The Last Picture Show (1971)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Peter Bogdanovich

Writers:

Larry McMurtry (novel)
Larry McMurtry (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

22 October 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Anarene, Texas, 1951. Nothing much has changed...

Plot:

The coming of age of a youth named Sonny in a small Texas town in the 1950s.

Plot Keywords:

Texas | Death | Coming Of Age | High School | Jealousy

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 14 wins & 16 nominations

Cast

Timothy Bottoms	...	Sonny Crawford
Jeff Bridges	...	Duane Jackson
Cybill Shepherd	...	Jacy Farrow
Ben Johnson	...	Sam the Lion
Cloris Leachman	...	Ruth Popper
Ellen Burstyn	...	Lois Farrow
Eileen Brennan	...	Genevieve
Clu Gulager	...	Abilene
Sam Bottoms	...	Billy
Sharon Ullrick	...	Charlene Duggs (as Sharon Taggart)
Randy Quaid	...	Lester Marlow
Joe Heathcock	...	The Sheriff
Bill Thurman	...	Coach Popper
Barc Doyle	...	Joe Bob Blanton
Jessie Lee Fulton	...	Miss Mosey
Gary Brockette	...	Bobby Sheen
Helena Humann	...	Jimmie Sue
Loyd Catlett	...	Leroy
Robert Glenn	...	Gene Farrow
John Hillerman	...	Teacher
Janice E. O'Malley	...	Mrs. Clarg (as Janice O'Malley)
Floyd Mahaney	...	Oklahoma patrolman
Kimberly Hyde	...	Annie-Annie Martin
Noble Willingham	...	Chester
Marjorie Jay	...	Winnie Snips
Joye Hash	...	Mrs. Jackson
Pamela Keller	...	Jackie Lee French
Gordon Hurst	...	Monroe
Mike Hosford	...	Johnny
Faye Jordan	...	Nurse
Charles Seybert	...	Andy Fanner
Grover Lewis	...	Mr. Crawford
Rebecca Ulrick	...	Marlene
Merrill Shepherd	...	Agnes
Buddy Wood	...	Bud
Kenny Wood	...	Ken
Leon Brown	...	Cowboy in cafe
Bobby McGriff	...	Truck driver
Jack Mueller	...	Oil pumper
Robert Arnold	...	Brother Blanton
Frank Marshall	...	Tommy Logan
Tom Martin	...	Larry
Otis Elmore	...	Mechanic #1
Charles Salmon	...	Roughneck driver
George Gaulden	...	Cowboy
Will Morris Hannis	...	Gas station man
The Leon Miller Band	...	Themselves
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Peter Bogdanovich	...	DJ (voice)
Tom Tyler	...	The Quitter in 'Red River' (archive footage)
Antonia Bogdanovich	...	Singer (uncredited)

Directed by
Peter Bogdanovich

Writing credits
Larry McMurtry		(novel)
Larry McMurtry		(screenplay) and
Peter Bogdanovich		(screenplay)

Produced by
Stephen J. Friedman	....	producer
Bert Schneider	....	executive producer
Harold Schneider	....	associate producer

Cinematography by
Robert Surtees

Film Editing by
Donn Cambern

Casting by
Ross Brown

Production Design by
Polly Platt

Art Direction by
Walter Scott Herndon

Costume Design by
Polly Platt		(uncredited)

Production Management
Don Guest	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
William A. Morrison	....	second assistant director (as William Morrison)
Robert Rubin	....	assistant director

Art Department
Vincent M. Cresciman	....	design assistant (as Vincent Cresciman)
Louis Donelan	....	props
George Lillie	....	painter
Al Litteken	....	construction coordinator
Ed Shanley	....	construction supervisor
Walter Starkey	....	props

Sound Department
Tom Overton	....	sound mixer
Dean Salmon	....	boom operator

Camera and Electrical Department
Alan Goldenhar	....	gaffer
Leonard Lookabaugh	....	dolly grip
Carl Manoogian	....	key grip
Terry Meade	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Nancy McArdle	....	wardrobe
Mickey Sherrard	....	wardrobe

Other crew
Gary Chason	....	assistant to director
Marilyn La Salandra	....	production coordinator
Frank Marshall	....	location manager
Elly Mitchell	....	production secretary
Marshall Schlom	....	script supervisor
Mae Woods	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation
• BBS Productions

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1971) (USA) (theatrical)
• Progress Film-Verleih (1973) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb (1973) (East Germany) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1974) (USA) (TV)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2001) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• LK-TEL Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• LK-TEL (Argentina) (VHS)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (1993) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2009) (USA) (DVD) (director's cut)

Other Companies

• Edit-Rite  sound effects
• Producers' Sound Services  re-recording

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, nudity and language.

