I got a feeling for the blues, oh Lord, since my baby said goodbye. Hank Williams

A Texas town, dying on the vine, and being slowly blown away by the relentless wind strongly reminds the viewer of the great westerns by Ford and Hawks with their blowing tumbleweeds and deserted streets.

The little main street of town has three major attractions: a movie theater, a pool hall, and a café, all owned by an ex-cowboy Sam (Ben Johnson) who mainly stays in the pool hall. The denizens that inhabit the attractions are the protagonists of the story. Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges) are football players in their last year of high school.

The film opens with the older residents of town reminding the two boys how poorly they played football the day before. Clearly neither of the two has any college aspirations. As a result, the boys find blue collar jobs, Jeff becomes a roughneck in the oil fields and Timothy works around the pool hall. There is a half-witted kid (Sam Bottoms) who spends his time around the pool hall and the street with a broom, sweeping. His sweeping is probably a metaphor for the frustration and boredom that infects everybody who lives in Anarene. The unceasing wind just blows in more dust faster than the boy can sweep it away.

As a result of the constant boredom, the citizens of Anarene indulge in illicit affairs, hoping to provide a little meaning to their lives. The prize girl of the high school, Jacy (Cybill Shepherd), starts out going with Duane and works her way through nearly every male in the vicinity before the film plays out. Her dad is the owner of the oil company and her mom (Ellen Burstyn) is one of the prize sluts of town, fooling around with the foreman (Clu Gullager) of her husband’s oil company. Like mother, like daughter, I guess. The daughter also winds up with the foreman for a short romp.

With all the fumbling with buttons and groping towards fulfillment, a refuge is provided by café manager/waitress/cook Eileen Brennan and pool hall manager Ben Johnson. Wisely, neither of these two participate in the game of musical sweethearts but offer platonic friendship to the people who frequent their establishments. Sam (Ben Johnson) acts as surrogate father to the protagonists and the retarded boy.

Much of the characters’ lives are spent in their nondescript automobiles and pickup trucks with a constant blare of Hank Williams or other mournful country music as a backdrop to the action. For a change of pace, Sonny and Duane head down to old Mexico and when they return are dumbstruck to discover that Sam has departed this vale of tears. Sam was probably the most steady thing that the town had going for it and it rapidly declines after his death. Meanwhile, the affairs go on…

Director Peter Bogdanovich has put together a seamless story that delves into the private lives of a group of individuals yet avoids trapping itself in soap opera territory. The result is a refreshing slice of life as to how it must have been to be a teenager in the early 1950s in a one horse Texas town. The clothing, props, sets, and music all evoke the era perfectly. The preoccupation with sex and the automobile are right on target.

Bogdanovich chose to make his film in black and white and as such ties in strongly with the traditional western heritage laid down by the masters John Ford and Howard Hawks. Photography by Robert L. Surtees is impeccable and the editing by Donn Cambern ties the story together like one of the old films of Hollywood’s golden age.

Acting is very well done by a bevy of unknowns who subsequently became some of Hollywood’s biggest stars: Cybill Shepherd, Cloris Leachman, Eileen Brennan, Ellen Burstyn, Randy Quaid, Ben Johnson, Jeff Bridges, and Timothy Bottoms provide some memorable performances.

The Last Picture Show is a film well worth seeing and will likely evoke strong memories in anybody who was ever a teenager or lived in a small dead-end town.

Recommended for classic film buffs, especially.

Thanks for reading! Comments welcome!



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening