The Last Picture Show Reviews and Ratings


  • romy861
    December 4, 2009
    romy861
    Interesting. I liked how it was shot in black and white - gave it a bit more of an edge. Cybill Shepherd was also very impressive in this. I think it is a film you would need to watch a few times as I couldn't quite follow who some of the characters were (or maybe that's just ...( read more)lack of attention span on my part!),
  • Phonex
    December 4, 2009
    Phonex
    1950's at a small American town made in 1971 by PB. Excellent B&W.

    Check : Korean War Time.
  • Saxia
    October 24, 2009
    Saxia
    Although the description might sound boring, this is actually a very nice and fresh (for lack of a better word) movie.
    Not only the young Cybill Shepherd, Jeff Bridges and Tymothy Bottoms are a joy to watch, the 'older' women (Ellen Burstyn and Cloris Leachman) complete it.
    ...( read more) style="width:266px;">
  • Sunshineyness
    September 3, 2009
    Sunshineyness
    Last Picture Show is a movie that comes along once in a generation. It's one of those un-intrusive movies that lets the acting speak for itself. You have both the older generation (Burstyn and Leachman especially) and the up and comers of the day (Bridges, Bottoms) all giving the...( read more) performances of their careers in a painfully real and desperate way. This is the west as it was in the 50's- faded and almost gone. You get the idea of a town almost dead from desertion. The Old West is over and soon even the picture house is closing and you really see the strife in all these characters.

    Cybill Shepard really surprises as the young beautiful thing who captures the hearts of all the boys around her and she uses for her own amusement. Bored out of her mind in this crap town she just goes from boy to boy and in a startling scene screws an older man on the pool table in what is perhaps one of the best sex scenes ever on celluloid.
  • hossein13
    August 17, 2009
    hossein13
    The incredible view of a small Texan town and its people. The stories unfold so perfectly and in coordination with the location.
  • BurtHarbinson
    July 19, 2009
    BurtHarbinson
    A good way to judge the content of a film, is how it makes you feel about your own life. Do you feel thankful for your own when it is through? Or do you feel guilty for not taking full advantage of the time you have. Well, it was sort of an experience like that for me.

    So many s...( read more)tories like this have taken place throughout American history, and this one in particular struck me hard, mostly because I grew up in a small town. Thankfully not as small as this town. But I think the appeal of the storyline, is that people relate to their own experiences, and the choices that they made when they were younger, that they now pay for. Life is more or less the choices we make. This story enhances this feeling, as the impact is so much greater in such a small town.

    This is a great movie for anyone to watch though. Lot's of nostalgic memories will no doubt arise, as you think of the first time you made it with someone. Remembering how special it was to you, and remembering that everyone goes through that in life, at one point. The full spectrum appears as the gap is bridged between generations. Advice, the purpose of telling the story, is to take the chance on happiness in life. Don't let it pass you by.

    The Last Picture Show: On a lot of critics "top-lists". A lot of high ratings. A lot of young actors, including Jeff Bridges and Randy Quaid, that all go on to have successful careers. Although it was a very well made movie overall, it does leave one with a dry dull taste in their mouth.
  • kenstachnik
    July 5, 2009
    kenstachnik
    Easily goes toe to toe with Dazed and Confused as the best high school film
  • nowhotnnm
    April 19, 2009
    nowhotnnm
    A great story from Larry McMurtry about his hometown and growing up there, add an unknown Peter Bogdanovich, and mostly unknown cast, sans Ben Johnson (thanks Ben), and out comes a super character study of a small and dusty Texas town and what life was like in the early 1950s. My...( read more) kind of film.
  • Fragglefreak
    April 12, 2009
    Fragglefreak
    Cybil Shephard is great in this movie and it's so smooth and well directed.
  • FangsFirst
    April 8, 2009
    FangsFirst
    My father encouraged me to watch this the last time he, himself, picked it up, but I inherited a distaste for starting in the middle from him and, though I'd only missed five minutes, I skipped on it. I vaguely recall some girl may have been involved in distracting me as well, at...( read more) least in conversational form, but the end result (for whatever reason) was that I didn't end up seeing it long enough to notice anything except Randy Quaid, Cybill Shepherd and Jeff Bridges looking so darn young. I didn't know who Timothy Bottoms was, and I suppose I still don't really. I knew Peter Bogdanovich by name, but I've mostly seen his name, of late, in the film-based writings of Harlan Ellison, decrying Bogdanovich's relation to the auteur theory. Still, I knew who Larry McMurtry was, at least by reputation, even if I'd never read anything of his, nor seen anything based on his work

