by Sam Juliano
Well, why don’t you love me like you used to do?
How come you treat me like a worn-out shoe?
My hair’s still curly and my eyes are still blue
Why don’t you love me like you used to do?
Well, why don’t you be just like you used to be?
How come you find so many faults with me?
Somebody’s changed so let me give you a clue
Why don’t you love me like you used to do?
– Hank Williams Sr.
“the most important work by a young American director since Citizen Kane.”
The above quote by Paul D. Zinnemann of Newsweek is one of the most famous examples of critical hyperbole ever recorded, yet, 44 years later it still underscores the reputation of a movie classic and the director who bettered a literary classic in making a film that is arguably the finest by an American in the 1970’s. I first discovered it as a budding movie fan in the magazine section of my hometown library a short time after I turned seventeen in a section of wildly favorable capsules that not only included The Last Picture Show, by also Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs. All three films were released in the final third of the year. Peter Bogdonovich would go on to direct some other fine films like Paper Moon and What’s Up Doc? but he never again equaled the grand slam he achieved with his aching elegy of Anarene, Texas, a town doomed by technological advances. The 50’s were arguably the final decade where the movie theater held prominent sway in one’s social life, and in The Last Picture Show its importance is literal and thematic. Seventeen years later, the Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore would traverse the same territory with Cinema Paradiso, though the approach was unadulterated wallowing in nostalgia. Bogdonovich manages to derive the same level of emotion in one of the most deeply-felt of all American films, but he does it without the aid of sentimentality and the unbridled lyricism of Ennio Morricone. Mind you, this writer is a huge fan of Cinema Paradiso, but is still willing to note the vast difference between directorial approaches.
Bogdonovich underscores his intentions by filming in high school yearbook styled monochrome at the urging of his friend Orson Welles, enlisting the renowned Robert Surtees, whose work here is as accomplished as in any American film. The proper mood and deep focus possibilities could only reach fruition with the use of black and white. The Last Picture Show opens brilliantly as the camera pans across shabby Main Street and a decaying cluster of buildings, with a ferocious wind swept howl providing audio embellishment. The camera eventually settles on a beat up pick up truck that belongs to high school buddies, one that blares out the Williams standard posted here above while sputtering before it starts up. The theater -the Royal- stands next to a minimalist pool hall and a cafe that remains open all hours. These are the only places that provide a modicum of activity in a town rife with ennui and adolescent alienation from parents they are always escaping from. Quiet despondency seems to run over two generations in this one-horse town. Bogdonovich brings an extraordinary visual sense to the themes examined by his screenwriter Larry McMurtry, whose acclaimed novel is the source for this searing evocation of a place that offers no opportunity or sense of identity – only an unchanging mode of existence that centers around sex. The main characters include two young men, Sonny and Duane, who during the course of the film fall in love with the same girl – the school’s ravishing beauty Jacy, but there are other relationships they indulge in that complicate what is on one level a stylized soap opera. McMurtry makes it clear enough that there s very little to do in this stagnant whistle-stop, and the various pursuits are exclusively hedonistic. The fact that we learn virtually nothing about our central characters’ home lives makes them symbols of a marked transformation of a culture, though with magnifying glass intensity McMurtry and Bogdonovich draw full bodied characters with powerfully observed intimacy. Sonny’s father is seen once at a dance hall – it is clear enough he’s got a drinking problem, and Duane’s mother is seen briefly at the front door of their home near the end.
These teenagers live their lives in used vehicles, a pick-up truck and a Mercury. As is the case with many teenagers in the 50’s, their wheels serve as both a refuge and an escape from domestic loneliness and family rows. In The Last Picture Show they are the preferred place for sexual activity. Sonny and Duane are part of one of an especially awful high school football team, and they are seemingly reminded of their embarrassing incompetence wherever they go around town. Even the team’s seemingly macho coach unwittingly sets Sonny off on a sexual affair with his wife Ruth, a sad sack of a homebody who is obviously living a lie in a shattered relationship. In the film’s running commentary on the DVD it is revealed that the coach is secretly a homosexual. There are reminders of what most are always thinking, even in the classroom where Sonny daydreams, looking out a window to watch two dogs humping. Sex is also the curse that caused a temporary riff with the town’s crusty but beloved patriarch and resident moral authority Sam the Lion, who is the owner of the cafe, pool hall and theater. When several of the teenagers admit they enlisted a prostitute to initiate the mentally compromised boy Billy (Sam’s son) who hangs in the pool hall, Sam tells them “I’ve been hanging around this kind of trashy behavior my entire life,” and his banishes them from his establishments. Billy was actually struck and bloodied when he ejaculated prematurely. A time later -the narrative arc of the film spans a calendar year spanning from the high school football season of one year to the next- Sonny accepts the offer of a free hamburger from the waitress Genevieve, who has a soft spot for him, but Sam barges in to discover his orders have been violated. Still, Sam can’t overlook Sonny’s genuine affection for Billy, and accepts his apology.
