Review of The Last Picture Show (1971) by Jacob D — 27 May 2008

I'm telling you about sex movies. I don't plan on watching them back to back all the time, but it ends up happening without me planning on it.

I loved Paper Moon. That movie is on my top movies of all time. When I was told that Peter Bogdanovich only made a handful of truly great movies coupled with a handful of stinkers, I grew disappointed. But I felt like I should watch his most acclaimed movie, The Last Picture Show. Most of this movie seemed almost tailored for me. I love his used of monochrome to tell his story. While some people used black-and-white to be pretentious, it sometimes comes off as lame and forced. (I'm really referencing in my head the episode of Smallville entitled, "Noir.") But he handles black-and-white so naturally that there are moments when you forget that the movie is actually fairly modern and contemporary. There's some absolutely great scenes in this movie and some of the plots are just darned perfect. But there are some subplots that just seem to drag. I hate to complain about this movie in the least because the end of the movie sold me more than almost any movie has in the past, but there are faults in this film.

Maybe I'm just not a big fan of the sex-film genre. There are times when I feel like it is just being shocking to be shocking. I don't necessarily feel like this movie is meant to be expoitive in any way and really uses sexuality as a tale of growing up, but there's a darned lot of it and that makes me kind of feel like I'm a prude. I'm not a prude. Read my Barbarella review.

My favorite part of this movie wasn't the main character's forbidden relationship or teenage lust, but rather the secondary character of the autistic child. Using him as a representative of the innocence lost in the town was perfect. He was 1971's Boo Radley. Only Boo is welcomed in this town. Let's say that this character's life doesn't end up as wonderfully as Boo's does at the end of the Gregory Peck film.

The performances in this movie were absolutely exceptional. This movie banks on the nuanced performances from the entire cast, down to moments of an estranged father meeting his son at a dance and asking him how he's been. These moments sell the story in such a way that a script or director cannot carry alone. Also, looking at this cast, to think of all the names that would come out of this movie to make it huge. Primarily, I'm referring to Cybill Shepherd and Jeff Bridges. Jeff Bridges really started off as a strong actor and just became more powerful. You can see how Jeff Bridges ages naturally from this boy he was in this movie. That man truly has natural talent. Also, Cybill Shepherd's restraint in some of her early scenes only to be a cyclone of fury by the end of the film is just outstanding.

This movie really is fantastic. It oozes with metaphor and atmosphere. I just wish that I had the same passion for the film that I had for Paper Moon.