    Sonny Crawford (Bottoms) and Duane Jackson (Bridges) are best friends in the small town of Anarene, TX in 1951, Sonny dating the somewhat homely Charlene Duggs (Sharon Ullrick) and Duane dating the high school looker Jacy Farrow (Shepherd). The town as a whole is annoyed with the boys for their apparent inability to tackle in the last football game they will ever play for their high school, as this is the year of their graduation. Sam the Lion (John Ford standby Ben Johnson) runs all the entertainment in town--a movie house, a poolhall and the café, and otherwise it is an empty, dusty, tiny Texas town, with a population small enough that there are no secrets in town and everyone knows everyone, with Wichita, TX the local "big city" of sorts that is the aim of all those with high-falutin' aspirations or money. A Christmas party sees Lester Marlow (Quaid) begging Jacy to join him at the home of Bobby Sheen (Gary Brockette), where prior years' parties have led to skinny dipping. Duane is left dateless as Sonny stumbles into a relationship with Ruth Popper (Cloris Leachman), the wife of his coach (Bill Thurman). In their boredom and Duane's frustration, the local boys encourage the mentally handicapped boy Sam takes care of, Billy (Sam Bottoms, brother of Timothy) to lose his virginity to local "woman of ill repute" Jimmie Sue (Helena Humann). And so we watch the slow and awkward aging process of entering society's definition of adulthood for a group of teenagers leaving high school in a small town, and the ways their lives and especially that of Sam affect the town.

    This film won itself two Oscars, one for Johnson and one for Leachman, as well as six other nominations, and it started Bogdanovich on a critically acclaimed career that crashed and burned in only a few short years with dismally received film after dismally received film, rendering his name more familiar than his works. I'm working very hard not to perceive Bogdanovich as a great ego, but I think my perceptions have been coloured pretty thoroughly by all the things I've read and heard, though thankfully I forgot he directed this film until it ended and I saw his credit. Still, I actually did end up finding something missing in this film (which was, for the record, the "definitive director's cut," the only way it has been released on DVD), which let it drag periodically. It was never a drag that left me wanting to wander off and do something else, but enough that I occasionally wanted something to happen, or for some greater clarity of character to occur. Sonny is clear, he's sort of the blank slate protagonist that gives the audience a way into the story, well-meaning but naïve, occasionally meaner than we might like but generally a good person. He doesn't seem to ever deliberately take advantage of anyone though, and is more guilty of failing to do things he should than choosing to actually do things he shouldn't. Duane, too, is pretty clear, acting to contrast with Sonny, interested pretty purely in himself as one of the stronger voices behind the near-abuse of Billy that so offends Sam and fighting too willingly over Jacy without realizing her lack of interest in him.

    The adults and their characters are excellent, without exception. Sam is clear as the guiding and mentoring voice to the boys, or at least Sonny, telling him about his own youth at the "tank" (a fishing hole) and discouraging the behaviour he thinks is wrong, with a strong personality and presence met with a distance in his eyes that fits perfectly with his twinkle-eyed remembrance of years past. Leachman's Oscar, too, was well-deserved, as the perpetually sad housewife who never sees her husband (for reasons that are only subtly hinted at in the movie but apparently near blatant in McMurtry's book) but finds a glimmer of hope in her affair with a boy less than half her age. Lois Farrow (Ellen Burstyn), mother of Jacy, is an interesting mix of the maternal and the competitive when dealing with her daughter. On one hand she attempts to guide her into a comfortable life by encouraging her to pursue money and suggesting that Duane will lead to boredom and monotony, while on the other she is clearly not perfectly satisfied with her own life and eventually even competes over the (physical) affections of a man with her own daughter. That man, incidentally, is Abilene, played by Clu Gulager, who I know very well as Burt Wilson from Return of the Living Dead, but here is a contrast to the manipulative authority figure of that film as a slick, suave near-gigolo for the town of Anarene.