Almost at the exact midway point of the film, Sam takes Billy and Sonny on a fishing trip that ignites acute memories. The location is at a reservoir on land Johnson once owned. Sam offers Sonny tobacco to fashion a rolled up cigarette as he tends to his own. In one of the cinema’s most arresting passages and perhaps the most unforgettable scene in the film – Sam delivers a doleful monologue as Surtees negotiates a close-up zoom that wrings every bit of emotion as Sam reflects on love and loss with a keen sense of memory and a faraway look that recreates his past foray of undisciplined behavior during his own intimate rendition of nude bathing. Johnson reveals what are surely the most painful of remembrances with the admission that his wife had a mental breakdown and he lost some children. His brief fling was with a new brand of crazy, whom Johnson says is married. Bogdonovich is content to shoot Johnson in mid-range until the dialogue gets romantic, at which points he moves on a slow zoom. After Johnson admits the failure of the relationship Bogdonovich pulls back. In a film fueled by bravura direction, this one sequence is a flawlessly executed.
A pool party is later engineered, mainly because the specifications are that everyone strip down, in what is a subversive take on the small town Americana seen in the pool party in Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life. But Capra is hardly Bogdonovich’s prime interest: The Last Picture Show pays homage to Ford and Hawks, the director’s two favorites. Reportedly, it was Ford’s intervention that convinced a reluctant Ben Jonson to accept the role of Sam the Lion, when the actor repeatedly told Bogdonovich there was far too much dialogue to interest him. The director told the actor with clairvoyant certainty that the role would bring Johnson an Academy Award, and that pretty much sealed the deal when combined with his long time mentor Ford’s prodding.
The cast in general is one of the most impressive ever assembled. As Sonny, Timothy Bottoms with his puppy dog eyes, curly hair and good guy demeanor is the film’s anchor. Bottoms plays a young man who isn’t sure what he wants or who to turn to, yet he is capable of quiet compassion, taking a liking to Billy (Sam Bottoms, Timothy’s real-life brother) whom he affectionately disciplines by turning his cap backwards every time he sees him. Jeff Bridges burst upon the acting scene with a dynamic performance as the hot-headed and unprincipled Duane, the latest in a family dynasty, playing the macho teen, who suddenly is unable to get it up with Jacy, driving her to have sex with her mother’s lover. Shepherd is seductive as the manipulating blonde sexpot who seems to inject her own measure of poison in every relationship. As her world-weary mother Ellen Burstyn delivers a bravura turn as a sage matriarch, Lois who both knows the corruptible power of sex and how it is almost always performed in a loveless vacuum. Her wistful reflection of Sam the Lion, who she does love, is one of the film’s most moving passages. Near the film’s conclusion she confidently tells a victimized Sonny he’d be way better off with Ruth Popper. And as Ruth, the jilted coach’s wife, Cloris Leachman is extraordinary in her own Oscar winning performance as the sex partner of a boy more than half her age. Leachman movingly registers the shame and anguish of rejection as she sadly waits for the boyfriend who will not come, knowing well it is mostly attributable to her own folly. In a role Jonson fought against accepting because it involved too much “talking” the actor is a veritable scene stealer, playing the only character in the film who doesn’t wallow in aimlessness. Still, his sad eyes fail to conceal his prior heartbreak. The stunning Cybil Shepherd as Jacy follows in the footsteps of her cocktease mother, manipulating boyfriends with sexual magnetism that leaves her hormonal partners too smitten to back away. Not even Bogdonovich himself could resist her, and started up an affair with her that effectively ended what was once a stable marriage to his wife. As the waitress Genevieve, Eileen Brennan is street smart and perceptive; her long and fiery stare of Jacy outside the cafe is classic.
