"The Last Picture Show" - Film Review

In a small Texas town, Anarene, teens are about to graduate from the local high school. The adults keep pestering kids for losing the big football game, but they’re too busy meeting the guy or gal they’re going steady with at the local movie theater.  It all seems so quaint, so perfect; a picturesque postcard of 1950’s America. In deed, The Last Picture Show is designed to perfectly evoke 1950's America and the films released then.

But something’s not right for the citizens of the town. All the adults keep yearning for a time long since gone by, and the youths don’t know just how good it is to be young. Under the surface of The Last Picture Show is a poignant, bittersweet ode to growing old, loss, and isolation. The dusty, one horse town has an inimitable sadness hanging over it at every turn captured in wide angle shots where people seem so small upon the landscape. Before they know it, the kids have graduated and they’ve turned into the adults they always told themselves they’d never end up like. Before the year has passed friendships are tested, sexualities explored, and the local theater will hold its last picture show. 

It sounds like a simple tale, but writer-director Peter Bogdanovich tackles the subject matter with a level of sincerity and frankness that give the film a world weary realness. Bodanonvich has a particularly keen eye for depicting social and sexual mores with a surprising level of honesty. The amount of nudity and sexual authenticity is rare for its time. 

The beautiful cinematography by Robert L. Surtees with an incredible use of black and white photography is matched only by the slew of great performances from countless actors. In particular, Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, and Cybil Shepherd (in her debut role) in some of their earliest work are fantastic as the young adults of the film. But there’s so many countless memorable supporting roles by Cloris Leachman, Ben Johnson, Ellen Burstyn, and Eileen Brennan. 

Gorgeously shot and filled with wonderful performances, The Last Picture Show is one of the best coming of age stories.  

Grade: A