    On the other hand, there's a strange quality to Cybill Shepherd and especially her character which was clarified for me in reading what came after in her career. Jacy as a character is somewhat undefined; at first she defiantly claims to her mother that she is in love with Duane, then suddenly turns into quite the harlot, sleeping with any man she can find, it seems, coldly and selfishly manipulating all of them. It felt I was missing something in her character, especially in what her motivation was for this change. Certainly it was clear that what she was pursuing from Bobby Sheen and Abilene (incidentally, what an odd name--it sounds feminine and is the name of another town in the state!)--she was looking for stability, comfort, affection, love. Yet, her dealings with Duane and Sonny seem oriented only around manipulation. The reasons for her manipulating them seem obscure, no clear motivation coming from any of it. Cybill's limitations seem to be the best explanation here (that or missing scenes omitted from the book). Everyone else, though, seemed to make clear transitions in character, or seemed fleshed out as someone--in the case of Lois--who would naturally flit from emotion to emotion and explanation to explanation.

    There's something to be said, though, of the technical and constructive aspects of the film, a soundtrack composed purely of popular music, but only played naturally within the film, generally a mix of 1950s country music (with a heavy lean toward Hank Williams, Sr.) helps to place the film in an appealing way. A few interesting camera shots, slow zooms and tight close ups in succession during arguments and conversations are very evocative of the exact moods they're attempting to convey. The black and white choice of film (apparently an "of course" decision thanks to Orson Welles) is absolutely perfect, not in aging the film but in giving it the right absence of colour to show us even further that a town with dilapidated paint and well-worn signs is suffering and dying as a town almost, the death of youth and innocence at least at hand for our protagonists. Still, I felt in the end that some trimming (minor, not of whole scenes) would have helped tremendously--perhaps the original cut might improve my opinion, but I didn't feel I was seeing the masterpiece I had been led to believe I would be, though a very, very good film all the same.
  • Bertn60
    April 5, 2009
    Bertn60
    A strange ,eerie portrait,of small town america in the 60's.Hank Williams songs are perfect to set the mood and tempo of this dust bowl epic.
  • closedmouth
    February 21, 2009
    closedmouth
    There is a lot to like about this. It is atmospheric, quite beautiful in some respects, intelligently acted, and the character interaction is interesting and lacking in clichés. The three mother figures are attractive, believable and tragic in their own ways, and really help to d...( read more)rive the narrative, Leachman in particular. Bogdanovich's direction is a big letdown, though. His camera never moves, and his cutting is archaic and forced. Apparently he did all the editing, and it shows. He really should have hired a professional to do the work. It tends to break the mood of any otherwise well composed piece.
  • WitchfulThinking
    February 5, 2009
    WitchfulThinking
    Commentary on human nature and the devastatingly bleak prospects these teenagers had at their disposal. Peter Bogdonavich at his best.
  • PillowPantss
    January 27, 2009
    PillowPantss
    black and white nakies!? all that naked was unexpected. that town and was so smalllll and lonely. there is not much to choose love/sex interest-wise so of course there's fightin over sex mates and cheatin and so on.
  • corvairscott
    January 17, 2009
    corvairscott
    The End of Innocence
  • shawnmiller2
    January 16, 2009
    shawnmiller2
    Liked the style, plot and acting...a good watch...

    Pool scene with Cybil Sheppard didn't hurt either...
  • tsigur
    December 16, 2008
    tsigur
    I know, I know, I probably should have seen this movie a long time ago and the fact that I am just getting around to it is pretty pathetic, but when your first Bogdanovich experience is Noises Off, you kind of wonder what the big deal is about the guy. Now I know. Bridges, Bottom...( read more)s, Leachman, Burstyn (she is hotter than I have ever seen her here), and Shepherd (good, but mainly in this group because she is absolutely gorgeous) are all great, but again one of the side characters played by Ben Johnson really floored me. I think they could have made a whole movie about him. It was a lot darker than I expected and the sexuality in the film also surprised me, but I guess that's why it was so "controversial" at the time. Either way, really liked it and loved the way it was shot. Too bad there are not more modern filmmakers who appreciate black and white.
  • sononothing
    December 13, 2008
    sononothing
    The Last Picture Show is Peter Bogdonavich's adaptation of Larry McMurtry's novel about life in a small, dried up Texas town in the 1950's. Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson) is the pulse of the town of Anarene, owning the pool hall, the diner, and the picture show as he bestows fatherl...( read more)y advice on a group of young men who don't seem to have any fathers (none that are of importance enough to appear on screen anyway).

