Review of The Last Picture Show (1971) by Chris G — 13 Dec 2008

The Last Picture Show is Peter Bogdonavich's adaptation of Larry McMurtry's novel about life in a small, dried up Texas town in the 1950's. Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson) is the pulse of the town of Anarene, owning the pool hall, the diner, and the picture show as he bestows fatherly advice on a group of young men who don't seem to have any fathers (none that are of importance enough to appear on screen anyway).

If Sam is the center of town then Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) is the focus of the film as he goes through the trials of becoming a man in a town that should have an obituary written for it on its welcome sign. But then you have Duane (Jeff Bridges) who is set to marry his girlfriend Jacy (Cybil Shepherd)whom he believes he was meant to be with only to lose her and end up losing everything he actually cared about in town. Jacy's life isn't a picnic either as she watches her mother whore it up, encouraging her to do the same.

This isn't the Donna Reed show or any kind of nostalgic ride back to the 1950's. The Last Picture Show is like the American Grafitti of the poor, middle American kids who could afford the suped up cars that Lucas' creation drove up and down the street all night. These kids had more problems than the adults and no real way to get out of them. The director using black and white only adds to the blah despair of what life was like in this sleepy Texas town. This is a film where you actually feel for all the characters and you just want them to get out of that dreadful town, but it was never meant to be. The Last Picture show is a piece of Americana, painting a picture that the 1950's wasn't the poodle skirt parade that has been depicted adnauseum for all these years.