Hollywood for years propagated the romanticization of small-town American life throughout its classic cinema period from the 30’s until the 60’s. Using deep focus black and white photography and old-fashioned cinematography, Peter Bogdanovich, with his, “The Last Picture Show”, made use of the 1970’s new wave realism to tear away at the fantasy that was the core of those classic film.
Based on the semi-autobiographical 1966 novel by Larry McMurtry, Bogdanovich follows the year 1951 in the lives of the population of a small-town Texas town. His main characters are both high school seniors and middle-aged adults. By weaving his story between two generations, the movie succeeds in developing an understanding of what it was like to live in a small American town during the 50’s.
Representing the teenagers are best friends Sonny (Timothy Bottoms), and Duane (a young Jeff Bridges). Duane is going out with the school’s rich beauty queen Jacy (Cybill Shepherd in a stunning screen debut). The adults are represented by the movie-house and local café owner, Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson), for whom it is never explained why he has such a cool moniker to his name, The football coach’s lonely, sad wife Ruth (Cloris Leachman in a powerhouse performance), and Jacy’s bored beautiful mother Lois (Ellen Burstyn). What both generations have in common is boredom and their obsession with sex. Looming in the background as well is the beginning of the TV age, which dealt a death blow to the small-town movie theatre industry, and the war in Korea.
Regarding the sexual themes of the movie, both Sonny and Duane are anxious to lose their virginity, which they end up doing in two distinctly different circumstances. Sonny learns from the experienced as he has an affair with the middle-aged Lois. Duane, on the other hand, is given the opportunity to de-flower Jacy so that she can join the cool rich kids’ society group from a nearby city. While Sonny’s experience serves to develop and mark his coming of age, Duane’s, while seemingly the more conventional experience, is a disaster that pushes him to enlist in the Army.
The adults are no less frustrated than the teenagers. Their situation is even more somber because all of them seem to be stuck with their lot in life, with no escape to be had. Ruth realized the hopelessness of her little bit of excitement with Sonny. Her emotional outburst at his betrayal is one of the highlights of the film. Sam the Lion and Lois are forever connected, and their sadness lies in badly made decisions made when they were young. Sam is the wise owl of the town as his business establishments are what keep the town centered. He is however, a lonely man who was tasked in life with taking care of a mentally ill son. Played by Timothy Bottoms’ real brother Sam, Sonny’s love and affection for the boy comes out true and very effective. The casting of the two brothers was a brilliant move by Bogdanovich.
It is the symbolic closing of the town movie theatre as Duane goes off to war and Sonny takes over Sam’s pool hall, which brings closure to the year portrayed in the movie. Nostalgia is most effective when connected to concrete objects or events. In this case, sitting in an empty movie theatre watching innocent, hopeful movies from the 1940s, serves as the movie’s nostalgic center, representing the end of a time long gone that was not as innocent as it was always previously portrayed in the movies.
Bogdanovich made a superb decision in filming his movie in black and white. In using deep focus black and white cinematography, the movie immediately sets its period within the past. The emptiness of the town and the lives who reside in it are also emphasized and represented by the wide-focused shot of empty space that sits within the background of the sad faces portrayed in the movie. There is one powerful scene where Sam is fishing in an empty pond, reminiscing about his past about a lost opportunity, in a heartbreaking attempt to advise and warn Sonny. The view of the pond and within the wide-open emptiness set against the image of this man and boy add pathos and tenderness without being melodramatic.
Featuring an ensemble cast of mostly unknowns at the time, “The Last Picture Show” boasts many great performances. First and foremost is Leachman as the sad, bitter and desperate housewife, who decides to take advantage of a teenage boy’s sexual frustration so that she can add some meaning to her life. Leachman is purposefully filmed in an un-glamorous manner, in order to allow her femininity and personality to become what makes her ultimately attractive to Sonny. Shepeard succeeds in making what is essentially an unappealing character somewhat sympathetic and even beautiful. Lacy’s mother, Lois, who chose money over love in her past, is also given a depth of understanding that Burstyn sustains superbly. Then there is Bridges, whose immense charisma and star power explodes on the screen in every scene he is in. What makes this even more impressive is the fact that his character is probably the weakest person in the movie.
“The Last Picture Show” is one of those rare movies that rivets our attention by telling a simple tale concerning real people. It is also a movie of nostalgia which retains its strength and purpose, never becoming dated. In only his second movie, Peter Bogdanovich succeeded in making one of the great, true American movies.
1001 Movies before you die 