The period detail and use of Hank Williams bring the film an aching authenticity. The lonely Texaco gas station is right out of Edward Hopper; the town is situated on a land so flat it accentuates an endless sky. The superlative production design is by Bogdonovich’s then wife Polly Platt. The town’s name of Anarene was chosen by Bogdonovich after the cow-town of Abilene in Red River. Throughout the film there is pervading sentiment that there are secrets that may never be revealed, though in a broad sense a small town is not the ideal place for anything to remain under lock and key. One comes out in a matter of fact way on the ride back from Oklahoma with Jacy’s mother after the aborted marriage between Sonny and Jacy as a result of the latter’s devious machinations. Sonny tells Lois that “things aren’t the same since Sam the Lion died.” Lois sadly reflects in accord, and Sonny tells her about Sam’s fishing trip monologue. The crazy girl he loved, who was trapped in a loveless marriage was none other than Lois, and her tearful admission of deep affection does its part in bringing the narrative full circle. Of course The Last Picture Show isn’t about plot, but about the characters who live and interact in the vacuum of a dying town. With hardly an exception these are fascinating, sympathetic characters, flawed, vain, unfaithful, mired in boredom and invariably caught in webs of deceit and prior recriminations. You are always rooting for their paths to cross, and in good measure they do and are followed by alluring dramatic fireworks.
The Last Picture Show fails to settle on a single happy resolution. Duane and Sonny head off to Mexico, but not before Sam hands them some money and offers encouragement. Sam tells them if he were younger he’d join them, but there is something disconcerting about his valedictory address that suggests on first viewing that Sam will never be seen again. While the trip happens off-screen, we see the boys’ return in an inebriated state. They learn the unconscionable news that Sam died. “Keeled over one of the snooker tables. Had a stroke,” they are told by a local. He adds Young Billy is killed by a truck while sweeping in the street (“He was sweeping you sons of bitches, he was sweeping!, screams out a shattered Sonny in one of the film’s most unforgettable lines) The Royal, left by Sam to the woman who ran the concession stand is forced to close after business peters out, right after a showing of Hawks’ Red River for the only patrons in attendance – Sonny and Duane. (The pool hall is left to Sonny, while the cafe is passed on to Genevieve). Duane enlisted to fight in Korea and this screening was his final activity before departure. Though Ruth forgives Sonny for dumping her, there can never be a resumption of their sexual relationship. Indeed, shortly after Sonny arrives after Billy’s death Ruth performs her own measure of Oscar fireworks, tossing a coffee pot violently against a wall and regaling her former lover with a scathing soliloquy:
What am I doing apologizing to you? Why am I always apologizing to you, you little bastard? Three months I’ve spent apologizing to you without you even being here. I haven’t done anything wrong. Why can’t I quit apologizing? You’re the one ought to be sorry. I wouldn’t still be in my bathrobe. I would’ve had my clothes on hours ago. It’s because of you I quit caring if I got dressed or not. I guess because your friend got killed you want me to forget what you did and make it alright. I’m not sorry for you. You’d have left Billy too just like you left me. I bet you left him plenty of nights, whenever Jacy whistled. I wouldn’t treat a dog that way. I guess I was so old and ugly it didn’t matter how you treated me — you didn’t love me.”
Ruth calms herself shortly thereafter and pulls Sonny’s hand to her across the table with the rhetorical equivalent of a peace branch, though the opportunity for the resumption of a relationship is gone: “Never you mind, honey. Never you mind,” she says. The seemingly innocuous words give The Last Picture Show a surge of emotion in what is surely one of the most unforgettable final scenes in the American cinema. In this elegiac film that also embraces a searing realism it all comes down to the many small moments that provide temporary pleasure. In this dust bowl of a town whose inhabitants often seem to be in hiding, there isn’t any level of social continuity – people use each other and then move on. Anarene, like the characters who live within its borders is no longer a haven of innocence – it has been long corrupted, yes with the vast changes in the culture its very existance is now permanently altered, with the closing of the picture house. The cattle drive in Red River makes an inescapable thematic point as does the wind swept tumbleweed that serves to underscore the passing of a town. The Last Picture Show, simplistically categorized as a coming of age drama of sexual awakening is actually a film with far more sociological significance – it is a mournful goodbye to an era.
