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Peter Bogdanovich’s THE LAST PICTURE SHOW is a quiet reflective film with flares of wonderful irony and humor. Its style is a dead-on throwback to the 1950s drama, but presents a 1970s freedom to its material. As a sad meditation on the crumbling American small tows, the story can be bleak, but it never loses all hope… or does it? Like great art, the film is open to interpretation.

Based on the Larry McMurtry novel, this coming of age tale is set in the tiny Texas town of Anarene. Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms, THE PAPER CHASE) and Duane Jackson (Jeff Bridges, THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS) are best friends. They play for their town’s lousy high school football team, for which they constantly receive ridiculed for from the townsfolk. Sonny is jealous of Duane because his friend is dating Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd, TV’s MOONIGHTING), the prettiest girl in town, while he’s stuck with the trashy tease Charlene (Sharon Taggart, TEXASVILLE). Jacy’s mom Lois (Ellen Burstyn, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM) warns her that her roughneck boyfriend is a one-way ticket to getting stuck in their flat and boring town. Jacy professes her love for Duane, but isn’t shy to play the field just to stir up some excitement in her life. Eventually, Sonny starts an affair of his own with 40-something Ruth (Cloris Leachman, SPANGLISH), the sad wife of his coach. The heart of the town is Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson, THE WILD BUNCH), a kind man who runs three key businesses— the pool hall, the café, and the picture house.

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