Review of The Last Picture Show (1971) by Stephanie M — 02 Sep 2009

Last Picture Show is a movie that comes along once in a generation. It's one of those un-intrusive movies that lets the acting speak for itself. You have both the older generation (Burstyn and Leachman especially) and the up and comers of the day (Bridges, Bottoms) all giving the performances of their careers in a painfully real and desperate way. This is the west as it was in the 50's- faded and almost gone. You get the idea of a town almost dead from desertion. The Old West is over and soon even the picture house is closing and you really see the strife in all these characters.

Cybill Shepard really surprises as the young beautiful thing who captures the hearts of all the boys around her and she uses for her own amusement. Bored out of her mind in this crap town she just goes from boy to boy and in a startling scene screws an older man on the pool table in what is perhaps one of the best sex scenes ever on celluloid.