The Last Picture Show (1971)

Director:

Peter Bogdanovich

Writers:

Larry McMurtry (novel)
Larry McMurtry (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

22 October 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Anarene, Texas, 1951. Nothing much has changed...

Plot:

The coming of age of a youth named Sonny in a small Texas town in the 1950s.

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Texas | High School Graduation | Graduation | Love

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 14 wins & 16 nominations

Cast

Timothy Bottoms	...	Sonny Crawford
Jeff Bridges	...	Duane Jackson
Cybill Shepherd	...	Jacy Farrow
Ben Johnson	...	Sam the Lion
Cloris Leachman	...	Ruth Popper
Ellen Burstyn	...	Lois Farrow
Eileen Brennan	...	Genevieve
Clu Gulager	...	Abilene
Sam Bottoms	...	Billy
Sharon Ullrick	...	Charlene Duggs (as Sharon Taggart)
Randy Quaid	...	Lester Marlow
Joe Heathcock	...	The Sheriff
Bill Thurman	...	Coach Popper
Barc Doyle	...	Joe Bob Blanton
Jessie Lee Fulton	...	Miss Mosey

Also Known As:

Die letzte Vorstellung (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
A Última Sessão (Portugal) [pt]
A Última Sessão de Cinema (Brazil) [pt]
Az utolsó mozielöadás (Hungary) [hu]
Den sista föreställningen (Sweden) [sv]
I teleftaia parastasi (Greece) [el]
L'ultimo spettacolo (Italy) [it]
La última película (Spain) [es]
La dernière séance (France) [fr]
Ostatni seans filmowy (Poland) [pl]
Son gösteri (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Viimeinen elokuva (Finland) [fi]

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, nudity and language.

Runtime:

118 min | 126 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 (video rating) (1992) | UK:X (original rating) | Iceland:L | Singapore:M18 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Ontario) | West Germany:16 (f) | Brazil:14 | New Zealand:M | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Italy:T | Sweden:11 | USA:R | Argentina:Atp | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:18

Filming Locations:

115 East Main Street, Archer City, Texas, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Tex Ritter auditioned for the role of Sam the Lion.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: At the very beginning of the film Sonny is having trouble starting the old rusty pickup truck. After getting it running he starts to drive off. The soundtrack has him changing gears but we still see him with both hands on the steering wheel.

Quotes:

Sam the Lion: Chicken fry me a steak and try to use meat this time!

Movie Connections:

Features "Name That Tune" (1953)

Soundtrack:

Cold, Cold Heart

Sublime

Peter Bogdonovich's great love of film, combined with Larry McMurtry's superior storytelling (he wrote the novel and both collaborated on the script), is in glorious evidence in this elegiac study of life in a small Texas town in the early Fifties. Bogdonovich pays a heartfelt tribute to the America of John Ford and Howard Hawks but the subject matter is contemporary, anguished, appropriate for the time in which it was made. Filmed by the great Robert Surtees in a flat black and white that perfectly evokes the bleakness of rural Texas life and peppered with a fine soundtrack of the popular country hits of the time, Bogdonovich creates a mise en scene understated and keenly observant of the details. It's also filled with McMurtry's trademark mix of humor and pathos. The cast (including Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, Cybill Shepherd, Ellen Burstyn and Cloris Leachman) is letter-perfect but it's Ben Johnson as Sam the Lion who gives the film its center: in an overwhelming (yet masterfully restrained) performance, Johnson unforgettably absorbs the town's despair, loneliness and regret; his short monologue about lost love is delivered with such deceptive simplicity that its power sneaks up on you unawares. One of the great performances and one of the groundbreaking films of the Seventies.