During 1951, there was a group of senior citizens in high school who reached puberty in a small, isolated and restive small town of Anarene, Texas. These people coexist together in that village, which is slowly dying on all sides.
The scene where Sam imparts his wisdom to young buck Bottoms may be the saddest, loveliest moment in 1970s American cinema. And that's saying something.
[VIDEO ESSAY] A masterpiece by any standard, "The Last Picture Show" (1971) presents an emotionally apocalyptic reckoning of an America that has lost its way. The subtext-the film was made at the height of the Vietnam War - is hard to miss.
It is difficult to know where to stop in listing the really outstanding performances -- Cloris Leachman, Ben Johnson, Timothy Bottoms, Eileen Brennan, et al.
It's plain and uncondescending in its re-creation of what it means to be a high-school athlete, of what a country dance hall is like, of the necking in cars and movie houses, and of the desolation that follows high-school graduation.
Notre Dame professor Edward Fischer has said that 'the best films, like the best books, tell how it is to be human under certain circumstances'. Larry McMurtry did a beautiful job of this.
The Last Picture Show is indeed one of the greatest movies ever made (although I hardly think the scorekeepers were waiting for my vote to come in before they declared it such).
Director Peter Bogdanovich has seen Anarene, Texas, in the cinematic terms of 1951 -- the langorous dissolves, the strong chiaroscuro, the dialogue that starts with bickering and ends at confessional.
At first glance, the movie is a faithful and skillful adaptation of the source, but a second look at both the film and the book reveals some interesting divergences.
