The Last Picture Show | | Cast : | Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd | | Director : | Peter Bogdanovich | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Black & White, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | October 22, 1971 | | DVD Released Date : | March 04, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), English (Original Language), Thai (Subtitled), Chinese (Subtitled), Korean (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 22, 2005 | | Summary | Why am I Always Growing Old? | Content
 | The first book I ever read by Larry McMurtry was "The Last Picture Show" and it was the reason I ended up reading so many more of his books. I thought about writing a review of that outstanding book. However, it's the movie that always comes to mind whenever I try to remember the book. You see, the movie was just as outstanding as the book, maybe even more so. It has a tremendous cast and is one of those few movies where the supporting actors took away the Oscars ("A Steetcar Named Desire" fits that bill as well). Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, Cybill Shephard, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, and Ben Johnson all gave excellent preformances in their roles with Leachman and Johnson getting the well-deserved Oscars. However, it was the directing by Peter Bogdanovich that was the most important contribution to the movie's success.
Bogdanovich wisely chose to make his film seem like it was a contemporary movie of its' time. The black and white film helped but so did the fact that nothing was made to look cute, quaint, or nostalgic. We were seeing the present; it just happened to be the 1950's as well. The cars, the clothes and other odds and ends were of that era but the story and the message were contemporary. Yet they were spared the excesses of modern cinema so that we could focus on what the director wanted to show us.
"The Last Picture Show" is about the challenges of growing up. For the younger characters, they try to grow too fast while the older characters struggle with the realization that the days gone by way outnumber the days to come. Sam the Lion's soliloquy on growing old ranks right there with Ruth Popper's "Why am I always appologizing to you!" outburst. The realism of the pains and joys of life are well captured in this movie that will continue to send a contemporary message to future generations of movie lovers.
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| Rating | | | Date | May 10, 2005 | | Summary | Emotional Rendition of 1950s America & Its Sexual Politics | Content
| Without a doubt, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW is a remarkably beautiful film by any standard. In fact, it is hard to know where to begin. As far as the story is concerned, Director Peter Bogdanovich has done a superlative job of rendering the passion and emotion of Larry McMurty's novel onto the big screen. During the film, the audience becomes immersed in the depressing, claustrophobic atmosphere of a small town in Texas during the early 1950s. But this is no "typical" rendition of the conservative 1950s. Instead, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW decides to handle the sexual politics of the 1950s with a tight-grip on reality, granting us a rather different discussion of sex during this time period than we are accustomed to receiving. This is a town of broken-dreams, awkward love affairs, and convenient marriages. It is a town where women are forced to marry in order to provide for themselves, only to end up in need of love and hating themselves. It is a town of individuals watching life passing them by, wishing they could have lived, and refusing to start now. Finally, it is a town that I think, like it or not, expresses a deep concern for many of us.
Shooting the film in black & white was a great decision and helps transport THE LAST PICTURE SHOW into a different time (1951, to be exact). There is no excess in this film. The opening shot, of a dusty town in Texas, is beautifully captured without any gimics and the film holds true to form until the ending shot echoes the same bleak view of the town. The acting is terrific and it is particularly fun to see the likes of Jeff Bridges and Cybill Shepherd when they were extremely young.
With its frank depictions of sex and the loss of innocence, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW manages to touch audiences on a very personal note. Few films can communicate the claustrophobia of life, particularly of life in a small town, and this film succeeds marvelously. While watching it, I kept thinking of WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE, another fine film with a similar feel. Both, in fact, include a young man living in a small town who gets involved with a married woman in a loveless affair. Both boys take care of younger boys who are mentally handicapped and they are both tales of someone fighting a life that is passing by at an alarming rate. You will be affected by this film, for better or for worse. It is one of the best films I have seen in a long time and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
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| Rating | | | Date | February 16, 2005 | | Summary | "It's an awful small town for any kind of carryin' on" | Content
| Adults Only! Includes male frontal nudity and female nudity. Sexual situations.
Here is a good late night film to watch with a small town atmosphere. It is like Peyton Place in the small town of Archer City, Texas. "Why Don't You Love Me Like You Use To Do" by Hank Williams plays on the radio.
The yong boy, Billy (Sam Bottoms) likes to sweep. Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges) are best friends. Sonny tries to neck with Charlene (Sharon Ullrick). Genevieve (Eileen Brennan) has been a waitress at the downtown Texas Moon cafe for years. Jacy (Cybill Shepherd) is a nosy, presumptuous teenager who has an interest in Duane. Jacy's mother, Lois (Ellen Burstyn) tries to talk some sense into her daughter, Jacy tries to act all innocent to her mother, but she likes to cause trouble amoung the boys. She also has an interest in Lester (Randy Quaid).
Sam (Ben Johnson) owns the pool hall. he is known as "Sam the Lion". This mature man sets the record straight with the boys that he does not want them in his pool hall no more and wants nothing to do woth them anymore on account that they wrongfully took down young Billy's pants to make him lose his virginity to a trashy fat woman, Jimmie Sue (Helena Humann). Sam also tells them to stay out of his cafe and movie house too which he owns. Sam is right. The boys did wrong.
Ruth (Cloris Leachman) is a lonely housewife, deeply depressed. her husband (Bill Thorman) just doesn't have anytime for her.
There's alot more secrets in this town you're about to find out about.
This Special Edition is Director's Peter Bogdanovich's definitive edit, adding 7 minutes of never-before-scene footage in the film.
