flyboy and Clay's efforts to get him to open up. Fly boy ostensibly discovered his has father hanging from a tree after committing suicide. The alleged reason he killed himself was that he once often found his serial adulteress wife in his bed with a lover. Neither the plot, story, time period (late 50's) or setting were particularly compelling for me. Nevertheless, the movie was well directed, the cast was well chosen and they did a commendable job. Final rating 3.5 stars, rounded up.
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