#549: BOGDANOVICH, Peter: The Last Picture Show (1971)
AMERICA LOST AND FOUND: THE BBS STORY [1968-72] OOP
BOGDANOVICH, Peter (United States)
BOGDANOVICH, Peter (United States)
The Last Picture Show [1971]
Spine #549
DVD
DVD
Set during the early fifties, in the loneliest Texas nowheresville ever to dust up a movie screen, this aching portrait of a dying West focuses on the daily shuffles of three futureless teens — Sonny (Timothy Bottoms), Duane (Jeff Bridges) and Jacy (Cybill Shepherd) — and the aging lost souls who bump up against them in the night like drifting tumbleweeds. The Last Picture Show remains the pivotal film in the career of the invaluable director and film historian Peter Bogdanovich.
126 minutes
Black & White
Black & White
Monaural
1:85:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2010
Director/Writers
Based on the novel by Larry McMurtry.
Screenplay by McMurtry and Peter Bogdanovich.
Bogdanovich was 32 when he directed The Last Picture Show.
Other Bogdanovich films in the Collection:
#1179: Targets (1968)
#1241: Paper Moon (1973)
The Film
Other Bogdanovich films in the Collection:
#1179: Targets (1968)
#1241: Paper Moon (1973)
The Film
Bogdanovich's camera is fluid and relaxed, never calling attention to itself.
Except for one moment towards the end, when he inserts a jarring axial cut on a broom, telegraphing something urgent and unexpected. It is magnificent, reminiscent of Kurosawa.
Archer City, Texas
standing in for Anarene
This is only his second film (after Targets [1968] {Spine #1179}), and he displays a confident assurance about all aspects of his direction, including his bold decision to shoot the film in black and white. (His houseguest at the time, Orson Welles, influenced this decision.)
The two young men — Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane Jackson (Jeff Bridges) both love Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd).
(Bogdanovich's marriage to his production designer, Polly Platt, fell apart due to his affair with Shepherd during the shoot.)
Jacy mainly loves herself — although her character is more naive than conniving.
Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson) owns the cafe and the movie theater, which — per the film's title — plays an important part in the story. He is a sympathetic adult to Sonny and Duane.
Ruth Popper (Cloris Leachman) — the middle-aged wife of the football coach — initiates a doomed affair with Sonny.
Jacy can talk frankly with her mom, Lois Farrow (Ellen Burstyn). Even after Jacy has sex with mom's lover, Abilene (Clu Gulager).
Genevieve (Eileen Brennan) is the big-hearted waitress at the cafe. She makes Sonny a cheeseburger at an important junction in the film. Bogdanovich makes us salivate.
Billy (Sam Bottoms, Tim's brother) is excellent as a simple mute, with a mop of curly blond hair.
The Booklet
116-page booklet featuring essays by critics Chuck Stephens, Matt Zoller Seitz, Kent Jones, Graham Fuller, Mark Le Fanu, and J. Hoberman.
Commentary
The film's music is all diegetic and unobtrusive, but crucial as background wallpaper for the interaction between the various characters:
- Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used to Do)? (Hank Williams)
- Cold, Cold Heart (Hank Williams, Tony Bennett)
- Bouquet of Roses (Eddy Arnold)
- Hey, Good Lookin' (Hank Williams)
- Rose, Rose, I Love You (Frankie Laine)
- Slow Poke (Pee Wee King)
- Anything That's Part Of You (Eddy Arnold)
- A Fool Such As I (Hank Snow)
- Shrimp Boats (Jo Stafford)
- The Thing (Phil Harris)
- Lovesick Blues (Hank Williams)
- The Wild Side of Life (Hank Thompson)
- Kaw-Liga (Hank Williams)
- Please, Mr. Sun (Johnnie Ray)
- Give Me More, More of Your Kisses (Lefty Frizzell)
- Half As Much (Hank Williams)
- Wish You Were Here (Eddie Fisher)
- Solitaire (Tony Bennett)
- Wheel of Fortune (Kay Starr)
- Blue Velvet (Tony Bennett)
- You Belong to Me (Jo Stafford)
- My Son Calls Another Man Daddy (Hank Williams)
- Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You) (Hank Williams)
- Back Street Affair (Webb Pierce)
- Faded Love (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
- Jambalava (On the Bayou) (Hank Williams
- It's in the Book (Johnny Standley)
- Silent Night (played by band at Christmas dance)
- Texas, Our Texas (sung by students at graduation)
- The Washington Post (played by band at football game)
Film Rating (0-60):
53
The ExtrasThe Booklet
116-page booklet featuring essays by critics Chuck Stephens, Matt Zoller Seitz, Kent Jones, Graham Fuller, Mark Le Fanu, and J. Hoberman.
Fuller:
"Early in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show, as the wind from the Texas plains whips the small town of Anarene, the high school senior Sonny Crawford ( Timothy Bottoms) halts his recalcitrant pickup truck — Hank Williams is warbling 'Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used to Do)?' on the radio — to give a ride to his mute young friend Billy (Sam Bottoms). When Billy sits beside him, Sonny turns his cap backward on his head, a gesture that makes Billy smile and that Sonny will repeat several times, and his buddy Duane Jackson (Bridges) once, during the course of the movie. Sonny, Duane, and Jacy Farrow (Shepherd), Duane's girl, later sing their high school's song, partly in affection, partly in mockery, as they drive in Jacy's convertible — the three joyfully united in friendship, no matter that both boys love this vain and luscious heartbreaker. It's 1951, school's nearly done, and anything is possible."
Commentary
1. From 1991, featuring Bogdanovich and actors Shepherd, Quaid, Leachman, and Marshall.
Mostly PB; very brief comments from the actors.
2. From 2009, featuring Bogdanovich.
Totally superfluous; he reprises everything he said on #1.
“The Last Picture Show”: A Look Back (1999) and Picture This (1990)
Documentaries about the making of the film.
A Discussion with Filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
A Discussion with Filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
A 2009 Q&A
Screen tests and location footage
Excerpts
Screen tests and location footage
Excerpts
From a 1972 television interview with director François Truffaut about the New Hollywood.
Theatrical trailers
Extras Rating (0-40):
Theatrical trailers
Extras Rating (0-40):
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