Also in the cast: Clu Gulager, Barc Doyle, Loyd catlett, John Hillerman, Noble Willingham, Jessie lee Fulton, Gordon Hurst, Joe Heathcock and filmmaker Frank Mitchell plays a football player. Loyd Catlett actually lived in Archer, Texas and was given a role in the film since he was a hometown boy.
Filmed in the small town of Archer City, Texas.
Ellen Burstyn relates a story that a man was thinking of committing suicide one day, but he went to see "The Last Picture Show" and after seeing her performance, he changed his mind about suicide. He realized if her life was bad, then his life isn't that bad after all.
Academy Award Nominations: Best Picture, Jeff Bridges for Supporting Actor, Ellen Burstyn for Supporting Actress, Peter Bogdanovich for Best Director, Best Writing, Best Cinematography.
Ben Johnson won Supporting Actor Award and Cloris Leachman won the Supporting Actress Award.
10 original cast members returned for the sequel: Texasville (1990).
DVD includes in "Special Features", Documentary--"The Last Picture Show: A Look Back" (64 min.), 1974 re-release featurette. Theatrical trailers.
Note: Sal Mineo gave Peter Bogdanovich the Larry McMurtry book "The Last Picture Show". Sal thought it would be a good movie, but felt he was too old for a young role. (Gee Whiz, they could have written a role for Sal Mineo, couldn't they have?) |
| Rating | | | Date | November 10, 2004 | | Summary | A 70's gem | Content
| Bogdanovich's 'Last Picture Show' is a nostalgic but achingly melancholy film about change and loss. Set in small town Texas in the 50's it charts the lives and loves of a group of young friends as they face the harsh realities of the world. Superbly acted and directed with a sensitivity and restraint that makes you wonder what happened to Bogdanovich (who really only made two great films; this and 'Targets') this sums up all that made 70's American cinema great |
| Rating | | | Date | October 26, 2004 | | Summary | One of the finest achievements in all of the cinema | Content
| There are a handful of movies in history that can be summed up by the look in a character's eyes (Renee Falconetti's horrified stare in The Passion of Joan of Arc, Al Pacino's steely gaze in The Godfather Part II), and within five minutes of Peter Bogdonavich's controversial 1971...yes...masterpiece, I knew I'd have another one to add to the list. The Last Picture Show is wickedly funny, raunchy, and razor-sharp precise in capturing that post-Senior-year-summer state of mind, but the heartbreaking, jaded look on Timothy Bottoms' face hit me like a ton of bricks, and I'm still somewhat recovering from it.
Show takes place between World War II and the Korean Conflict in the sleepy, dying town of Anarene, Texas. Robert Surtees' camera wisely captures the desolated-yet-beautiful aura of the place in an opening shot that glides down a dusty street, past the movie theater, and into the complex lives of a bunch of horny high school students, nosy townspeople, and Anarene's one pillar of nobility, Sam the Lion. It's really difficult to even believe that Show wasn't made in the 1950's, when the film takes place. The stark, black-and-white cinematography is far-removed from Willis' lush images in Manhattan, but it's not quite low-budget gritty, either. It's mostly owed to shooting on location in the town that inspired Larry McMurtry's source novel, but the authenticity of a now-notable cast's performances elevates this to a class all by itself.
Do Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, and Randy Quaid ring a bell at all? In 1971, all were virtual unknowns, and - sadly enough - the giver of the greatest performance in the film, Timothy Bottoms as Sonny, remained virtually so. McMurtry and Bogdonavich's script takes these horny teens and jaded adults and creates a lurid entanglement of sexual liasons, secrets, and naked pool parties that would have Jerry Springer shaking his head. And this would all be patently ridiculous if it weren't for the fact that each and every character has a complexity that makes their actions completely plausible.
And that's the brilliant thing about Bogdonavich's film. He isn't exploiting the closed-door actions and flippant erotic gestures of these messed-up denizens of a rapidly dying town; he understands that everything they do, everything we did at that age, was all a result of the confusion, denial, and pure terror at the life that lies ahead for us all. There's a reason that the movie focuses on the adults in the town, as well: Jacy's mom, coach Popper's wife, Sam the Lion - these people used to be Sonny, Duane, and Jacy at one time, and their hopes and dreams were put on hold just to live comfortably and safely in Anarene.
Timothy Bottoms' Sonny is the guiding force of Picture Show; the character there from the first frame and at the cusp of true reality in its last. Sure, he has his share of American Pie-esque moments (an affair with his coach's wife rings a bell), but it's the bulk of the emotion of the film that falls on him. A deeply sad moment, in particular, lingered with me: a person in the town has just died, and he's riding along in a car, gazing out the window, looking at a distant Texas lake that means more to him than he knows. His eyes seem to take it all in until it's too much, and a tear falls from each cheek without the others even knowing.
A line that completely bowled me over is said to Sonny, as well, and it's proof of the screenplay's perfect hold on the language that we use. Who knows how to put a life-changing experience into the right words? Burstyn's Lois doesn't, and so we get this haunting gem of a line: "I guess if it wasn't for Sam, I'd have missed it, whatever it is."
The adult residents of Anarene did miss it, whatever it was. But this film holds on to a group of people we learn to love, struggle with hating, and eventually don't want to leave, all because we don't want to see them miss whatever it is. The Last Picture Show is one of the most deeply haunting, brutally funny, and real moviewatching experiences I've ever had. I'm glad I didn't miss it, whatever it is. A+
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