Was I wrong to expect something entirely difficult than this lame, sappy and dreadfully boring drama? Is it my fault to assume that this was another "creature-feature/nature revolts" story from the 70s in which the titular locusts had developed a taste for human flesh and go after the inhabitants of a little Montana farming community? I guess so, because "Locusts" simply unfolds like an utmost ordinary episode in any random melodramatic soap-opera TV series! A boy (future director prodigy Ron Howard) returns home to his family after he got kicked out of the Navy before even completing his training, and now he has the face to wrath of his old-fashioned and tyrannical father (Ben Johnson). As to be expected, the father is embarrassed and treats his son worse than a lazy dog. How can poor Donny ever capture the love of his dad again? Hmm, perhaps by protecting the farm's crops against the devastating plague of locusts that is heading towards Montana could work? What a pitiable and tedious excuse for a TV-effort! The first couple of minutes are still somewhat promising, as Donny's bus ends up in the middle of a locusts' swarm, but immediately after that it's purely dull and uninteresting talking. If I wanted to waste my time on lousy father/son relationship issues, I'd visit my own dad a bit more often!
