The Last Picture Show (1971) watch along
Added 2024-10-04 17:06:03 +0000 UTCAfter watching this movie, I was left with a dagger in my heart. No one even tried to pull it out. The melancholy was wrought throughout, and the nostalgia for the past was palpable. It was so interesting to see the adults talk about the past, and how the disillusionment of the youth became clearer as time passed. I got so caught up in the actions each character became entangled in. You could feel their loneliness, as well as the emptiness of the barren town-another theme woven through this movie. It was bittersweet and totally sent me spiraling down a nostalgic journey of my own past.
The Last Picture Show sits at #95 on the AFI list, and rightly so. The technical work in this movie was stunning. Each shot, frame, lighting, and contrast made it a beautifully crafted black-and-white film. I think they were able to capture the characters’ stories so well, and it was such an honest portrayal. Even though I grappled with their decisions throughout the film, I get it. I get the youthfulness, the nostalgia for the past, being stagnant and stuck in a dead-end town that paralleled your own life with your hopes and dreams. This movie digs into complex relationships, the sexual awakening of the youth at the time, and the end of an era. A very unique coming-of-age film, one that I won't forget. This movie left me feeling so torn-for the brokenhearted, the ones left behind, and for the hopes and dreams that fade away.
Thanks for watching with me, let me know your thoughts down below!
xx
ames
Comments
ROBERT! Thank you so much for sharing this heartfelt comment! Means a lot. It’s crazy when movies hit you like this. The technical work in this film is amazing
Amalia Wolf
2024-10-05 09:12:24 +0000 UTCI like that we shared that feeling in the end! I am also interested to see how I will feel re watching this in my 50s
Amalia Wolf
2024-10-05 09:10:14 +0000 UTCThanks so much for this wonderful comment Clay! Hope u get back to movies if you can! It’s still the best! Let us know what u get out to see! I haven’t seen these movies mentioned! So excited to get to them one day!!!
Amalia Wolf
2024-10-05 09:09:36 +0000 UTCThis was my first full watch and I thought the movie awesome. Uncomfortable, sad, real. A consolation of a happier aspect was Duane and Sonny remaining friends. Stellar cast and generally on the younger side of their career. I like the song Hey, Good Lookin’ (1951) by Hank Williams. I am glad we have AFI 100 content on the channel. I liked your commentary during the movie. Made for a better experience. Further, your outro “ramblings” were great. Hard not to have some nostalgia for younger years. I remember $20 for a concert ($10 concert ticket + $10 t-shirt) for a major band (e.g., Van Halen, Rush, etc.). I do want to start going back to the movie theater. I stopped during the pandemic and never really started back. I've heard you say before that you want to go to Austin. If you decide to go to Texas, Austin is what I suggest, especially if you like live music. Jacy (the manipulator) is pretty. I first noticed Cybill Shepherd in the TV series “Moonlighting” (1985) (5 seasons) with Bruce Willis, which my ex-wife and I watched when it aired. I like Jeff Bridges in Starman (1984). I liked him in S1 of The Old Man (2022) series. His Best Actor Oscar in Crazy Heart (2009) well deserved. I watched Crazy Heart 3 times in theater. I googled why the movie is black/white. One, for aesthetic. Bogdanovich and his mentor Orson Welles agreed that black and white would look better and enhance the film's gritty feel. Wikipedia: “After discussing the proposed film with Orson Welles, his houseguest at the time, Bogdanovich agreed with him that shooting the film in black and white would work aesthetically, which by then was an unusual choice.” Also, apparently, Bogdanovich wanted to capture the “end of an era” of dreams and possibilities for a generation of kids born during the Depression and raised during World War II.
Clay F
2024-10-05 07:00:28 +0000 UTCI had a similar reaction the first time I watched this movie, but my reaction changed years later. I first watched in my 20's; 30 years later I had some nostalgia for the times and I kind of felt the ending was the best you could get, considering the town was dying and the situations all the characters were in, Sonny and Ruth at least had each other. Thanks for your reaction!
