Review of The Last Picture Show (1971) by Rob Q — 30 Oct 2007

A film that grew on me in an unexpected way. the first time I saw the film I found it to be enjoyable, but it quickly went out of my mind a minute or so after the final credits ran. I appreciated the look of the film and how it really made the town they lived in small and cyclical in how older generations gave way to younger generations and how they slowly replace each other for years and years.

then I took a western film class where this film was brought into the discussion and my professor ran the scene where ben johson bottoms has a discussion with timothy bottoms. he talked about the elegant way the camera zoomed out slowly during johnson's wonderful speech and how it was almost unnoticeable because all your attention is on his story.

then the profession talked about the film's sexual aspects, which believe it or not I didn't really notice to begin with. it was there, discussed a lot during the film, but on second viewing, I saw the entire picture to be one long sexually enticing film where sex is pretty much the bottom line of the entire film.

it's the spine of the story and yet it's done with elegance to make it not dirty or evident, but it lingers underneath the stories. cybill shepherd (who is gorgeous in the film) is unsure about herself (though she doesn't show it to people) and uses her sexuality to get as much out of her life as possible living in her small town.

jeff bridges inability to 'rock her world' in the sack and their let down in regards to how sex wasn't the greatest thing in the entire world when they both lost virginities to one another.

then of course, cloris leachman, in a role that I believe is one of the best examples of great acting, as a neglected wife of a gym teacher who finds a sexual passion late in life with tim bottoms. this film is perfect in every way, it's perfect to me.

the ending where you don't really feel like much has changed because the small town will continue to keep youngsters trapped (which is a huge part of this story) and yet everything has changed in a matter of a few weeks (in terms of where characters are mentally and how they change over the course of the film).

it's subtle, you might miss it, but it's wonderful, you shouldn't miss it.