Sam, your affection for this film borders on the legendary, but that still didn’t prepare me for the scope and passion you exhibit in this take-no-prisoners appraisal. I’ve always thought it a great American film too. The use of black and white works as well as it has in any other films and all the performances are great. Love your lead-in comparison, and highlights of the film’s most memorable scenes.
Yes Frank, I have never been able to resist saying how much I have always loved this film whenever it is broached in any capacity. I did look forward to this assignment more than any other when the countdown began, and hope I conveyed some relevance. I do of course know you have always been a fan too. Thanks again my friend!
Wow, this is one of your best overviews, Sam! Utterly complete and on point! Stunning work, my friend, in service of a stunning movie.
Thanks so very much for those exceedingly kind words Dean! Really appreciate it. My love for the film has no equal in this countdown, and it was a real pleasure to engage with it! Great to hear we are fully on the same page as well.
Another fantastic piece, Sam! You really captured what makes this film so special. It makes me want to watch it!
Many thanks for that J.D. One of the greatest of American films, and one that works on repeat viewings as well as it did the first time, which of course is one sign of a great film.
The Last Picture Show features horny teenagers, nosy and jaded townspeople and a single pillar of stability, Sam the Lion. The film, as you mention is replete with secrets and seemingly endless sexual liaisons. Though made in 1971, everything about it screams 1950s!
I don’t know if I’ve seen a film with a stronger cast. They perfectly inhabit their complex characters.
Sam, your effort seriously competes for countdown honors! Your understanding of the film, obviously built over decades of unstinting loyalty is matched by infectious enthusiasm. Your opening and final lines are marvelous, and in between is a godsend for fans of the film.
Beautifully framed Peter! I can always rely on you to offer up over-the-top praise my friend, but I do deeply appreciate it. Great point you make about the film screaming out the 1950’s. And your round-up of the people who live in the town is dead on. Thanks again for this!!!
I think “Texasville” is better than most give it credit for, though not comparable to this film.
Peter I wholeheartedly agree on TEXASVILLE. I know Jonathan Rosenbaum is a big supporter of this film as well.
I had the pleasure of meeting Peter Bodgonovich while he was directing one of the Soprano episodes being filmed on my campus. I was the go between the school and him. He was a little crazy and funny. We were there for 12 hours and they treated me nicely. Steve Buscemi was there also,
Gene, that is truly incredible. I would have paid to be a fly on the wall in the room where you met him! I know he has always had a reputation for being eccentric and funny, but nice to hear he was so accommodating. He is still making films today, but I know this great film will always be his high watermark. Thanks so much for sharing this my friend!
Nice going Gene Focarelli. A meeting to treasure.
Bogdanovich was on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast recently that can be listened to free in iTunes (or from his site). His a pretty good, long interview, and even features some of his funny impersonations of classic Hollywood players.
Jamie, I’d love to hear that podcast! Thanks for sharing.
It’s a testament to the power of this film that it so quickly burned out its director, as—as Sam notes—he was never able to approach this genius again. Several of his later works have it for fleeting moments, or even whole reels, but lack the total wallop of this one. I hope Sam that you feel a bit like you’ve unloaded something; anyone that knows you knows this is high on your list of personal favorites with this being the first officially posted piece by you on it. Really nice job.
To me, even though this has so many good performances, it’s Cloris Leachman’s film. While it wants to paint the youth worthy of our sentiments, it’s Leachman who instead instructs us correctly—the youth at least still have their youth and a lifetime of potential follies and wonderment ahead of them, while if you don’t even have that life appears nakedly for what it actual is. Oh, she’s heartbreaking, and for me, more worthy of our male gaze than even Cybil. There’s worth to that attraction.
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But it is weird that everyone is avoiding the elephant in the room; Sam’s use of nudity in screencap. If always thought he was a frustrated pornographer and seedy merchant trapped in a teachers life/body, and this only proves it. I bet he looks handsome in his mackintosh today, with only his birthday suit underneath. Stay away from the swing-sets ol’ boy!
Sam’s been working on this piece since before the film was released.