Allen Bond
2024-10-05 06:06:48 +0000 UTCWow, what a reaction to one of my all time favorites! I don’t know why this one has always resonated so much with me—I grew up in a very different place in a very different time but it’s so sweet, wistful and authentic and, ultimately such a gut punch, that it somehow feels like revisiting a part of my own past. One thing that does hit home, as an old football player, is it was always better to be in the backfield than to be on the line! In addition to being a devastating character study of a (dying) town, it’s also a film nerd’s commentary on the vapid isolation of television’s rise, essentially killing the era of everyone going to the movie theater every week and the importance of that to the vitality of a community. And speaking of Bogdanovich’s film nerdiness, at the suggestion of his good friend Orson Welles, he not only shot in Black & White, but also used many filmmaking techniques of the early 1950s, so it really feels period precise. It’s also very faithful to the Larry McMurtry novel upon which it is based (the whole Duane Jackson novel series is very meaningful to me) and the movie particularly captures the depraved, funny hopelessness of Anarene TX (Thalia in the books and Archer City irl). Unsurprisingly, most of the characters were based on real people from McMurtry’s youth. I remember an article a few years before McMurtry died about the death of the real Jacy Farrow. But the town, ironically, having been immortalized in some very famous and beloved films (and even more books) and McMurtry’s largesse, has been quietly thriving, ironically, for years!
VivendoBem
2024-10-05 03:31:03 +0000 UTCAs I was watching, I realized one thing this movie captures: what life was like for the pre-Baby Boom young, pre-rock and roll. Pre-American Graffiti! Pre-youth culture. Once rock and roll hit a few years after 1951, youth culture has been at the center of attention ever since. The word "teenager" was just starting to be used, before that, you were considered a child until 18! So these kids are on the cusp of that, they're still living in an adult world; they don't have their own music or culture or radio stations at all, they share it with all the adults: the dance, the pool hall, the cafe, the movie theatre. Unlike the kids in American Graffiti or Dazed And Confused, the world isn't their oyster, they don't own the town and if they misbehave, there will be consequences!
Toc
2024-10-05 01:42:45 +0000 UTCWe need ur internet to behave! She was AMAZING so sad this character ughh
Amalia Wolf
2024-10-04 22:41:13 +0000 UTCThe last picture show (the movie within the movie) was Red River, one of the greatest westerns.
Cliff Adams
2024-10-04 22:22:24 +0000 UTCBeautiful write-up, as usual. And for those who only know Cloris Leachman from her broad comedy talents in Mel Brooks' movies like Young Frankenstein will be pretty blown away by her performance in this one (which got her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress). Incredible actress, and very interesting woman. Co-Vid got her. Gaaaaa, I hope my internet stops being erratic, I'm dying to watch this reaction!
Toc
2024-10-04 22:21:55 +0000 UTCAhhhhh!!! I love the backstory stuff! I think the book would be a fun addition to this movie.
Amalia Wolf
2024-10-04 20:14:10 +0000 UTCRemains a masterpiece of American Cinema in my mind. The care Director Peter Bogdanovich shows for Larry McMurty's story and characters is amazing. His location choice of this small Texas town and using Hank Williams as his soundtrack was SPOT ON! They really don't make movies like this anymore. Bogdanovich went on to have a brief affair with his star Cybill Shephard and would later go on to meet and marry murdered Playmate Dorothy Stratten (Star 80). This launched the careers of both Jeff Bridges and Timothy Bottoms. You might recognize Sonny's mute younger brother Billy. He would go on to play Lance in Apocalypse Now and The Outlaw Josey Wales. Tim Bottoms would play the lead in the classic THE PAPER CHASE and we all know how Jeff turned out. But for me? It's the movies contributing players that sold this film. Ellyn Bursytn, Cloris Leachman, Eileen Brennan and the ever wonderful Ben Johnson who STOLE every scene he was in and went on to win an Oscar for this. Last Picture Show is really a movie-lovers movie...
RFK Fan
2024-10-04 20:10:42 +0000 UTC