    If Sam is the center of town then Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) is the focus of the film as he goes through the trials of becoming a man in a town that should have an obituary written for it on its welcome sign. But then you have Duane (Jeff Bridges) who is set to marry his girlfriend Jacy (Cybil Shepherd)whom he believes he was meant to be with only to lose her and end up losing everything he actually cared about in town. Jacy's life isn't a picnic either as she watches her mother whore it up, encouraging her to do the same.

    This isn't the Donna Reed show or any kind of nostalgic ride back to the 1950's. The Last Picture Show is like the American Grafitti of the poor, middle American kids who could afford the suped up cars that Lucas' creation drove up and down the street all night. These kids had more problems than the adults and no real way to get out of them. The director using black and white only adds to the blah despair of what life was like in this sleepy Texas town. This is a film where you actually feel for all the characters and you just want them to get out of that dreadful town, but it was never meant to be. The Last Picture show is a piece of Americana, painting a picture that the 1950's wasn't the poodle skirt parade that has been depicted adnauseum for all these years.
  • JATbobDYLAN93
    December 11, 2008
    JATbobDYLAN93
    A great picture show.
  • jjnxn
    November 23, 2008
    jjnxn
    Beautifully acted, downbeat film about the end of innocence and the slow death of a small town. Fine film but one more to be appreciated then liked.
  • bradwest
    October 18, 2008
    bradwest
    Interesting break out pic for Bogdanovich. More nudity than expected.
  • jimbotender
    September 23, 2008
    jimbotender
    Raw and indecisive community of youths in a small town.What's better to proclaim the new revolution even under the skirts and "bad habits".The tension of humid reactions by the ones who reject novelties.And a Bogdanovich feature like none whatsoever.1971 as the marking point of e...( read more)nfants sauvage.
  • megtribe
    September 19, 2008
    megtribe
    I was blown away by the film honestly. The cinematography was well above and beyond its time, the black and white made it atmospheric and moody. Mournful and graceful , the film's tragic characters in this dying town portray a certain sense of morality and a lackluster future. Af...( read more)ter I watched it I immediately had to put in something happier to keep me from slitting my wrists. Jeff Bridges is superb and really draws you in. There was so much symbolism and metaphors throughout the film that you felt as if it were some sad Allen Ginsberg type of epic poem. Everyone simply exists with no rhyme or reason in the best way that they can, they get the best they can get out of Anarene and so much of it is bleak and unforgiving. Truly a classic film that is one of the most beautiful films i've ever seen. Just that warning about the ending, you'll feel terrible.
  • ChGeor9
    September 7, 2008
    ChGeor9
    Worth watching at least once.
  • adhitr
    August 18, 2008
    adhitr
    The definition of perfect movie
  • saxasue
    July 27, 2008
    saxasue
    Old classic movie I want to see!
  • joyfulness
    June 14, 2008
    joyfulness
    Man, that was a weird movie..
  • organgrinder136
    June 8, 2008
    organgrinder136
    er... think i'll steal a johnny rotten line here and say nevermind the bollocks!! nevermind the film critics too! they're usually wrong about what's entertaining. silly cunts!
  • thethefan1001
    May 29, 2008
    thethefan1001
    Beautifully written characters and realistic portraits.
  • thrusz
    May 28, 2008
    thrusz
    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 o...( read more)f 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.
  • babyinametalsuit
    May 13, 2008
    babyinametalsuit
    The Last Picture Show is basically a Norman Rockwell painting of a Shakespearean tragedy with the word "smoldering" placed somewhere in there.

    If you can't relate to this movie in some way, if some part of it doesn't reflect some aspect of your life, you are probably not human.
  • placeinthesun455
    April 13, 2008
    placeinthesun455
    a film thickly laced with subtlety. a bleak, dispassionate coming-of-age story beautifully crafted in Modernist style. as eras once again shift, people grope fruitlessly at meaning and fulfillment in their simple, insular lives. a well-crafted movie with too many deep subtleti...( read more)es to acknowledge, this stark piece of melancholy realism is a beautiful contribution to modern filmmaking.
  • villainforhire
    April 8, 2008
    villainforhire
    really great portrayal of growing up in a small town.
  • wolverineland
    March 31, 2008
    wolverineland
    A truly great American film by Peter Bogdanovich which launched the careers of a variety of young actors like Bottoms, Bridges, Shepherd, and Quaid. This film set in a early 50's sleepy Texas town also boasted star power from Johnson, Burstyn, Gulager, Brennan, and Leachman in he...( read more)r Oscar winning performance. Great coming of age film.
  • GeorgeBailey88
    March 18, 2008
    GeorgeBailey88
    I finally got around to watching this movie after knowing of its acclaim for some time. I will say it's constructed masterfully as I agree with the notion that at the time, Bogdanovich made an achievement on equal to Welles' Citizen Kane in terms of story-telling but this film wa...( read more)s brutally depressing. To me, even the ending which was supposed to offer some glimmer of hope was based on the reunion of a young man and middle-aged woman in a sad case of infidelity. With that said there are redeeming qualities such as the cinemantography and the performances albeit of characters who are self-centered moral reprobates.