You know Allan, you may have hit the bulls-eye with that. I have been contemplating a review for many many years indeed. 🙂
And yes, a pair of tits and a hint of bush, the moral majority will be after him, the dirty bastard. Why can’t he put lashings of exploding viscera into his pictures like any decent American?
Yes, I’d much rather see a planet exploded by a Death Star with the millions of instantaneous murders that come with it than have my mind totally warped by the vile sight of a naked human body.
Ironic. Degrading language to defend women against objectification…
I have to agree. Cloris Leachman dominates. Just like her brief appearance as the doomed Christina in Kiss Me Deadly pervades every scene that follows.
Nice work Sam.
Aye Tony, great sizing up of Leachman and how her character is so vital to this film’s themes, whether she is seen or not, and excellent (am I surprised?) comparison to Christina in KISS ME DEADLY. Thanks for the very kind words my friend!!
Terrific comment here Jamie! Alas, Bogdonovich never came close to the mastery he exhibited in his second film here, one where everything came together to produce the wallop you rightly attest to. Yes, I do in fact feel like I’ve unloaded something -that’s a great way to put it- as for some odd reason I have never attempted to review this film despite my singing its praises for better than four decades. Depending on what day of the week you ask me, I would say that THE LAST PICTURE SHOW is my favorite movie of all-time. I think I was afraid I wouldn’t do the film justice, and I kept postponing the intent to write something. Very interesting point what you say about Leachman warranting our gaze perhaps more than Shepherd. She Leachman is indeed heartbreaking and that final scene is devastating.
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Ha, I like that elephant in the room comment and your uncovering of my true self!!! Classic for sure!! 🙂
I think Paper Moon is close to The Last Picture Show in terms of quality…though I find nothing else in Bogdonavich’s filmography approaching those two.
Maurizio, I do like PAPER MOON and reviewed it for this countdown here:
https://wondersinthedark.wordpress.com/2015/07/22/61-paper-moon-1973/
but I do not consider it close to THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. As far as other films in Bogdonovich’s filmography approaching those two, I’d say that WHAT’S UP DOC? is roughly as good as PAPER MOON and that TEXASVILLE is grossly underrated. MASK is no great film, but it is decent as is SAINT JACK. Oddly enough MASK was a major contender for the Palme d’Or.
I also like Paper Moon, but The Last Picture Show it is not, and by a long way.
Tim, I’d say the craftsmanship is comparable, but thematically they aren’t in the same league.
I rather like The Cat’s Meow, which examined a Hollywood scandal from the inside.
I’m surprised nobody has mention the director’s very first film, “Targets” which starred Karloff in his final role. Well made as and timely as ever.
Daisy Miller wasn’t bad.
They All Laughed and his latest She’s Funny That Way are a lot of fun as well.
Frank and Peter–
CAT’S MEOW is a decent effort. I’ve always liked TARGETS, and agree it couldn’t be more topical.
Celeste and Duane: Daisy Miller got some scathing reviews, but I still think it’s watchable; I need to see his latest film as soon as possible. I have no problem with THEY ALL LAUGHED.
Sadly we were reminded again this week in Oregon.
It seems we have reminders every couple of months. Unspeakable.
This is a sensational review Sam. I’ve seen it several times, and it never loses anything. One of the above commentators suggest that Leachman is tops among the performers. I can’t dispute that – she is vital in the film’s consciousness and has some dynamic moments, but I also think Johnson is superb in the subtle way he delivers his line, and also that his character is so far apart from the others.
You not only impart fascinating details about the making of the film, but imbue your scholarship with heart and soul. One could hardly expect more from a review.
Thanks so very much for that Tim! Agreed on what you say about Johnson as a real force in this film -along with Leachman. Deservedly both won Academy Awards for their performances, though Bottoms, Burstyn, Bridges, Sherpherd and Brennan were extraordinary. Excellent point about Johnson’s measured work. I appreciate the wonderful assessment my friend.
I also though Eileen Brennan as the waitress was dead-on. You are right to mention that stare she gave Cybil.
Aye Tim, she was good as anyone in her smaller role. A terrific actress career-wise too.
She was good as the madam in The Sting and as Mrs. Peacock in Clue which was based on my favorite board game.
And her well-known role in Private Benjamin.
Frank and Tim: these are notable Brennan performances for sure.
