The Last Picture Show (1971)

Peter Bogdanovich is a very talented director who has made many excellent films, but none of his other films ranks with The Last Picture Show when it comes to dramatic flair and authenticity. He seems comfortable doing period pieces, but, in this, his second feature (preceded by Targets, 1968), he captures the era so accurately that the viewer can feel the hopelessness of living in a dying Texas town.

Small-town friends Two stars of the lackluster local high school football team, Duane Jackson (Jeff Bridges) and Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms), are best friends. Duane is aggressive, and Sonny provides the contrasting sensitivity. The story unfolds seamlessly, detailing relationships in their small town. Small-town life A retarded boy (Sam Bottoms who got the part after he showed up to watch brother Tim's first day of shooting) is the butt of cruel jokes by the denizens of the cafe-pool hall-theater owned by a one-time cowboy, Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson), who seems to be every boy's idol and surrogate father. Sonny takes up the cudgel as the retarded boy's protector and is soon befriended, then bedded by the lonely wife, Ruth Popper (Cloris Leachman), of the school's basketball coach, Coach Popper (Bill Thurman).

The affair continues for most of the picture, heating up and cooling down a few times. To keep the affair going, Sonny ceases dating his regular girlfriend, Charlene Duggs (Sharon Taggart). Duane continues dating his girl, Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd), but is not happy about her self-centered behavior. She attends a nude bathing party in order to meet a rich boy, Bobby Sheen (Gary Brockette). Her mother, Lois Farrow (Ellen Burstyn), wants her daughter to marry well. Bobby rejects Jacy because he doesn't want to be bothered with a virgin.

Duane and Sonny take a short and wild trip to Mexico, and when they return they are saddened to learn that Sam the Lion has died. The pool hall has been left to Sonny, the cafe to the long-time waitress, Genevieve (Eileen Brennan), and the movie house has been willed to an old woman, Miss Mosey (Jessie Lee Fulton), who has been the concession manager for as long as anyone can recall. Jacy seduces Duane in order to lose her virginity, then runs back to Bobby, who scorns her again and marries someone else. Duane takes a job in the oil fields as Jacy takes up with a foreman, Abilene (Clu Gulager), at her father's place of business and Lois' occasional lover. Not content with that, she lures Sonny away from Ruth.

Duane returns to town, hears of Sonny and Jacy, and retaliates by hitting Sonny in the face with a bottle. Sonny convalesces as Duane goes off to join the Army. Jacy and Sonny are about to get married when they are intercepted by her parents (Jacy's father, Gene, played by Robert Glenn). Gene takes Jacy home, and Lois stays with Sonny a while and confesses that she and the late Sam the Lion had also been lovers.

Later, Duane comes back to the dying town for a brief stay before being shipped off to Korea. Time has healed Sonny's wounds, both physical and mental, and the two get together for one last night at the picture show, which is about to be shuttered due to the impact of television. They spend the night talking about the good old times, then Duane asks Sonny to take care of his car until he comes home from Korea. Sonny walks back to the pool hall, and the retarded boy races across the street to see him but is struck and killed by a motorist. Sonny is enraged and frustrated, so he climbs into Duane's car and begins to drive, but he has nowhere to go to get away. He finally stops at Ruth's house, and she yells at him for what she thinks is his cruel treatment of her. She soon calms down and blushes as he takes her hand, and we know that their sexual relationship is not yet over.

Homage to early masters The Last Picture Show is a refreshing look backward. While others were outfoxing themselves with multiscreen techniques, Peter Bogdanovich made a movie that could have been shot years before, and the result was critically and financially rewarding. The director is an admirer of John Ford and Howard Hawks, and this film is homage to their styles. The films which Sonny and friends see at the doomed picture show define the worlds which are lost or unavailable to the young Texans (Hawk's Red River, 1948 andVincente Minnelli's Father of the Bride, 1950)The only element that separates this from an early film is the use of frontal nudity and the frank treatment accorded the adult themes. Although Tthe Last Picture Show could have been a tawdry, sleazy soap opera, the thirty-one-year-old former film critic kept a tight rein on matters and presented it as a slice of a life that has all but disappeared. As a result, Bogdanovich was hailed as another Orson Welles (another of the director's mentors and friends).

There was a time when Bogdanovich considered Jimmy Stewart, among others, for a part in the film. However, he wisely opted against using established stars. Look for "Magnum's" John Hillerman in a small role as a teacher. Johnson and Leachman each won Oscars for their performances, and the picture was nominated for Best Picture (losing to The French Connection), Best Script, Best Direction, and Best Cinematography. Bridges was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Burstyn for Best Supporting Actress.

CAST:

PERFORMER, CHARACTER

Timothy Bottoms, Sonny Crawford

Jeff Bridges, Duane Jackson

Cybill Shepherd, Jacy Farrow

Ben Johnson, Sam the Lion

Cloris Leachman, Ruth Popper

Ellen Burstyn, Lois Farrow

Eileen Brennan, Genevieve

Clu Gulager, Abilene

Sam Bottoms, Billy

Sharon Taggart, Charlene Duggs

Randy Quaid, Lester Marlow

Joe Heathcock, Sheriff

Bill Thurman, Coach Popper

Barc Doyle, Joe Bob Blanton

Jessie Lee Fulton, Miss Mosey

Gary Brockette, Bobby Sheen

Helena Humann, Jimmie Sue

Loyd Catlett, Leroy

Robert Glenn, Gene Farrow

John Hillerman, Teacher

PRODUCTION:

Producer, Stephen J. Friedman

Director, Peter Bogdanovich

Screenwriters, Peter Bogdanovich and Larry McMurtry based on the novel by McMurtry

Editor, Donn Cambern

Cinematographer, Robert L. Surtees

Production Designer, Polly Platt