Movie review: The Last Picture Show

Reviewed by Gerti

I stumbled upon this 1971 movie while watching a TV segment on Cloris Leachman, an actress with a reputation for comedy. She is far from a comic figure in this black and white classic movie by director Peter Bogdanovich. Rather, she is the wife of a high school coach with no time for her who falls into an affair with a sympathetic teenaged boy, played by the movie’s protagonist, Sonny, played by Tim Bottoms.

The film centers around his life in a small Texas town called Anarene during that time of his life, senior year in high school, where he’s seemingly surrounded by women. He’s in love with a fellow senior named Jacy, played with innocent allure by young Cybill Shepherd in her first acting role. Other now famous actors play important parts in the movie too, including Jeff Bridges, who plays Sonny’s best friend (and Jacy’s first boyfriend), Duane. Also sharing screen time are Ellen Bustyn, as Jacy’s mom, a lady who’s made some bad life choices, and Randy Quaid, a rich kid who takes Jacy to a nude swimming party. This film is very hot-blooded, and is not afraid to show the bodies and desires of young American teenagers.

Sonny dumps his girlfriend on their one-year anniversary because he’s just not that into her, and he gets advice from the lady at the local diner, sultry Guinevieve. She says his old gal wasn’t nearly nice enough for him, but she also tries to get Sonny to forget Jacy, saying she’s nothing but trouble. G is certainly spot-on in her assessment of the teenaged beauty, as Jacy sure brings trouble to Duane. She wants him to take her virginity, but when he is unable to perform, she ends up on a pool table with one of her mother’s stud muffins, an oil man named Abilene. Her career as a heart-breaker is well on its way. Jacy gets jealous when she learns that Sonny is satisfying middle-aged Ruth Popper, the coach’s wife, and so she seduces him after Duane leaves town.

Sonny cruelly dumps Mrs. Popper for Jacy without a word to let her know its over. Jacy agrees to marry him after he and Duane have a public fight, but the cops catch them and the marriage is annulled before the honeymoon. The end of the movie shows a repentant Sonny going back to Mrs. Popper’s, despite her anger at his betrayal. His doe-eyed goodness wins her back, for after all, what other happiness has she had? The documentary after the movie says her husband is gay, but I didn’t get that sense from the film.

Larry McMurtry wrote the original book and worked on the script with the director, but Bogdanovich wrote the scenes that didn’t work for me. Still, the black and white format is gorgeous and the story is equally sharp and stunning in its realism. It was filmed in Archer City, where McMurtry grew up, so the sets (the streets of town) are authentically his vision. This movie shouldn’t be seen by kids or even late teens, as there is a lot of ‘70s style nudity, but the story will be appreciated by older adults who want to remember young romance and the often unpleasant lessons of growing up.