Review of The Last Picture Show (1971) by Daniel P — 04 Aug 2010

A great movie that I could really relate to, about what it means to grow up in a small town filled with two kinds of people: haves and have-nots. This is a career defining performance from Jeff Bridges, and as a big Springsteen fan I had to laugh at how many times Timothy Bottoms' character looked just the cover photo on The River. I'd bet the Boss took at least a little inspiration from this film...

...at it's core, though, The Last Picture Show is a coming of age story filled with love triangles, some of them more dramatic than others. It comes off as a bit stagey and dated by today's standards, and in a way it's too dark, too melodramatic, to really sink your teeth into. This film is intense, and it's made from dark places in the human spirit. That said, every minute of it feels like a classic. It's something everyone should see once. Like The Deer Hunter, watching it any more often than that might just break a man.