IMDb > The Last Picture Show (1971)
The Last Picture Show
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The Last Picture Show (1971) More at IMDbPro »

Videos (see all 5 NEW)
The Last Picture Show (1971) -- HV Trailer
The Last Picture Show (1971) -- The coming of age of a youth named Sonny in a small Texas town in the 1950s.
The Last Picture Show (1971) -- ZuGuide.com - Trailer (Flash)
The Last Picture Show (1971) -- Sinematurk - Trailer (Flash)
The Last Picture Show (1971) -- MattTrailer.com - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
8.1/10   13,568 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 1% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Peter Bogdanovich
Writers:
Larry McMurtry (novel)
Larry McMurtry (screenplay) ...
more
Contact:
View company contact information for The Last Picture Show on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
22 October 1971 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
Tagline:
Anarene, Texas, 1951. Nothing much has changed... more
Plot:
The coming of age of a youth named Sonny in a small Texas town in the 1950s. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Won 2 Oscars. Another 14 wins & 16 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(25 articles)
Clooney's 'Men Who Stare at Goats' Fun But Forgettable
 (From CinemaSpy. 5 November 2009, 9:25 PM, PST)

Jeff Bridges: The Dude Who Stares At Goats
 (From Atomic Popcorn. 28 October 2009, 9:01 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
... worthy of its place in the list of great films of the 1970s more (123 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated R for sexuality, nudity and language.
Runtime:
118 min | 126 min (director's cut)
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The movie is prominently featured in Stephen King's 2006 novel, Lisey's Story. more
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. more
Quotes:
Jacy Farrow: [to Lester Marlow] Thank God, I'm glad I weren't on fire - I would've burned to death before you got one button undone. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: 10th Anniversary Edition (2007) (TV) more
Soundtrack:
Give Me More, More of Your Kisses more

FAQ

Why did Sam the Lion leave the preacher's boy $1000?
more
65 out of 78 people found the following comment useful.
... worthy of its place in the list of great films of the 1970s, 10 January 2005
Author: jiminyglick from santa monica, ca

Perhaps the greatest tragedy to befall any artist is to have their life become more compelling than their work; such is the sad case with Peter Bogdanovich whose meteoric rise to fame was matched only by a truly famous fall from favor and a bewildering journey through tabloid hell. (Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers mined the not inconsiderable drama of the first act of his life to sporadically great comic effect in 1984's Irreconcilable Differences. And his tragic love affair with Playboy model turned actress Dorothy Stratten is fictionalized in Bob Fosse's astonishing, horrifying Star 80 (1983). How many directors become characters in films?)

Bogdanovich's love affair with film is undeniable, though it has, in the past three decades, yielded far more perplexing misfires (The Cat's Meow, At Long Last Love, Nickelodeon) than unqualified successes. That said, The Last Picture Show is an extraordinary accomplishment and worthy of its place in the list of great films of the 1970s.

1971's other important films (Friedkin's The French Connection, Pakula's Klute, Kubrick's Clockwork Orange) are loud, angry, violent and contemporary – in-your-face reflections of a society in which rage and nihilism, engendered by Vietnam and the growing discontent over government corruption, is the currency of communication. The uncertainty coursing through the veins of American pop culture also begat in equal, if not equally graphic, measure a palpable sense of sorrow at the destruction of a simpler way of life (no matter how "true" that memory may be).

Like Jewison's Fiddler on the Roof and Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Last Picture Show is a powerful and poignant evocation of the death of a community and a way of life. Thematically rich and imbued with Bogdanovich's remarkable knowledge and passion for film, the movie works on a dazzling number of levels; and Bogdanovich's use of nostalgia and traditional, archetypal genre conventions both enriches the movie and compounds the heartbreaking loss at the heart of the story.

His deft handling of a cast comprised of then (largely) unknowns (Bridges, Bottoms, Shepherd) is first-rate and he draws forth superb, often sublime performances from everyone (in particular, Johnson, Burstyn and Leachman). There isn't a false note or a misstep in the movie and there is a naturalness here that is not easily achieved or earned. The great production design (by Bogdanovich's then wife and partner Polly Platt whose contributions to his work and her subsequent involvement in the best works of James L. Brooks should not go underestimated) and the achingly beautiful cinematography by the late Robert Surtees are vital to the success (emotionally, intellectually, thematically) of the film.

The Last Picture Show is a truly rare work of surprising depth and emotional resonance; and the heartache for a time and place forever gone and the desperate and quiet struggles of its very real, very human denizens is matched only by the sorrow found in contemplation of Bogdanovich's Icarus-like fall from such exalted heights.

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