Way Back Wendesday

The Last Picture Show
1971
Starring: Timothy Bottoms, Cybil Shepherd, Jeff Bridges, Eileen Brennan, Cloris Leachman, Ben Thompson, Randy Quaid, and Ellen Burstyn
Directed by: Peter Bogdanovich
Based on the Novel by Larry McMurtry

Another classic and highly regarded film that I have never seen before. Also one I was certainly not prepared for by the unassuming DVD cover you see to your right.


The Last Picture Show was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and winning 2 (supporting actor Ben Thompson and supporting actress Cloris Leachman) and ranks at #95 on the AFI 100 Years 100 Movies list. With good reason. It really is a great film.

It opens rather innocently showing us a small dusty town and its citizens upset about the home team losing the big game. Then I saw the first pair of breasts. Now, I can honestly say I was not prepared for nudity or sex or swearing in this movie. I really came into it not knowing anything about it.

It's a coming of age story set in 1951. It shows living in a small Texas town as a teenager and as an adult. You see the sadness and the innocence of these people. Through death and love (forbidden and otherwise). Living and growing up.

The movie is awkward at times, but that certainly lends to its charm. The sex scenes, there aren't many, but they're almost unbearably uncomfortable. They're nervous and entirely without eroticism. Sex is a really important part of this movie. It leads to a lot of major plot points, almost all of them effecting the characters negatively. I guess it just shows how everyone knows what everyone else is doing in a town as small as this.

Cybil Shepherd makes her screen debut in this movie and she does it fearlessly. She plays her part like a seasoned pro. With sexuality and innocence beauty and a dark side all rolled into one. She really lit up the screen.

The entire cast was fantastic. They all seemed to start out stilted and unsure but as the movie progresses we see more and more of them. Layers are peeled away as we get a glimpse into their lives. Each actor growing and exposing more as it goes along.

Jeff Bridges and Timothy Bottoms play best friends at the center of the story. Jeff Bridges is seemingly incapable of giving a bad performance, even this early in his career. He makes every character he portrays believable and this is certainly know exception.

Cloris Leachman is another stand out, taking a dramatic turn, which ultimately won her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Eileen Brennan never seems to get much recognition, at least in my experience, but I loved her in this movie. Enough that I want to chase down her other works. Besides this one, I've only seen her in Clue and Will and Grace. She certainly is a scene stealer.

The Last Picture Show is also famous for the interesting way it used music. There is no score and all the music is heard through radios. Everything else is ambient sound and heard by the characters as well as the viewers. It gives it more of a voyeuristic feel, at least to me.

Peter Bogdanovich has crafted a masterpiece here. His directing is picture perfect here. The Last Picture Show is an honest look at small town life in the 50s. It's dry and slow but never boring as it methodically paints a picture of these folks lives.

There is a reason it made the AFI list of the greatest movies of all time. It certainly deserves that honor. I would suggest giving it a look.