While Bridges, Burstyn, Shepherd and to a lesser degree Leachman went on to great careers because of this film, it is a shame Bottoms, who was so excellent didn’t follow suit. I know much of this comes down to luck and timing, but it seems his role as Sonny wasn’t immediately appreciated.
Excellent point about Bottoms Tim. He was the central figure in the film and delivered an extraordinary performance, but unlike the others his subsequent career wasn’t entirely fulfilled.
I read Larry McMurtry’s novel and found the adaptation one of the best ever. I guess what makes this significantly different that some of the other films about and including sex is that it deals with how people relate to each other through sex. Social mores and gender/class differences are effectively examined. I also read Lonesome Dove and terms of Endearment (and the sequel to The Last Picture Show) but nothing matches this. Same way with the film. Congratulations on a great review Sam, one of the best I’ve read in this countdown.
Great to hear you read the source material Celeste! Excellent point about “how people relate to each other through sex.” Superb! And yes it is indeed about all those themes you mention here. Yes this is McMurtry’s greatest novel. Sounds like you have mastered his canon! Nice work. Thanks so much for the exceedingly kind words my friend!
I forgot that McMurtry also wrote Terms of Endearment. I liked the film, but didn’t think it deserved best picture.
Frank, I am pretty much in agreement. TERMS is well-made, but not worthy of any kind of Best Picture prize.
I did love The Jack’s performance though!
Can’t say I blame you Frank. The acting in that film was very fine across the board.
Sam, I picked up on what you said about the film being a soap opera, by one interpretation. With the all the present and past affairs in a town where everyone knows each other’s business I’d say that is an apt observation.
Absolutely Celeste. On a surface level the soap opera label fits.
Yes of course on a surface level. This film is far deeper, as you have argued magnificently Sam.
Thanks very much for that Celeste.
Pretty terrific stuff Sam. You make me want to revisit this one. It’s been at least a decade since I’ve seen this and my memory of it is rather foggy. I do recall the terrific casting and performances. Rather splendid all around. This one is clearly not about children, but if we included the likes of Rebel Without a Cause, then we needed to have considered this one as well.
Jon, I really do hope you revisit it. I am sure you will be bowled over as I was earlier this week for the umteenth time i preparation for the review. As far as the film not being about “children” I do agree with you, but it does make it under the wire for “adolescents” with that 18 year old cut-off age. The main characters (Sonny and Duane) are 17, Jacy is the same and Billy is much younger. Coming of age is a major theme here as well, so I’d assert it makes it, but obviously the voters in this countdown opted to count it in a big way. Thanks so much for the very kind words my friend.
Good job, Sam. This is a wonderful heartfelt tribute to a great American film. Let’s see, I’ve got it among the ten best American films ever made. I didn’t include it on my ballot for this countdown as I consider it’s themes to be primarily adult or perhaps young adult, even so that doesn’t mean I don’t love it. I saw it in the theater when it was released in fall of ’71 and it’s been a favorite ever since. And I remember the excitement of finally being able to see it again when it came out on VHS in the 80’s. Even now It still remains near the top 25 of my all-time favorite movie list.
Thanks so very much Duane!! I am thrilled to hear that you love it as much as you do and have, and I am smiling to hear you count it among the ten best American films ever made. I do as well, and I just said to Jamie that I may be inclined to name this as my favorite film from any country ever made. I know you and I go back to this one from its original release, and it holds every ounce of its emotional power many years later. I agree that it is about “young adults” which makes it borderline for this polling. While in the end I thought it came in under the wire, I was surprised so many others felt the same way. But no matter, the important thing is that we both consider this one of the greatest of films. Thanks again!
A truly great review Sam. And a truly great film that made waves back in the 70’s the sexual themes it explored. Nice to see you haven’t shied away from the discussion nor the visuals. Yes, Bogdonovich never again reached this level of excellence, but that was really too high a bar to set. That Sam the Lion monologue is one of the most remarkable of its kind. When I first saw this film I remember his death, and the one later of Billy left me shattered. Yes, all the acting is master class
Just a phenomenal analysis and appreciation of this classic.
Bill, I thank you for that over-the-top appraisal! Yes I didn’t try and hide the subject. Good point about the director placing that bar way too high. The monologue was quietly electrifying. And I too was numb after the two characters were torn away from us. Thanks again my friend!