Runtime:

118 min | 126 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 (video rating) (1992) | UK:X (original rating) | Iceland:L | Singapore:M18 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Ontario) | West Germany:16 (f) | Brazil:14 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Italy:T | Sweden:11 | USA:R | Argentina:Atp | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:18

Filming Locations:

115 East Main Street, Archer City, Texas, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Ellen Burstyn was originally considered for the role of Genevieve, but after meeting with Bogdonavich and reading for all three of the older women characters, he asked her to play Ruth Popper. Burstyn, however, preferred the role of Lois, and Bogdonavich told her to go home, think about whatever part she wanted to play, and call him the next day. She called him the next morning, telling him she still wanted to play Lois, and he agreed.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The Texaco sign is missing the letter "E" on one side and "A" on the other; as both sides are seen, some people got confused.

Quotes:

Sam the Lion: You boys can get on out of here, I don't want to have no more to do with you. Scarin' a poor, unfortunate creature like Billy just so's you could have a few laughs - I've been around that trashy behavior all my life, I'm gettin' tired of puttin' up with it. Now you can stay out of this pool hall, out of my cafe, and my picture show too - I don't want no more of your business.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Growing Pains: The Last Picture Show: Part 2 (#7.24)" (1992)

Soundtrack:

Give Me More, More of Your Kisses

An American classic

In this nostalgic, atmospheric study of small town life in the fifties as seen a decade later, filmed on location in Wichita Falls and Archer City, Texas (from a novel by the incomparable Larry McMurtry), the force of slow, inevitable change is symbolized in the showing of the last picture at the local movie house. That last picture show, incidentally, is Howard Hawks' celebrated Western, Red River (1948) starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift.

Well, the movie houses came back to life as multiplexes charging eight bucks a pop, but the Western movie died out, and the boys watching that movie went their separate ways into manhood.

Peter Bogdanovich's direction is episodic and leisurely, naturalistic with just a hint of the maudlin. We get a sense of the North Texas prairie wind blowing through a cattle town where there is not a lot to do and a whole lot of time to do it. Hungry women and a sense of drift. Boredom, gray skies and a lot of dust. You could set `Anarene, Texas' down any place in southwestern or midwestern America, circa 1951, and you wouldn't have to change much: a main drag, a Texaco gas station, a café, a feed store, flat lands all around, old pickup trucks and a pool hall, youngsters with a restless yearning to grow up, drinking beer out of brown bottles giggling and elbowing each other in the ribs, and the old boys playing dominoes and telling tales of bygone days.

Robert Surtees's stark, yet romantic black and white cinematography, captures well that bygone era. The wide shot of the bus pulling out, taking Duane off to the Korean War with Sonny watching, standing by the Texaco station with the missing letter in the sign, was a tableau in motion, a moment stopped in our minds.

Cybill Shepherd made her debut here as Jacy Farrow, a bored little rich girl playing at love and sexuality. Part of the restorations in the video not shown in theaters in the early seventies includes some footage of her in the buff after stripping on a diving board (!). She is as shallow as she is pretty, and one of the reasons for seeing this film, although in truth her performance, while engaging, was a little uneven.

The rest of the cast was outstanding, in particular Timothy Bottoms whose Sonny Crawford is warm and forgiving, sweet and innocent. Jeff Bridges's Duane Jackson is two-faced, wild and careless, self-centered and probably going to die in Korea. Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman deservedly won Oscars as best supporting actors. Leachman was especially good as the lonely 40-year-old wife of the football coach who has an awkward affair with the 18-year-old Sonny, while Johnson played a lovable, crusty guy that the kids looked up to. Sam Bottoms played the retarded Billy with steady, tragic good humor. Ellen Burstyn as Jacy's terminally bored mother, and Eileen Brennan as the wise waitress with a hand on her hip were also very good.

Memorable, but perhaps too obviously insertional, are the medley of country, pop, and rock and roll tunes from the late forties/early fifties jingling out of car radios and 45 record players throughout the film.

Peter Bogdanovich followed this with some hits, including the comedy What's Up Doc (1972) with Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, and Madeline Kahn, and the excellent Paper Moon (1973) with Ryan and Tatum O'Neal, but then tailed off. I don't think he ever lived up to the promise of this film, an American classic not to be missed.