A scathing take on 1930s Hollywood motion picture industry, this film was only a moderate success at the time of release, despite garnering two Academy Award nominations. Adapted from Nathanael West’s novel the film principally charts the ambitions of Faye Greener (Karen Black), a talent-less starlet dreaming of fame, well beyond her grasp. In Faye’s orbit are Tod Hackett, a budding production designer and Homer Simpson, a wealthy suitor. Both men are driven mad by Faye’s excessive flirtations, yet stubborn unavailability. The narrative builds to a shocking climax. Music composed and conducted by John Barry.
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
Stream, rent or buy via
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
318862
Languages
Arabic
Bulgarian
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
English
English
Finnish
French
French
German
German
Greek
Hebrew
Hungarian
Icelandic
Italian
Italian
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Serbian
Slovenian
Spanish
Spanish
Swedish
Turkish
Audience classification
M (15+)
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Motion picture industry
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Motion picture industry - United States
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Ambition
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Fame
Feature films → Feature films - United States
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Fame
Literature → American literature - Film and video adaptations
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
DVD; Access Print (Section 1)