Sam, your love for this film is well known and I am not too far behind in my admiration. It’s a work of cinematic art. Bogdanovich, though he has done some very good films since, never again reached this level of artistic achievement. A superb essay on a magnificent work.
John, I do know well you are a huge fan of it, and believe you wrote a terrific piece on it at TWENTY FOUR FRAMES: True this masterpiece could never be approach again. But heck any director who made THE LAST PICTURE SHOW would be hard pressed to come anywhere near it with follow-up films. Thanks for the very kind words my friend!
To me “the definitive new-Hollywood film”.. One of the best of 70s..
Aye Ahmet. Great point. Thank you my friend!
Great review Sam. My girl Ellen went places after this one. The motto is the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Aye Bob. As Lois, Ellen Bursyn’s career was launched with this film, and she delivered a stunning turn. Thanks for the kind words.
A great article, Sam, which shows your deep knowledge of this film. I’ve only seen it once (on the big screen, which was great) so really need to go back and revisit.
Thanks so very much Judy! Great to hear that your one viewing of the film was in a theater.
Sam, I thought I’d post the trailer off You Tube:
Thanks so much for posting this Tim! A great trailer.
Sam, this is an absolute tour de force. The Last Picture Show is a stunning film for a plethora of reasons. Your review has me wanting to pay it a re-visit. I can never forget Ben Johnson’s monologue.
David, I am thrilled to see you back. I completely understand. Thanks for this comment all all the others you made tonight. Johnson’s monologue is indeed unforgettable.
I didn’t see this movie until around five or six years ago, and solely because Ellen Burstyn was in it. I thought it was great, and found the characters fascinating. I agree that plot is secondary. Brilliant review Sam.
Thanks so much for stopping in Karen, the kind words are deeply appreciated. Yes, Burstyn’s performance here launched a legendary career. 🙂
And a varied one too. That she could master something like “Requiem For A Dream” after this film and “Alice” says it all.
Great point Karen. I also loved her performance in Resurrection, and last year’s Interstellar. Don’t remember if you saw the latter.
Wow, Sam – I agree this is one of your towering achievements on this site. I couldn’t help but hear The Eagles “Lyin’ Eyes” while reading your description of Leachman’s character and performance.
Thanks so very much for that David! Ha, great reference poin to “Lyin Eyes” which is telling in regards to Leachman’s unforgettable character and performance. A stupendous novel to film adaptation.
I wasn’t born until soon after this movie came out, but I have heard it mentioned over the years; now I have finally seen it. I’m not a movie critic, so I have nothing clever to say, but I really enjoyed the film. It was a trip to see Cybil Shephard, Jeff Bridges, and Randy Quaid so young. I really liked Ben Johnson’s performance – for some reason I really felt his monologue scene at the pond, which again, is a trip because in my post-viewing reading I learned that he won an Academy Award for it. I guess that we all have sentiments for lost love that we carry with us for the rest of our years. Anyways, great performances all around!
Although I wasn’t around at the time, I remember small towns looking like Anarene/Archer City did in the movie, and the old vehicles, etc. I live in the Central Valley of California and all of the area’s small towns seemed to be frozen in time, but sadly, have now exploded in growth – consuming and overshadowing the relics of the foregone era of the early 1900’s – thus I still got a strong sense of nostalgia watching this film. It is now one of my favorites.
Great write-up of the film too, spot on!
Chris, so sorry I took so long responding, but I don’t remember receiving a notification of the comment. Fascinating commentary in every sense I am most appreciative my friend.
Sam, I came across your review while searching for an appropriate photo for a “Last Picture Show” soundtrack playlist I was creating. One of my all-time favorite movies and your review literally brought tears to my eyes. While I’ve seen it many times since it’s first run (and appreciated it more every year that we grown older together), stepping through your review let me enjoy it all over again. Things *haven’t* been the same since Sam the Lion died. Thanks for a thoroughly lovely, unexpected experience.
And there was one other reason I felt compelled to write. 😉
Sam, is this possible? Hahahahaha! We share the same name?? I know Juliano is a common Italian identity but still, wow!! Having the same first name makes it a rare situation, and that you are a music/movie fan as well lengthens the odds! Anyway thank you so much!!! So true that thinks were not the same after Sam the Lion dies. That we also consider this among the greatest of films makes this exchange truly incredible! Many thanks!