    It is in this we find the true nature of life and love. Everyone wants to be loved at some point or another be it old or young. The characters aren't very likable and I couldn't really get emotionally attached to one of them as a viewer. It's hard to point out a victim and maybe this is the intention of Bogdanovich: that there are no victims in this crazy game of life. Maybe we're all born guilty as charged.
  • periwinklepetticoats
    March 6, 2008
    periwinklepetticoats
    Black and White does this film good...loved it.
  • paeanhera
    February 24, 2008
    paeanhera
    Sad, and showing a dying way of life, too. A lot of us miss the small town life for its sense of community.
  • supdawg1985
    February 10, 2008
    supdawg1985
    I guess I'm one of the few people who wasn't impressed by this "coming of age" teen angst movie. I think it was filled with sleazy characters who cared little about anyone but themselves, and acted without much regard for other people's feelings. Reputations and sexual explorat...( read more)ion are themes that are poured by the bucket, and I didn't see hardly any genuine emotion to sympathize with. I'm sure this movie was praised for breaking taboos and giving us a gritty view on life, but I would rather see 'The Graduate" which is far superior in my opinion.
  • terryc1000
    January 27, 2008
    terryc1000
    Good little black and white flick made to look and feel like 1950's. Rual dying town with the coming of age to teens and the beginning of the end of the movie theater.
  • kurosawian
    January 20, 2008
    kurosawian
    Peter Bogdanovich's knowledge of old movies payed off with this remarkable and timeless classic. It seems to have appeared as if from a different time and place. How he achieved this with his first film, is awe-inspiring. The mature and provocative approach to the story is highly...( read more) intriguing. Beautifully shot in black-and-white. Even back in '71, it was clear this was an instant 70s classic.
  • made2bsweet4u
    January 8, 2008
    made2bsweet4u
    I do like this one

    LOVE RENEE
  • hypathio7
    January 8, 2008
    hypathio7
    There have been other teenage/high school/college drama films in the past. This movie was the cross-over and combination of those angst filled dramas to the raunchy teen comedies to come.
  • afilmbymichaelmargetis
    December 30, 2007
    afilmbymichaelmargetis
    "One thing I know for sure. A person can't sneeze in this town without somebody offering them a handkerchief. " - Genevieve (Eileen Brennen)

    'The Last Picture Show' may be very outdated (it was made in 1971) but that doesn't mean it is not still brilliant. Peter Bogdanovich's ...( read more)character study of the different citizens of a small red-neck town in Texas is still a cinematic delight with solid writing and amazing performances. Timothy Bottoms gives his very best performance as the film's main character, while Ellen Burstyn, Jeff Bridges, Eileen Brennen, and a very young Randy Quaid are spectacular. Cybill Shepard does a decent job as the film's heart breaker, while Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman steal the entire show with their equally powerful and heart-wrenching performances. If you are looking for a film with good writing, masterful directing and incendiary acting, and don't mind a slow-paced flick, definitely add 'The Last Picture Show' to your to-rent list. The film earned eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor - Jeff Bridges, Best Supporting Actress - Ellen Burstyn and actually won two Oscars for supporting performances from Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson. Grade: B+
  • aerinha
    December 16, 2007
    aerinha
    Because it was mentioned so much in "Lisey's Story"
  • geebunk
    December 10, 2007
    geebunk
    Old school small town drama.
  • lmanderson1
    December 5, 2007
    lmanderson1
    Well made... not my favorite...
  • SonnyLighstrome
    December 3, 2007
    SonnyLighstrome
    One of the most depressing movie endings EVER, but a great movie. This shows the different aspects of growing up in 1950s Texas, and was a launching point for several future stars.
  • estespouse
    November 26, 2007
    estespouse
    Absolutely didn't work for me.

Summary

The Last Picture Show Summary